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Canning is a tried and true way to preserve food, like jams, jellies, pickles, sauces and more! It’s a time honored tradition for many, to preserve their food in glass jars to ensure you can make the most of your food bounty in the months when things aren’t growing! Plus, it’s just fun.

My favorite things to can are jams, applesauce, and pasta sauce. Those are the things I use most often in my own home, and like to keep things around I will use. I long for making unique batches of cool pickles, and unique flavored jams. But I know that for me I keep it simple and that me and the kids will love and use whatever we make.

If you are new to canning, it can seem like a really intimidating prospect. You hear horror stories about botulism, and bad canning practices. While those things are real, and can happen, maintaining proper cleanliness and using the right tools will reduce the risk drastically of any food borne illnesses.

Reliable Canning Resources

When you are new to canning, you want to start off on the right foot, and ensure that you’re following all the most up to date scientifically based practices to ensure your foods stay fresh longer, and you minimize any possible risk of food borne illness. Canning books are wonderful, and I have three that I constantly go back to! The last on this list is the USDA guide to canning, for ensuring the best information. A lot of universities also have USDA extensions and you can find updated information there as well.

Whatever you do, always follow the instructions, especially when you begin before you decide to go and change any canning recipe. Salt, sugar, and process (water bath or pressure canning) are used for specific reasons to ensure safety.

My Favorite Canning Books

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Canning Tools and Essentials

When you are adventuring into canning, the tools you use are also important. It seems like you need a lot of stuff for canning, but depending on how large of batches you want to make, you don’t need as much as you think. Below are some of my favorite essentials that I use all the time. I’ve tried to use so many different items, but now I have locked in on my favorite tools and reduced the number of extras I have, just keeping what I truly need.

The extra large canning pot is great for my water bath process. It holds pints and quarts beautifully for final processing. The canning lifter is spring loaded, taking the stress of your hands, especially if you have issues with grip strength. The magnet lid lifter is awesome for canning lids and transfering them from hot water to your jars after filling. And my Hexclad pots make easy work of making jams and jellies as they are beautifully non stick. Worth the money!!

I find that there are so many things you can buy for canning, but honestly I have never missed any of the extras that come in the pre-packaged canning sets. These are my must haves below.

My Canning Tool Essentials

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Can I Use An Electric Stove? Or Gas?

Okay, so in the spirit of full transparency – I have a glass top electric stove. And I hate it for a multitude of reasons, along with the fact that I can not can on it. The reason behind this is simple, the cycling of electric, especially glass top electric stoves, is not sufficient to create ample and consistent heat for preserving. So in my mind, steer clear.

If you have a gas range that provides a consistent output, this is a much safer option for indoor canning.

What I can do inside, is prepare the jams and jellies, or pickles with brine inside, but for the water bath canning I choose to do that outdoors on a camp stove. It was a Christmas gift for my husband and I use it all the time for canning, along with any deep fat frying because I don’t want my house to smell like oil. Bleh.

This has enough oomph to do water bath and pressure canning outdoors, and it can be collapsed and put away in the off season. The enameled canning pot fits on here beautifully, and you can do double water baths so easy!! It’s an absolute champ!

My Favorite Outdoor Camp Stove

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Canning doesn’t have to be scary. You can do it, with a methodical steps for safety, it’s a lot of fun! Use these items below and try any of my favorite canning recipes here on the blog!

Jams and Preserves

Blueberry Butter + Homemade Blueberry Syrup (No Waste Recipe! 1 Fruit, 2 Recipes!)

Small Batch Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Pineapple Apricot Jam

Cranberry Holiday Jam

Tomato Sauces and Salsas

Smoke Roasted Salsa

Grilled Onion and Pepper Pasta Sauce

Homemade Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce