When we moved into our 1950s cape cod home, I was delighted to find a canning closet in the basement. I was even more delighted when I purchased canning supplies and began my home canning adventure.
I set out to try home canning as one of my efforts to do more homesteading. Plus, canning brings back memories of canned goods in my grandmother’s pantry. My first project was canning homemade strawberry jam after picking fresh strawberries at a local field.
Canning Supplies
Ball Canning Home Discovery Kit
If you are just starting out canning the idea of doing water bath canning may be intimidating. Personally I have found it isn’t as intimidating as I first thought. The Home Canning Discovery Kit helps make water bath canning on top of your stove very easy. I have an electric stove, which I also feared would not work well with canning – but it’s worked just fine!
The canning kit contains a list of all of the canning supplies you need to get started with water bath canning. It contains three jars, along with lids and bands. It also contains a light green plastic mesh jar holder to use for water bath canning. My kit also came with a handy recipe booklet.
Ball Canning Utensil Set
While the Home Canning Discovery Kit will get you started I also recommend the Ball Canning Utensil Set. These two kids, in conjunction, have provided all of the basic canning supplies I need.
The Ball Canning Utensil set comes in blue or green. I purchased green to match my home discovery kit. The utensil set comes with several items, all of which are essential canning supplies.
Related blog posts:
• Pick Your Own Strawberries
• Adventures in Making Strawberry Jam
• DIY Sourdough Starter Day by Day
• Save Money on Meat with Zaycon Fresh
Large Pot
If you are doing water bath canning, as I do, you will need at least one large pot. You can purchase a special canning pot or you can use what you already have. I use a pot that came with our stainless steel kitchen pots set. This size allows me to comfortably fit five large jars or if I am using the smaller 4 oz kind, I can fit 10 jars at a time when I do water bath canning.
Ball Canning Jars
Of course no home canning project is possible without the Ball Canning Jars. When you purchase a set of canning jars they come with 1 band and 1 lid per jar. Jars and bands are reusable, but lids are not. For making gifts I really like the small 4 oz canning jars, which are compact and have a cute quilted pattern on them as well.
For my own jam I prefer the 8 oz canning jars which are close to the same size of jam jar I would purchase at the store. I have purchased the 16 oz jars as well but for jams they were a little too large unless you are wanting to use them for Mason Jar Glasses. In that case the 16 oz jars are perfect for Mason Jar Glasses. If you want to home can whole vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, or peaches or pears – you will probably prefer the Mason Jar Glasses.
Also of note, canning jars come in wide mouth and regular mouth size. I made the mistake early on of just buying whatever I saw, not realizing there is a difference. I prefer wide mouth for all of my canning because I can easily remove all contents from the jar.
Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving
I also purchased the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, which I had read was the standard today for learning canning techniques and canning recipes.
For beginners I highly recommend this book. Not only is this book budget-friendly, it contains an incredible amount of information about canning and canning supplies.
If any of the canning recipes in this book make more canned goods than you would like, you can easily cut a recipe in half. I have done this before when I didn’t have quite enough fruit or I didn’t want 16 jars of jam.
A few years ago on my blog I also received and reviewed the book Rosehips on a Kitchen Table which contains a section with home canning tips and canning recipes.
Ball Low-Sugar Pectin
Another concern I had when I first tried canning was sugar content. So far all of my home canning has been jams and jellies. I prefer low or no-sugar jams. I was happy to find Ball makes a Low-Sugar Pectin which allows you to use a fraction of the amount of sugar normally required to do canning.
Sugar is integral to canning homemade jams and jellies. It acts as a preservative. Without enough sugar (or pectin) your jam will not keep for very long. Depending on the type of fruit you are canning, it also may not “firm up” or thinking properly without enough sugar or pectin. I like using the Ball Low-Sugar Pectin also because fruit is usually already sweet enough on its own.
Ball Canning Jar Labels
Of course no home canning project is complete without canning jar labels to mark what you just created. Ball Dissolvable labels are particularly helpful in presentation if you are gifting your canned goods to family or friends. I used these labels when I made homemade peach jam to offer guests at my baby shower (I was, much to adamant, much to my husband’s dismay at 35 weeks pregnant that I would spend make a homemade favor!). The canning jar labels come in a pack of 60.
I have also used the Ball Dissolvable labels on my own personal canned goods so that I remember what I canned. Raspberry and strawberry jams can look eerily similar once in the jar. One issue I have had with these canning jar labels is while the paper easily comes off, the sticker residue does not. I have had to scrape at the residue or use Goo Gone to remove it. The other fix I’ve found is to simply reuse the jar and cover the glue spot with a new label. This hasn’t been a deal breaker for me, and I still think the canning jar labels are cute so I continue to use them.
Ball Canning Lids
Depending on how many jars you plan to can, you may need to purchase extra Ball Canning Lids. As luck has it I always run out of lids when I’m ready for a new canning project.
I have been trying to keep at least one box of lids on hand at all times. The Ball Canning Lids come with 12 in each box.
Canning Supplies
In Summary
Outside of the canning supplies I listed above, all you will need is a little time, patience and the fruit or vegetable of your choice. You can can anytime of the year. Right now is a great time to try home canning. Canning can help you eat healthier and save money.
Have you tried home canning? What tips do you have? What went right or wrong?
*This post was originally published in 2013 and has been updated and republished for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
I have done canning off and on for years. I recently found a great resource for recipes, tips and information on FoodinJars. They even have small batch canning recipes which is perfect for me. This lets me make 2 or 3 jars of different types of jam for a good selection. She also has a cookbook called Food in Jars and will be coming out with another one soon.
Hi Katie! Thanks for reading and for the tip. I will definitely check out that website. Happy canning!
I am a somewhat experienced canner using the water bath method. Last fall I purchased a pressure cooker canner and am looking for hands on instruction.
There used to be a canning group at Trinity, I believe, but it did not survive. I am interested in such a group to share information, recipes and product.
Thanks for the input Lynne. I am going to be trying the water bath method myself.
Holly, I have been accumulating zukes in the freezer this summer and am preparing to do a batch of bread and butter pickles next week. If you are interested I can show you how. I have a nephew and another friend who want to participate in the process.
Unfortunately pickles are one of the foods I do not enjoy. I know they are very popular for canning though. Thanks for reading!
last year was my first year canning. I started with whole cherries, then to peaches….I did do tomato sauce…that ones takes so long to cook down to real sauce…and salsa and pickles. I think the easiest one was the pickles. Tomato juice is also fairly easy. One other piece of equipment you may want to get is the Victorio strainer.
good luck!!!!
All great info! Thanks Erin!
Holly,
Kudos! Canning is a great thing to get interested in – loads of benefits! I agree with the recommendation of the Food in Jars blog. Another good one is Local Kitchen. And besides the Ball Blue Book there is also the “Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving” and it’s a good one.
Right now peaches are in peak season so I would suggest jamming some of those. And remember – commercial pectin is NOT necessary. You can do a 2:1 fruit to sugar ratio and use apples or lemon juice for natural pectin. It takes a bit longer and your yield is smaller but the taste is unbeatable. Tomatoes will be coming on strong soon and that is another great place to start. I roast them, put them through my food mill, and then can the sauce. Later I can turn it into pasta sauce or pizza sauce, tomato soup, a base for chili, and other things. Very versatile.
I’m one half of Barton Farms and Gardens and we’re at the Haymaker Market every Saturday. Stop by if you’re ever at the market – I’d love to talk canning with you!
Good luck,
Lizette
All great info Lizette! Thanks so much!
I am a jam freak so if I love to can. I used to use pectin, then low sugar pectin, and now I prefer not using any pectin. 🙂 The taste is waaaaay better. Here is how I made triple berry jam last year. Lucky you to live near such amazing fruit picking venues!!
Unfortunately my plans to go to an apple orchard didn’t plan out last fall. I’m hoping to finally trying canning this year. I’m more in tun with when berry season is now so I hope to get my trips scheduled better. Thanks for asking!
I’ve wanted to get into making my own pickles at home. My friend makes them at home and they are amazing!
Pickles are super easy to preserve from what I hear! They are actually one food I really can’t stomach. Such a shame being I enjoy home canning so much.
I used to make my own jams and chutneys when we had a big garden and picked all the fruit but now we live in a teeny tiny town house and I just don’t have the room to store anything, which is a shame as homemade produce is so lovely. What a lot of useful information though to get started, thanks.
I lived in apartments for a very long time, so I was really excited when we moved into a home with a yard and I could garden again. You could always do “pick your own” produce and can it. That’s what I do with strawberries each year. There’s no way I could grow enough of my own to can even one jar!