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 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!