OT- Have you tried canning on a glass top stove?

[FirstTimertoDiz]

Ok, so in an effort to cut down our grocery bills this year, I planted a garden to grow some vegetables. I truthfully didn't have high expectations, because I am the furthest from having a green thumb as you can get, but I was pleasantly surprised when I started having success with most items.

My happiness turned to panic though, when I realized I could now feed an army with all the veggies we were soon producing!! So, with my ever-frugal mind, I decided to teach myself the art of canning. I bought a water-bath canner for this year, with the intentions of getting a pressure canner for next years project.

The problem is, my efforts to can have made glaringly obvious what I had already suspected- my stove is a piece of junk!! We have an electric coil stove, and it doesn't heat evenly, and I end up burning the bottoms of the pans because it gets "hot spots" in some areas.

So, we have decided this Christmas to get a new stove- I have always wanted a flat top glass stove, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity, but then I am reading now that you shouldn't use a flat top for canning? Anyone know why, and more importantly- has anyone tried it? What was your experience, good or bad?

Thanks!

 

[ceiligh1]

My last house had a glass top stove and I did use it to make Jam. It is hard to use because you are not supposed to have a vessel that is bigger than the heating element and the water bath canner is bigger. Also the way my glass top worked it heated up to the desired temp and then cooled off to another temp- moving back and forth within a range of temps so it was hard to keep the jam at the needed temp. Plus any splatter was very difficult to clean up. If I were you I would go with electric coil or gas which is what I use now. Works very well.

I hope that helps. I dont know about canning veggies as all I have done is applesauce and jam but I thought that you needed a pressure canner for most of them due to the acidity of veggie?

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I've been canning since I was in highschool, so a good 25+ years. When we moved to our new house in June, we got a smoothtop electric range because I could get a much nicer range this way than with a standard coil top. I wasn't very happy that I couldn't can, and dh wasn't very happy that he couldn't homebrew on the new stovetop. Thankfully we remembered that lots of homebrewers use freestanding outdoor propane burners (think turkey fryer burner but sturdier with a very adjustable burner). I'll be canning peaches later this week when it comes in!

Water bath canning on a smoothtop is possible if your canner bottom is perfectly flat and fits inside the burner markings on the stovetop. My big stockpot fits so I can use that as a waterbath canner for small batches and for jam, etc. My pressure canner also fits, so I'll be using that. We haven't had a problem with cycling on-and-off affecting any kind of a boil and we cook A LOT!

I've read on gardenweb (there's a harvest forum---check it out) that some people water bath can successfully using the "bridge" element on their smoothtops. Of course, that assumes that the pot being used fits within the space. We don't have a bridge element so I can't try that.

Good luck!

 

[Stein]

I second the motion that you should pick up an outdoor cooker. I use it for canning, boiling crab and shrimp, making beer, and some monster batches of soup sometimes.

You probably could pick one up for $35 or so, and it will also keep your house cool in the summer.

 

[Straitlover]

Don't know about the waterbath canners, but my pressure canner says on the box "Not to be used w/ smoooth top stoves". So if you plan on buying one, be sure to read the box before you buy it.

As far as to how my canner works, who knows??? It's still in the box . Haven't gooten the nerve to try it out yet. I might try using it for some homemade applesauce this fall. If that goes well, I will try other stuff.

 

[2x_dis_dad]

Another idea is to use the side burner that comes on most gas grills. That should work out pretty good.

 

[momz]

i have a glass top stove and used my pressure canner this summer without any problems. however, my canner is small, it can hold only 5 pint jars. another problem i can see with the glass top stove is the time it takes for the temperature to change when you adjust the knob. takes a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down. so when canning, make certain you maintain a constant temperature and pressure before you start your timer (this is true for any stove, just harder to acheive with a glass top).