Canning questions


Irishcolleen
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I just found out that the tree in my front yard is a large plum tree. The blossoms are gone and the tree is loaded with baby plums.  It should be a great harvest!  Problem is, our new home has a flat top electric stove.  I have heard that you cannot use a flat top stove for canning because the stove top can crack and because the temperature doesn't stay consistent. Also, many canners have a wider diameter than the flat top burners- another cause of cracking.

 

How do I get around this problem?  Do I need to get an electric water bath canner?  Can I use a hot plate type burner or do I need to resign myself to simply making freezer jam? 

 

 

 

 

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Three things about canning in glass stoves:

1.) A lot of canning pots have concave bottoms. Water/air can get trapped under there and when it heats up causes a vacuum effect. This causes a suction type condition when you pull off the pot causing the glass to shatter. If your canning pot has a flat bottom, you're ok.

2.) A lot of canning pots are heavy. Adding water and filled jars adds to that weight and may be too much weight for the glass to handle causing it to shatter. Check you stovetop's specs to find the maximum weight limit and if the weight of your pot plus the water and filled jars don't exceed it, you're ok.

3.) Glass tops have thermostat controlled burners so that when a certain temp is reached it turns off and when it gets too low it turns back on. This causes temps to fluctuate. But a lot of glass tops have a High setting that stays hot enough during the off periods to maintain a rolling boil. Run a boil test for a certain period using a cooking thermometer in the water. Watch the temps throughout that period to see if the water temps stay within close range of 212F and that the water maintains a rolling boil. If it does, you're ok.

If one of the above is not ok, you can get a countertop induction burner to use for canning. You can find some in Amazon for around $75.

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Anatess covered things pretty well. 

 

I have a glass top stove and have not had issues canning. They don't work well if your pan isn't flat. I had to buy all new pans when I went glass top.

 

I love the glass top and wouldn't have anything else unless I was rich enough to have two stoves and I would have a couple of gas burners for more control over heat.

 

I actually one several glass top stove and only had one break. It was when a tenant put a piece of foil under the pan because they didn't want the stove to get dirty. Something about the foil caused the glass to shatter.

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As long as the stove gets hot enough to boil water, the "temperature doesn't stay consistent" argument is nonsense. Water boiling is exactly at the temperature of boiling water. Perfectly consistent. Same with a pressure canner -- as long as the pressure is consistent, the temperature is consistent.

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As long as the stove gets hot enough to boil water, the "temperature doesn't stay consistent" argument is nonsense. Water boiling is exactly at the temperature of boiling water. Perfectly consistent. Same with a pressure canner -- as long as the pressure is consistent, the temperature is consistent.

Vort... mathematician versus real life application here. ;)

Electric stoves doesn't necessarily STAY HOT. The heating element turns off and on according to its internal thermostat keeping the surface temperature at the factory understanding of "Low, Medium, High". And, even when you push it all the way high so it "clicks" (highest setting), the heating element still has to turn off to prevent heat from getting to a point that can break the glass or cause a fire. This is vastly different from a gas stove where the flame stays on all the time and the temperature of the surface is controlled completely by the cook. And this is also different from the thermostats in my snake houses where the heating element doesn't turn on or off to maintain temperature, rather, it reduces/increases the heat output through variable resistance.

My stove is pretty good as the temps don't swing too much so I can do canning on it. But even my stove is not good enough for my mother. My mom hates cooking on it because it bothers her that the heat turns off when she doesn't want it to so she has to fiddle with the knob a lot just to keep it turned on and keep her stuff going as she doesn't trust that it will turn back on before the temps drop too low. She will never buy an electric stove ever.

But there are electric stoves that are not as good - it gets water to a boiling point but in an extended period of time, can turn off long enough to take the water out of boiling before it fires back up again to bring it back to boiling.

Edited by anatess
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