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.
I have a cuisinart stock pot but the only way I can get to to boil on the glass top stove is to put my heavy, cast-iron dutch oven lid on top. It’s not the greatest system. Also: outdoor canning! That sounds amazing in the middle of the summer when the kitchen can be such a steamy mess.
I’ve only done small-batch (3 jars of jam) canning with a pot on the stovetop. Since I’m a total novice, I don’t have a good setup, and I’ve burnt my fingers and broken jars trying to get things in and out of the water. I’d love to get into more preserving, though!
I am using a Mirro water bath canner . Sometimes I take it to the porch and put it on a hot plate when I have a lot of canning to do on a hot summer day. I would love to have this nice electric one.
I use a traditional stovetop water bath scanner
I would love to be able to can outside in the summer, instead of looking out my kitchen window while canning, wishing I was in the warm, sunny weather!
I have a large pressure cooker with a little rack on the bottom. I had never even thought about stacking pint jars. Although I’m not sure that mine would be tall enough for that. This one would be perfect especially since my house gets so hot when I start canning stuff.
Oh, what a joy this would be to have! My current set-up is an old canning pot and rack that I bought at an estate sale a few years ago, on a glass-top electric stove that takes forever to get adequate heat to boil a substantial quantity of water. I’ve since substituted a silicone trivet for the rack. Beyond canning, I could use this pot for steaming tamales (which I love to make, but don’t have a good way to steam a lot of), and making cheese.
I used to use just a hot water bath pan years ago but I want to get a little more modern. Thanks for an awesome giveaway.
I have a enameled oval ham cooker with a built in rack and cover. I put it for canning on the central hob of my LaCanache gas range. The cooker is fine but big, and is old with a lot of chips and now rust in the enamel. I can a lot
To have this new canner and the freed up space? I would feel like a queen.
I have my Mom’s old pot but I like the idea of getting it off the stove top. Seems like it takes forever to get the water to boiling.
I have a glass stove top that takes forever to boil. Therefore, it has prevented me from doing much canning for my large family. This would be a huge blessng!
i love canning but the house I am living in does not have a stove that gets hot enough to can, so this would be awesome. Defiantly looking into buying one of these!
I still have my large blue speckled boiler…42 years old & not rusted. I bought a smaller one for pints a few hears ago. Also have a pressure canner. This new one would expect great because I
could drain some of the water out making it easier to empty. I’ve also been using canner on the side burner of my grill outside to cut down on the heat & humidity in kitchen.
Have two speckled granite canner and one pressure canner- and would LOVE this to move operations outside on my porch – it’s beautiful!!
This would be fabulous for all the salsa I plan to can this summer.
I use a canner pot, but I don’t like it because it gets a white film on everything and it’s hard to get rid of. Though I like having the canner rack, I almost prefer my days of using my big pasta pot and throwing either joined rings or my silicone hot pad at the bottom of it. Would love to step it up a notch! (Also, I’m using a canning pot on a glass cooktop, which I know is technically a no-no, but I’ve never had a hard time getting a good seal or a constant boil, so I think I’m OK.
Rose, the white film is probably from minerals in your water. Add some white vinegar to the canning water to prevent those mineral particles from adhering to the pot or the jars.
I just use a cheap stockpot. It doesn’t work great and I’ve been hoping for something like this!
I have been dying to try canning for a few years now, but have never been brave enough to actually try it; seems that something like this might make things a bit easier for this wannabe-newbie!
I’m using my bread maker for making jams, because it has that feature, but I really need a good canner.
we’re currently using graniteware, which gets us through most of our canning; for smaller batches, i throw a silicone trivet or a dish towel in the bottom of a smaller stockpot. i also got a 4th burner pot for christmas – haven’t used it for canning yet, but it works a treat with asparagus. 🙂
We love canning, but not as easy as you’d think to find a good canning pot for an induction cooktop. This would make things much easier.
I would absolutely love to have an electric water bath canner. I currently use a classic speckled canner that I bought about 15 years ago. Our cook top is propane but we have an 8kw solar array that provides most of our power. A change from propane-fueled canning to solar electric would take my preserving completely off fossil fuels. Hurrah!
I have a Ball stainless steel 21 qt canner that I use with a Waring Pro burner, not my glass stovetop. I also use a 12 qt stockpot with a silicone trivet (both thanks to you!) and an 8 qt stockpot with a rack for smaller batches
I enjoy canning every year, it helps me to calm down to know i will have the foods for the winter an sometimes even during the next summer for my family
I have the classic speckled pot with a wire rack, which I actually really like. It fits nicely on my gas stove, and I have the blanching pot that I use for smaller batches.
I confiscated my moms canner a number of years ago. She wasn’t using it at the time. Last season she wanted to make some salsa and borrowed my sisters. This would be great to have and then I could return my moms to her.
Having limited room, this would come in handy on my porch to can with. I use the old speckled pot that sometimes disappears when my family is lucky enough to get a lobster or two given to them, then they snag my canner 🙁
I have a cheap electric glass top stove. I can only use a small stock pot for canning as my stove takes way to long to heat anything in large amounts.
I have my husband’s grandmothers blue speckled canner! It’s almost rusted out but I continue to use it! I also use a lot of her old canning jars because I know she used all this with love and a lot of hard work!
What a great giveaway. been using a stock pot on the stove, It would be great
to a have a real canning set up. thank you
I use a crab pot to boil and process my jars. Many of my jars are my mothers from 50 years ago.
I’m a canning novice and I just use my biggest stockpot. Only holds four quart jars…
I have 2 pressure canners and 1 old granite water bath canner
I need to replace I don’t have a canning season I can always find something to can
I am just starting and need a setup.
My set up is an old enamel canning stock pot on an electric range with a special reinforced canning element. The original element was burnt out from my first canning adventure thanks to high heat and the weight of a canner!
I use a Victorio on a glass stove. I would love to free up my stove space.
Oh my,be still my heart. I use the old-style water canner. Not my grandma’s, I taught myself how to can that way as a young wife/mother. I am seventy years old widow and just canned a batch of spaghetti sauce last week. This “canner” would be wonderful to have in my kitchen.
I have Mom’s old speckled canner and a glass top stove. This would make everything so much faster and more efficient!
I have a blue and white speckled big ol’ canning pot from mom with rack; an asparagus pot for tiny batches; and a Mirro weighted gauge pressure canner. If I want a midsize batch, I use a tall stock pot + silicone trivet.
Just a stockpot with a canning trivet – and I agree with you about tomato season!!
great idea. I can on a glass top gas stove so the heavy pot is always a little concerning. I no longer use a “canning” pot – just a large pot with a silicone trivet that I fashioned from a silicone lid. Love the spigot – no lugging boiling water if I need to use the stove. And with the outdoor plug I could skip making it rain kn my kitchen 🙂 Hope to see a lower price point though.
i use the blue speckled pot…but would love to have a second canner going. Oregon strawberries will be coming in soon and it seems I can never make enough jam and preserves!
i can in a large stockpot, but my glass too stove takes forever to heat up, so I would love this Ball water bath canner!
I have a blue speckled canning pot that I bought at my neighborhood Ace hardware store.
I don’t currently can anything as I have an ancient smooth top stove from the seventies. I was told you can’t use smooth top stoves for canning. This would be great to get started.
I have 2 pressure canner and 1 old granite water bath
I’m always finding something to can all year round
I don’t have a canning season thank you for letting me enter
I use a stock pot. I would like to try something a little more functional though.
Me and my husband use a big stock pot with a silicone trivet – actually the Blossom Trivet from Spice Ratchet which you had shown on your blog 🙂
I use an enamel water bath canner but also have a Presto pressure canner. Both have seen their share of use as I love preserving fresh foods!
I’ve been primarily using a cheap stockpot with a wire rack. I’m not happy with the setup, mostly because the cheap pot means tons of heat loss. I’m in the process of swapping out some of my elements to make the whole process a bit more streamlined.