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.
So exciting!
Large batches: good ol’ speckled enamelware canner.
Medium batches: my mom’s old stock pot, with the broken knob on the lid.
Teeny batches: RevereWare pasta pot with a 6″ rack in the bottom.
I use a large pot that I also use to steam my tamales.
I’ll be honest, I’ve been afraid to can. I usually fill the jars with jam, sauce, pickles, etc. and keep them in my fridge and give them away. I also use the plastic “jars” and freeze sauce, etc. I’ve seen this electric canner and think it would be perfect for a scaredy cat like me. The cost and lack of reviews have kept me from purchasing it. Thank you for the review and the chance to win one.
I normally make jams and such in my vintage orange Deskoware pot from the 1950s. (For those not in the know: Deskoware is porcelin-coated cast iron, just like Le Creuset. Actually, it could be argued that they’re the actually the forebears of Le Creuset, read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descowaree). The pot I use was my grandmother’s, and her old cookware combined with other vintage ceramic-cast iron pieces I’ve picked up at garage sales and swap meet over the years is what I normally cook everything on.
Unfortunately, I had a fight with breast cancer over most of 2014, and the weakness and fatigue from chemo along with the resulting severe neuropathy (which is ongoing) has made it hard for me to lift large heave cast-iron pots full of boiling, sticky liquids. Fortunately some friends of mine all pitched in and bought me a fresh tech jam maker, which I’ve been using like crazy. I haven’t been water-canning stuff unless I have help (I save stuff up for a day my mom or a friend can help with the pots) so I haven’t been making as much as I’d like. Something like this would be really helpful.
I am new to canning and have a small kitchen. The thought of moving production outside sounds wonderful!
These days, I’m using the bog-standard enamel kettle with various and sundry racks. And every time I do my mise en place, I get a little sad that I didn’t have the storage space to snag all the gear that my folks had in their canning kit. I do have a crazy electric pressure canner that a friend found in an old garage of a house he was working on. If I can ever figure out how to make sure it’s safe, I have the feeling it will be a beast! And usable outside, which, as you said, is a bonus on the scorching days.
I use a stock pot with a green plastic canning rack. It only fits about 3 jars at a time, so can be tedious when doing large batches but is great for small!
I’ve just started canning last year peaches, pickles and such. On the lookout for a presure cooker so I can can other food items from my garden. Learning as I go!
I am in the market for a new set-up, but am getting short on storage space and worry about the extra expense if i don’t use something very much. I have a glass cook top and I use a stock pot with a trivet. Not a perfect set-up, but I try to make do. I would can more if I had a better set-up, I promise!
I use a Mirror 22 qt. pressure canner, that was a gift to me from my parents 30 years ago. I’ve replaced the gasket a few times. It still works like a charm. I recently bought a Presto 22 qt. pressure canner to add to my canning arsenal. I also use a large blue enamel waterbath canner for pickles and such.
I’d love to be able to take the pressure canning process off the stove. This unit would be a dandy addition.
I was raised on a farm. We can, freeze, raise our own meat, eggs, etc. I have been canning for 40 years! I use 2 canners at once. My canners are old. One rusted through so now I only have one very old one. I love my own recipes. I have taught many women how to can, freeze and make jams. This canner would make my job so much easier. I can not wait for tomatoes to can. I make salsa, spaghetti sauce, BBQ sauce, etc. I still have my first Ball Canning Guide!!! Thanks Mom for teaching me all your tricks!
As an older woman, I don’t lift like I used to; I love the idea of the spigot for emptying the water after canning. This would be so great to win. I’m new to this site, but I will be checking in from time to time to learn and see what’s new. 🙂
I use a water bath method in a big blue enamel canner just like my mom did 60 years ago.
I still remember how hot and steamy the kitchen would be on tomato canning days.☺
I use a big stock pot, nothing fancy. I’d love to be able to use this bad boy outdoors when it’s too hot to can inside. When I was super pregnant last summer, we set up a propane burner outside to do some canning, and while it worked, it was kind of a pain in the butt. 🙂
I use my never-big-enough kettle, with a pretty purple silicon trivet inside. This…wow. While my first thought is, “where the heck would I store it?” that thought leaves quickly when I consider how amazing this would be to work with!
I have the classic speckled blue canning setup but recently moved into a house with a glass top cooktop so have cobbled together smaller pieces for smaller batches. I’d like a new rig!
an old blue speckled water bath canner
I use my big stockpot with a silicon trivet in it, I’ve been thinking of investing in a canning pot, but this looks really awesome!
I have a stock pot. This will be great. I have a glass top stove! This will eliminate my worries!
I would love one of these! I am indeed using my grandmother blue canning pot. The wire rack has just about seen it’s last days!
I am using a canner my mother in law found at a garage sale for 50 cents. I had it checked out by our extension office and it works great been using it for 4 years now!
i use my mother-in-law’s old canner on my stove top…and for big batches I pull out my stock pot with a silicone trivet. It’s very VERY tight, but it mostly works.
My current set up is either a traditional speckled canning pot, or a stockpot for smaller batches of 3-4 jars. Something like this would be nice to move the canner off my stove, but it is s bit pricey for a uni-tasker. I do love the spigot to empty. Sure beats lifting a huge pot full of hot liquid across my kitchen!
I really enjoy canning. I use the old black speckled water bath canner. With the size of our garden, I need to do several goes of things. It would be nice to have another canner to run at the same time and help save time.
I have my aunts canner and it needs a seal. I have been using the water bath method fort salsas and hot pepper rings!!!
I would love to try this!
I’ve been using my stock pot with a pasta insert. The insert keeps the jars off the bottom of the pot and functions perfectly as a jar lifter. The only problem is that I’m limited to 5 half pints or 4 pints at a time, I could really use something bigger for making large batches of applesauce.
I actually am new at canning and ready to learn! I have an old school canner that was just given to me but this electric one would be awesome to get started with! Thanks for this chance!
I did see this in my travels online, but didn’t realize it was quite so pricey. Best thing about it is the ability to can outdoors in summer, I think – especially for tomatoes with their long processing time.
I use a 4th burner pot for canning. I love it, but its capacity is so small that I can only process one or two jars at a time, so the process can take forever. For the occasional big batch, I use an 8-quart stockpot and put a dish towel in the bottom.
Canning setup includes a natural gas stove and an enamel canner given to me years ago from my MIL. The new Ball electric canner would be great to have to get the heat out of the kitchen during the hot, humid summer months when all the produce comes in! It would be great to set up on the back porch, and keep all the heat outside. The Ball electric canner does seem a bit pricey, but it sure would save money by not having to run the a.c. like mad while canning during the hot months.
I have a very big pressure canner which I haven’t used for some time. I have a couple of stock pots for water bath canning. And I also have a food pressure cooker which I use for very small (think three pints) batches of canning.
I have been canning for the last 4-5 yrs. I have taught myself for the most part. I started with my grandmother’s black and white speckled canning pot. She had passed away several years prior to that and the pot had started rusting. So my water would turn brown when I used it. My husband thought it was gross so he bought me the Ball Stainless Steel Canning pot w glass lid. I love it! But as I get more comfortable w canning we have been increasing our garden size and I would love to have another canner! Also I would to have less heat in my kitchen by using this new Electric Water Bath Canner!
i want to can, my mother did, but it never do it. This would be easy to use and get me going.
I have a glass cooktop, and canning on it will invalidate my warranty — so I don’t dare do that! Consequently I freeze everything, and frankly I haven’t moved beyond small-batch jams, chutneys, and fruit butters — because I don’t have enough extra space even in the basement freezer (which is also home to half a cow), and I can’t easily give away frozen preserves, which can’t make a long journey.
So a freestanding water bath canner would be a Godsend!
I have used an old pot for water baths in the past and would love to start canning the fresh fruit and veggies available now in Florida. I grew up in a family of 9 who lived off the canned produce from our annual garden in New Jersey. I have fond memories of my mother canning enough to fill the cellar shelves and feed us all winter.
lol, I am using my Great Grandmothers canning set-up. An upgrade would be nice but I’d still have to keep her’s, it’s too close to my heart.
My canning setup includes a glass top stove (which is a pain) and a wide copper pan (which is a joy to use).
I started canning by accident. My mother-in-law gave me a box of tomatoes and since I didn’t want them to go to waste, I attempted canning them. The only canning item I owned was a utensil that picked up a jar. I started with a stock pot and I am still using the stock pot for all my canning with great results every time. Jam is my favorite thing to preserve. It would be nice to have a luxury item like the Fresh Tech jam and jelly maker. I am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping to win.
I use my mom’s canning pot. Pressure canners scare me! This would be awesome to win!
I use the speckled canner and I have an aluminum one. I can only fit one on my stove at a time. Wish I coukd of had a bigger stove. This would be great for pepeople yourthosehoursingersople with a small side or a glass top. Also great for those hot Sumner days for canning.
I have the big speckled pot and wire basket for canning large batches of large jars, like tomatoes. Most of my recent canning has been small batches, so I use a stock pot and Ball’s green silicone basket. I’ve never done canning outdoors, but it sounds like a great idea for large summer batches. This new Ball canner/ cooker would be perfect indoors or outdoors.
I’m on a canning site and several people have gotten these and really like them. I’d LOVE to have one, as my stove top is so small that when I use my canner, I have to take two burner covers off so my canner will sit evenly (which means that I have just one full burner left to use). This would greatly help my canning by freeing up my stove! I sooooo hope I win. 🙂
As for how I’m set up – I use my enamel canner only when necessary (water bath canning quarts). Otherwise, I use my pressure canner (for both pressure canning and water bath canning pints and 1/2 pints). I can a lot so I make my kitchen work, but my set up is not ideal!
I have a speckled water bath canner, my mother’s pressure canner and her steam juicer. I also have a silicone rack for doing smaller water bath batches in my stock pot.
I bought a “canning kit” online, and it’s…okay. It does the trick, but my stove isn’t all that powerful. Getting it to boil to process cans can take a lot of patience (and a large PGW bill). An electric waterbath canner would simplify the process and save my house a lot on utility bills!
I’ve got a water bath canner that my parents got me for Christmas a couple of years ago. For my birthday this year my parents also got me a pressure canner. Last year was the first year I canned…and I have to admit I am hooked. My husband and I are looking forward to tomato season this year to specifically make your tomato jam (I broke down over winter and bought some tomatoes at a world market to try the jam, both of us love it).
I would love one of these. I have a flat top stove in the house so I have to do all of my canning outside.
I use a large enamel pot that I bought a few years ago. I happily can loads of tomatoes at the end of the summer!
I have only begun canning and use a large pot on the stove. Found it to be very intimidating and somewhat messy, but I got through it. Pickles were my mission and some turned out great…some not so much. I am excited to give it a try again this summer. I think this system would be an answer to my prayers! I would definitely try more canning!