Over the last decade, the Ball Canning folks have brought a handful of canning appliances to market. The first was the FreshTECH Jam and Jelly Maker in the summer of 2012. The FreshTECH Automatic Home Canning System was the thing during the 2014 canning season. And now, we have the Ball FreshTECH Electric Water Bath Canner and Multi-Cooker.
This electric canner is exactly what I know a number of you have been hoping for. It’s a giant pot that has an independent element so that you can move your processing pot off your stove top and over to the counter.
It holds 8 quarts, nine pints, or a dozen regular mouth half pints (that means that if you stack them, you can process 24 quarter pint jars at once). It’s particularly great if your stove is slow to boil water or if you’ve been warned off canning on a glass top cooktop. It works like any other boiling water bath canner, so if you live at higher altitudes, you will still need to adjust your processing time upwards.
It has a spout on the left side of the canner, so if your kitchen is arranged in a way where you can set the canner to the right of your stove, you can drain the water directly into the sink. The canner comes with a steaming rack as well as a canning rack, so that you can use it for all your high capacity steaming needs (I could see it being perfect for tamale parties).
It can also be used as a portable cooker, so can work for large amounts of soup, chili, or even something like mulled cider. Nice if you help with community potlucks or church suppers.
I’ve now run a number batches of jars through the canner and I am really happy with it. It’s not going to become my primary boiling water bath because I make a lot of small batches and it doesn’t make sense to heat up this much water for two or three pints, but for larger batches, it’s a boon.
It’s also incredibly useful during tomato season and I’ve started bringing it with me to my classes and workshops where I know we’re making multiple batches and so we’ll need more canner space.
This canner does cost $149.99, which is a pretty penny if you already have a canning set-up you like. If you like the idea of moving your canning pot off your stove top but can’t swing that price point, there is a more affordable way to create something similar.
Get yourself an induction capable stock pot (a classic speckled canner with a flat bottom will work) and the induction burner I have (it’s just $60) and you have a canner you can run anywhere (I highly recommend outdoor canning on really hot days).
My bottom line on the Ball FreshTECH Electric Water Bath Canner is that it’s a great tool for people who do lots of large batch canning. If you have the budget and storage space for it, I highly recommend it.
Disclosure: The folks at Ball Canning sent me a FreshTECH Electric Canner for review and photography purposes at no cost to me. They are also provided a giveaway unit. No additional compensation was provided for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.
My current set up is the classic gigantic speckled pot! So scary to try and move to the sink and pour our after hours of letting it cool.
I would love to win and try the electric canner. I currently use my Aunt’s old canner. I recently retired from the military and my husband and I are starting to garden and plant fruit trees. I foresee a lot more canning in the near future!!!! i am also teaching my daughters and nieces to can.
Using water bath canner, pressure cooker, electric stove. Would love to win this 🙂
I am new to canning and will be attempting to can on a glass top stove. I would love one of these as I would feel much safer using it!
I have a classic speckled water bath pot with a fit-the-burner bottom. It has served me well the last several years, but last time I used it I noticed a will-be hole forming at the bottom. I don’t think it gets along with my burner after all. I’m loving the idea of this electric canner. Countertop canning – yes, please!
I have a large stock pot and a ball starter kit. Not having to use the stove top sounds great.
I havent tried canning because we have a glass top stove which says not to do it….but I would love to start. My mother canned and she died over 20 years ago right after I got married and I miss doing the same as her for my own children. This would make it so easy without worrying about my stove being ruined. The first thing on my list would be making strawberry jam….right now we do freezer jam but it takes up so much space in my limited freezer….canning it would solve that problem. i buy a giant 30# bucket of strawberries every year and want to try something different this year. I would also like to try to can pickles and salsas like my mother used to do.
I am just getting started so this would be a great tool to learn with!
I had been using my grandmothers canning pot, but had to return it. Now I have a stock pot and need to get my trivet, although this electric canner sounds intriguing!
My grandmothers pot and jar rack on the stove…
use a Fagor Duo for pressure canning, and a 14qt Calphalon pot for water bath canning
I use my turkey fryer burner and a stock pot outside. Not ideal in Oregon rain but sometimes it works great
Have only used a stock pot but I recently moved to Oregon and hope to be canning much more, so this would be perfect!
That looks so neat. My current setup is a mini-canner, the only one that fits on my tiny efficiency stove, and at that, I can only heat up the canner OR cook jam–both pots just won’t fit! But, hey, I make it work, and that’s all that matters.
I have a glass top stove and have always worried about the top when I do my canning. I have a couple of water bath canners and got a pressure canner for Christmas a couple of years ago. Don’t you know it, I have a crack in the glass top. Wish I had one of these. The stove isn’t that old and I had thought of replacing it so I can do more canning. So bummed about the crack in the top.
I found an old black speckled canner pot with lid in my gram’s garage! I need to get some accessories for it before we can can with it though. So far I just use it to make bone broth from our organic chicken bones.
Of course this new one you are giving away would be awesome to have! We’re in SoCal currently and I can’t imagine canning inside during the summer!! Would love to win this!
Right now im canning on an old granitewear canning pot. Would love to use because it is multi functional. Because it is electric it would free up space on the stovetop to work on other things. Please enter my name in the contest.
Right now im canning on an old granitewear canning pot. Would love to use because it is multi functional. Because it is electric it would free up space on the stovetop to work on other things. Please enter my name in the contest.
I don’t like stove-top canning because of the mess it creates all over my stove. Having boiling water sloshing all over is not a good idea. Last summer I purchase the Ball FreshTech Automatic Home Canning System and I had pretty good luck with it overall. I would, however, be very interested in trying out this new electric water bath canner as well.
Extra large pressure cooker – has destroyed my stove top.
Stock pot and silicone trivet here, thanks to you! I love having a multipurpose setup… but I would be happy to set aside some cabinet space for an electric canner as well. 🙂
Extra tall stock pot + silicone trivet!
Was looking for something like this a couple of years ago. It would be so much easier than replacing my glass top stove lol
i have a giant enamelware pot, but it was treally oo large to use on my stove. Consequently, I bought a new stainless steel WBC last year. It would be great to have an electric option. I do a lot of canning with my mom and her induction cooktop yimes out burners due to overheating and it would be ideal to have this and be able to use it with her, too!
I just have the “classic speckled canner” on my gas stove. Certainly makes for uncomfortably warm days when in full swing!
I have a big blur pothe with a wire rack in it. I love canning. I have arthritis and lifting this pot is very hard. A electric canner would be great. The water drain would be the best. I could can even more
My canning setup is non existant. It’s been far too many years, but my mom used a blue speckled enamel pan with a rack in it.
I have a stockpot set up for larger jars and multiple jar canning. My favorite and weekly small jar canning projects are done in my Swiss Kuhn Rikon pot .
I use my grandmother’s canning pot. The urge to can totally skipped a generation!
I use a pretty standard stockpot with canning rack in it. I have a small kitchen, though, and love the idea of being able to move my canning setup outside on a hot summer day!
Last season was my first attempt at canning, and I fell head over heels in love with it. I do it with a stockpot, a rack and lots of prayers for everything to seal. 🙂 it’s So rewarding, I am hooked. My kitchen is TINY so, I have a limited space on my counter by my stove … this electronic scanner would make me so very happy! Even if I don’t win, still pretty happy 🙂 good luck guys <3
I’m using my mother-in-law’s canning pot. I actually don’t have my own set-up right now and this would be amazing! Thanks for the great giveaway!
Oh, how much I need this canner, I use a pit with a dish towel in the bottom.
looks wonderful. I have always been too afraid to use the other kind. This looks safer.
Uggg! I moved to Alaska and had to move twice in 4 months. My canning pot got left on the porch at the old house on the porch all winter. So now, it will make a nice planter with rusty drainage! It was brand new! Old school my dad bought it for me when he “taught” me to can last summer. (we didn’t tell him I knew my way around a canning lid, it was a bonding moment). So ya I’d love a set up like this. We live in Alaska and I can everything! Salmon, preserves, pickles, you name it. Food is EXPENSIVE!
I did some canning years ago but got rid of my canning stuff years ago. Guess what I’ve starting canning again because of all the great canning and preserving cookbooks out there and the great produce in my garden. I’m using my pasta pot to can, not great but does work.
Wow, what an exciting giveaway! I am new to canning; I was given a pressure canner by a family member who lives far away and could not show me how to use it. It took a learning curve but now I happily pressure can! My water-bath set up is simple, just a stockpot with a rack. I would love to try this one out!
I have a small granite ware water bath canner and a small pressure canner both of which are over 20 years old. Would love to have a new canner.
I don’t have any canning materials … but would love to learn 🙂
I have both an old, large water bath canner and a silicone basket when I am canning small batches of jam (that I have made in my FreshTech jam/jelly maker). The set up,of my kitchen makes using the canner awkward and it would be wonderful to use the FreshTech Electric canner.
My big old aluminum water bath canner was passed down to me by a friend, and it was already dented and discolored when I received it. It has served me very well for 35 years, but I am ready for a change, and eager to try outdoor canning!
I have always just used a large pot with a rack. It worked fine, but not quickly. It takes forever to boil water on my stove. I tried the Ball Home -canning system. It is great, but requires using their limited recipes. I went back to my old method. I would so appreciate being able to use Ball’s new system. It would be a godsend, and give me more time to get to work in my garden.
Classic speckle canner on an OLD electric stove for me. I’m hoping to upgrade at least the stove this year and would love to add this beauty to the mix.
Don’t have any canning equipment other than jars. So would love to start with this!
I just use big pots and never seem to have quite enough space on my stovetop. This would be awesome because I could put it between my stove and sink.
I use a big stockpot and a pressure canner.
I’ve got a huge stockpot with a rag at the bottom to prevent jars from breaking, not pretty but I guess it works? I’m also usually sweating a lot…
I use a speckleware canning pot and a Cajun Cooker burner on the back porch. When it’s tomato season, I also set up a two burner propane camp stove to cook down the tomatoes.
I have been canning quite some time, but could certainly use some new equipment. Plus I’m teaching my daughter and my grandson to can, so we share our supplies between two families. He is 13, but loves to help me in the kitchen!
An electric water bath canner would be sooo nice. I have a small work area by my stove. The electric canner would let me spread out and make my canning easier. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I can a lot,actually anything possible! I find it very rewarding and enjoy giving my creations to people and have them begging for more. I really need an updated canning system because I’ve worn my old pot out. Please Please let me win the electric canner. Thank You !
i would love to have this new canning system in my kitchen! I grow lots of tomatoes which take me forever to process in the water canner. I also think this would be great for canning salsa while canning tomatoes on the stovetop-2 things at once
We use a stock pot and trivet. I bought a blossom you on your recommendation.! Love it
I use an old blue enamel pot with a metal insert. I make jams, jellies, pickles & mustards mainly. This canner seems very handy!
I’ve done quite a bit of canning but it is so hard to do it on the stove. It is always at the hottest time of the year that I have a quantity of produce to can and using the stove just makes the kitchen hotter. Also, when you’re using the burners on the stove, it is hard to prepare meals for your family. An electric canner would definitely be a dream come true!
Love it! And all of your great posts!
Hi, I use a stainless steel stock pot with a round cake pan rack in the bottom as my water bath canner. I love the idea of an electric water bath.
My mother and I pickle and preserve everything we can get our hands on. This would be a great tool to have in our canning kitchen!
Oh my gosh, I would be over the moon if I had a canner like that. I have only been canning since August 2014, and have a plain old canning pot that’s basically a stock pot with a rack. The bad part is that the rack has already started rusting, and the one I bought to replace it, which was made and marketed by the same company, didn’t fit the pot. So I’m still using the rusty one because I like the convenience of lowering all my jars at once. The rack has openings too large for the quarter pint jars, though, so I can those in the pasta cooking insert of another stockpot I’ve got. It’s just deep enough to let me keep those jars submerged by a couple of inches.
Our current setup is with a huge old canning pot and a silicone trivet in the bottom. Would like to try one of these newer setups and see how it compares.
I haven’t canned yet. My Grandma was a canner on a grand scale so I want to try because of her.
Canning is on my list of things to figure out this year. I have some books and its something I really want to learn.
I have a pressure cooker that can also be used as a water bath for pints and smaller. But I would love to have that on the stove and this contraption on the counter. Twice the jars!
We plant a garden every year and we process many fruits and vegetables. I would especially like this model to make my sweet celery dill pickles in. We raise the celery, onion, dill, and cucumbers that are in this recipe. I can’t wait to use it!!
I used my mother’s canning pot (thin-walled stock pot) for a handful of years – till it sprung a leak! I took that pot, punched some extra holes in it, and now it’s a planter in my yard, with “canned” lettuce growing in it.
Last year my husband bought me a thick-walled stock pot to replace the leaky one. When we have a bunch of stuff to can all at once, I’ll put out the largest soup pots too, and run them all together on the stove. It would be nice to have one that doesn’t depend on the stove, though – during the height of canning season, no one else in the house can cook any meals!
I am using my grandma’s canning equipment. I have fond memories of helping her make her cinnamon pickles!
I use a good old speckled water bath canner. When I have a small batch or too many jars for the canner, I get out the stockpot and silicone trivet. I have used the canner a LOT and if it lasts through this summer I will have to replace it. Would love to go electric and off the stovetop!
I just started to make jams and pickles.I would love this new technology to make jams.
What a great invention .
!
After many years as an avid home canner, I’ve recently launched my own small-batch, locally-sourced jam and jelly company! I’m glad to be able to operate out of my certified home kitchen in my apartment, but alas, it has a somewhat ancient and temperamental electric stove. A more reliable way to water bath can would be excellent, or a secondary option to double my output in the same tiny space would be wonderful as well!
I have the Ball Jam and Jelly Maker and love it! We have an electric stove and canning always turns into an all-day adventure. Would love to add a separate unit!
I just started to make jam… I would love this !
It would make my canning so much easier to set up!
I’m currently using a small enameled pot that can do 3 quarts at a time. It would be great to be able to do larger batches.
my Grandaughtera birthday is next month and wants this canner so much!! Hope I win this for her!
My Grandaughter Sarah wants one of these canners so bad. Her birthday is May and I would love to win this for her!!
Thank you!
I am using a large stock pot heated on a portable electric eye. This would really help me!
I freeze my homegrown veggies and would like to can – I am new to canning and do not have any kind of pot. Thank you Marisa and Ball Canning for this opportunity
Have electric stove,that has a burner that takes forever to heat my xanners up. Would be awesome to get at least my water bath canning off this burner.
My daughter and I can every year and can apples in the fall. This would be an awesome Birthday present for her! After I saw this giveaway she text me and said she just found about this canner!!! Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I use the standard speckled pot with the ridged bottom. But our kitchen is not well ventilated, so the steam from canning turns it onto a sauna. If I can for several days in a row, I have to wipe down the walls, it gets so moist. I would love to be able to can outdoors, or at least move the pot to a better-ventilated area.
I love canning and use the typical large speckled black canning pot for water bath canning. I have got most of my canning supplies as hand me downs from my mom. My canning situation become tricky last year when I bought a house with a stove that only has 2 burners! I canned last summer and it was a very tricky process with such a limited burner set up. This would help solve my issue for sure!
My main canner is a large speckled pot I bought used from a therapist who worked with my baby son. He’s 28 now, so I’ve had it awhile. It holds 7 quarts. When I do a small batch (3 pints or less), I use a tallish soup pot with a folded wash cloth in the bottom. I went super-power after you wrote your post about canning beans and bought the same pressure canner you recommended (using your link 🙂 ) and have done a number of loads in that as well.
My one very vintage piece is a huge aluminum pot from my grandmother (the queen of all canners) that I use when cooking large batches such as tomatoes in preparation for canning. I hope not too much of that aluminum ends up in my brain, but given that Grandma died at a ripe old age with all her facilities intact, I’m probably okay.
I bought my first water bath canner last year when The Canning Bug bit me!
I actually don’t have any canning equipment yet. My mom and sister have been using huge stock pots and just doing hot water baths for canning for the past several years, so that’s what I was planning on doing this year, but I’ve not found a stock pot big enough yet.
I put a washcloth in my stock pot to keep jars off the bottom of the pan on my electric stove.
I’ve been using any pot with a trivet I can get to fit on my tiny glass top stove. This set up would be awesome.
I was using a stock pot, but recently moved to a total electric house. I need a whole new set-up and would this do the trick. I have the jam maker and love it.
I have 1 water bath canner which I love, but it is pretty big and takes up a lot of room on the stovetop. Only 3 burners work on my stove (well, the fourth one works but sparks come out of it sometimes so I’m afraid to use it), so having an extra pot to can in that doesn’t take up room would be great.
My mother did a lot of canning/preserving while I was growing up. Guess it must have rubbed off on me because I love canning! Being a guy and a “canner” can be a challenge. When I give away one of my canning “babies” I often get strange looks, usually from other guys.
My mom passed away several years ago and I inherited her canning tools. I still use them but would sure love to add to my arsenal…
I usually use my stock pot on my glass topped stove. It works okay for jellies, but I can’t do very many pints or quarts at a time. This sure would come in handy! 🙂
I’m on my second waterbath canner (first one rusted out years ago), and my pressure canner is over 40 years old and still going strong! I LOVE canning!
I used to use my giant pressure canner’s pot for water bath canning. It is seriously enormous though, and I moved into an itty bitty place, so it isn’t so practical anymore except for those big-batch all-night canning marathons. I’d love to give something like this a shot in my tiny space, I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do this summer!
I’m a 23 year-old canner living in a rental house with one of those ridiculously small 18 inch wide stove tops! I’ve been canning with my mom ever since I can remember, and I’m now trying to teach my boyfriend all about the preserving and how rewarding it is. With my current kitchen situation, however, canning is an exhausting process that includes struggling to keep everything hot until my water decides to boil (about 45 minutes after it goes on the stove). Even if I don’t win the giveaway, I think this will be on my list of things to buy. It just may be the only way for me to cook on one burner and heat up my water on another.
Thanks for the great post! I’m so glad I know this exists! We’re planting a gigantic garden this year, but the canning on the horizon has been daunting, until now. 🙂
I have an old pressure canner I got from a neighbor – for waterbath canning, I just don’t lock the lid. I am thinking this new electric kettle would be amazing, especially as I’d use it not only for canning big batches of tomatoes this summer, but that spout would be perfect for dispensing mulled wine or cider for my annual christmas party 🙂
Would love to have this canner. I have a glass top stove which makes it hard to can. What a great idea.
I use hand me downs for everything, mostly my husband’s grandmothers pots. Also I have a tri-pod burner that hooks up to the propane tank from my grill so I can on the back porch. My apartment is just too small with no AC so prep work in the kitchen and canning on the porch.
I have been using hubby’s moms hand me downs. I do the best I can with what I have but being retired, it is not always easy to purchase new items AND I would be willing to share with friends so they CAN use it too..What a great giveaway.You guys rock! I love canning…:)
I have been canning for years, but with a new stove purchased last year I could not can. The burners would not hold the weight of a filled canner. I would love to have this new canner that does not need the stove so I can return to canning.
I use the largest stockpot we have. Would love to have a different setup to try something new.Would like to try canning outside.
I use my old blue enamel pot with lots of nicks in the enamel. I am in the process of teaching my sons girlfriend how to preserve- this would be a great addition to our kitchen!
I just use the largest stock pot we had in our house when I started canning. It’s been great for the batches I’ve made in it over the last few years! Would definitely love to upgrade my system though.
I have just started getting into canning and don’t have a set up yet. This would be awesome to start off with!