These canning tools are essential when I make apple butter or summer strawberry jam. I’ve collected a few of them over the years to replace other canning tools that just could keep up.
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I’m not a jelly maker like my Papa was, but I like to think that I’ve mastered the Slow Cooker Apple Butter and after our trip to New England a couple of years ago, I decided that I could make anything as good as a Vermont Cider Mill.
A couple of times each year, I get my hands on some local fruits and decide its time to get a jump start on my stocking stuffers with a round of overnight Slow Cooker Pear or Apple Butter. Growing up, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world was my Papa’s back yard and much of that had to do with the garden and small orchard he established. He would graft peach trees together to make his own variety and his backyard was home to a giant pecan and pear tree.
I would go gather up pears and set them out, but they never would ripe. My dad thought they were great to chunk at us (good thing I didn’t have a brother), but I just never understood how these pears would stay so hard and never ripen enough to eat.
It wasn’t until last summer when I asked the owner of our local orchard what the deal was. I was standing under a tree just like my Papa’s and wondered why none of those pears were in bushel baskets for him to sell. And, I was 37 years old when I learned there were canning pears and eating pears – who knew?!?!?! Some pears grow to be eaten, and some pears, like the ones in my hand, grow and can only be canned into preserves, jam, or butter.
So, this past week I was out on one of our adventures and found a few branches of a tree hanging low, full of canning pears that were calling my name. I didn’t come prepared to pick pears, but my fast food brown bag quickly turned into a gathering place for some wild pears. I didn’t get enough to make a full batch of pear butter spread, so I mixed in a few Gala and Fuji apples on my grocery pickup and this morning my kitchen was flooded with the heavenly scents of apples, pears, and cinnamon.
As I pulled together two batches of WW Friendly, No Sugar Added Slow Cooker Apple/Pear Butter, I thought I’d share some of the essential canning tools that I’ve collected and that makes a quick, overnight batch of canned fruits even easier to manage
Essential Canning Tools
- Slow cooker – most of what I can is in the slow cooker, so it might not be essential for all canning, but my canning I can’t do without it!
- Immersion blender – this is a fairly new tool, but so useful – you just put it down in the liquid and its a hand blender to puree all your fruit right in the pot
- Magnetic Lid Lifter – one of the hardest things is to get the hot metal lids while they are still hot to the top of the jars to seal. This little piece is the difference between blisters and not!
- Wide Mouth Canning Funnel – this is the single best thing to keep you from making big messes and the wide mouth fits perfectly in the top of your jars
- Secure Grip Jar Lifter – like the lid lifter, this will protect your hands from the heat or save you time waiting for jars to cool
- Dutch oven – I remember buying this Calphalon piece when we got married and thought, I’ll never use this big pot, but I use it all the time for more than canning – its also perfect for making Chicken Spaghetti because the noodles fit across the pan without breaking
- Jars and lids – 8oz. jars are my favorite for apple butter, if you are not using metal lids and rims, check your proper food preserving methods.
- apple corer, peeler, slicer – doesn’t have to be fancy, but it will save you HOURS of time
Other kitchen tools that help with canning
- Hot pad– a good trivet will help you move around the kitchen and make less mess
- Drying pad – I take my jars out of the dutch oven and turn them upside down to cool – its the method my Papa and Great Grandmother used, so its good enough for me.
- Cutting board
- Knives
- Heat Resistant Oven Gloves
- Glass measuring cup
Some of my favorite recipes to can/preserve:
- Slow Cooker Apple Butter (no sugar added and WW Friendly)
- Tomato-Basil Jam
- Homemade Roasted Tomato Marinara
