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 grandmother and mother both canned vegetables and pickles every summer. We ate vegetables year round and I loved helping them. I would love to continue the tradition and this would help me on my way
It would be so awesome to win this as i only have a small setup right now with a sq ft garden growing! !!!
up until 7 yrs ago I was canning w/a pot I bought in the 90’s. But we moved and the stove is a glass top so I can’t can/preserve. I’m so anxious to learn more about the new Ball multi cooker. I really appreciate your posts and would be thrilled a winner. – thank you
I use a medium size water bath or a stock pot and jar rings for small batches. This electric water bath would be excellent to use when I go back to rv living.
I am a beginner canner and am looking forward to canning this year. My mom pasted away when I was young and so I had no one to teach me. I have a few supplies and would love to win this.
I have an enamel water bath canner and my mother-in-laws pressure canner. Use a propane burner out doors, so my house doesn’t get too hot
I’m new to canning!!! Last year I made apple butter, blueberry jam and strawberry jam. I’ve always wanted to learn how to can, but no one in my family canned, so I had no one to teach me…. Well, I figured it could learn this on my own. Lol! And absolutely LOVE making jams! I give them as gifts and of course keep a few for myself. The strawberry j that I made last year was by far my favorite, ever!i
I ended up just buying a large pot to can it. Nothing fancy. I also have a glass top stove, so I am a little paranoid I’m going to do something wrong! Eeek!
Anyway, thanks for this opportunity!!!
i have the big blue speckled pot. I’m ready for something new and exciting! I will be canning TONS of tomatoes and peppers this summer. This would be a fantastic addition to my prepping arsenal!!
I still do my hot bath canning old school. The big kittle with the rack to put the jars in, set the timer and wait. One of the new hot bath canners would sure make my work easier !
I can still hear my Mom & Grandmother talking while canning, they would spend hours talking about every thing. Learned a great deal listening to them about canning and receipts. Young people today would rather buy there food that prepare it themselves. The old way is much better and taste much better! You can control the salt and sugar in the jars.
Thanks for listening to me.
I have stopped trying to can/preserve after three unsuccessful years. I did, what I thought was, everything right from sterilizing the jars to cooking the apple sauce well but each time I got mold in the jars. I made a ginger apple pear sauce last year and it was so disheartening to find most of the 36 jars were unusable!
An amazing canner like this would get me back in to canning and preserving our amazing produce.
I remember my aunt teaching me to can and I’d love to make her proud.
Thank you for the chance to win this product.
Lesli.
I and Our Son-in-law need a new one. He raises a wonderful Garden each year and cans his produce. So Proud of him
I have a big old enamel canner. It is so much larger than the burners thst it’s not possible to use it on my stovetop. I’ve expanded my garden snd hsve to freeze the produce unleds I use a stockpot and smaller jars. An electric canner would be a Godsend.
I have been seriously canning for eight years with the old standard speckled black water bath canner. I have a garden and sell my canned products at local farmers market. Would love to have this canner to use. Thank You,
Mrs. O
I would love to win this! I garden, but have never gotten to can anything because the supplies are so expensive. This would be a dream come true!
I been eyeing this beauty for quite a while. I have my Grandmother’s canning kettle from both sides and my Mom’s. I love doing an outdoor kitchen set up when I can. I have been fortunate to live alot of places. My collection of canning jars ALWAYS travel with me! The jars are packed like fine china! LOL My husband does not question this fact as he, my family and friends enjoy the wonders every year. Embracing and introducing this craft to my younger friends is a mission. Every time I am canning I feel my Mom, my father’s mother and my maternal grandmother working with me. Helen, Clara and Suzanne would be extremely thrilled. I would be too!
Thank you!
pick me pick me pick me pick me pick me pick me
I am using a stockpot. I am canning more and growing a lot of my own food to avoid the pesticides and GMO products. My canner got lost in a move and I am in need of a new one. This one sounds perfect.
I’ve had to throw out my old speckled canner because it got a funky gunk in it from some spaghetti sauce that boiled out of a jar, and I just couldn’t get rid of it. So I used a large enamel pot last year, but it doesn’t have a jar holder, and the jars clink together when it comes to a boil. Plus, I have a glass top stove, and I don’t like to do my canning on it. I can’t afford a new system because of medical bills. I would really love to try this new system out. Thank you for considering me!
This would really be a wonderful addition to my kitchen.
All I have ever used was the old blue and white speckled enamel canner. I haven’t been canning recently because I have read they are not safe anymore. I have had a friend come to my home and bring their pressure canner to can some beans with me. I have never got the nerve to try pressure canner myself. I would love to win one of Balls’ new canners and get back to canning
This would be perfect for me. I have a hard time carrying big heavy pots of water and I could set this up right next to the sink. I also like the additional uses. Oh, I hope I win.
I have an old aluminum pot (which I’m now finding out that aluminum is linked alzheimer’s, I know we are not eating out of it…but trying to get rid of all aluminum and plastics) I would LOVE this water bath (and it is on my list to purchase). I have a cooktop that says in the directions that you are NOT suppose to use the cooktop (it’s glass) to can with….so my glass cooktop is all scratched up as I can not lift the pot when it’s full of water. Thanks for offering this in a giveaway I have my fingers crossed and my kiddos do too!
I have the speckled water bath canner and was recently gifted a Presto pressure canner. I use them on my glass top stove or water bath can outside on the camp chef set up. I would love to try the electric canner!
I am using a classic blue enamel pot on my glass top stove for water bath canning. I can a lot of jellies and pickles every year for our use and to give away as Christmas present because money is tight. It can be a real pain to try to get all of the pots that I need on the stove at once and my canner is really large. I have told my husband that I WANT one of these for Christmas this year and I think he is putting money back for it but it would be awesome to win this one!
I use my mothers blue speckled pot to can peaches, pears, tomatoes, and cucumber salad.
I am using my mom’s old pressure pot for water bath canning. The lid was lost long ago, but the pot is nice and thick and I believe will last forever.
I bought my water bath canner from Ball many years ago. The canning book that came with it is so awesome. I actually have several other BALL canning and freezer books that I use it for most canning recipes. This FreshTech Electric Canner would be great. I do a lot of canning as my husband thinks its not a garden unless its a huge garden. I would be so pleased to be the winner of this great appliance. Wow. Thanks Ball for the opportunity to have a chance to win this.
I have a small inherited aluminum pot that I’ve used in the past for canning, for the most part I make refrigerator pickles and lacto ferment because of my lack of equipment. Seems like this beaut might be just the ticket!
This would be awesome to free up the stove! Plus, my WB canner’s bottom is about to go.
Oh, my goodness!!! What a great giveaway! I have been canning for about five years, and still consider myself a novice. I have a glass top stove, but that has not stopped me! However, now that I see this FreshTech Electric Canner, I am thinking that if I don’t win this, I will likely buy one. . .at some point!!!! I love to can and dehydrate and freeze and whatever else I can do to preserve food. Like I said, I am not great and I am always learning. . .isn’t that what life is all about! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I hope that whoever wins uses their new canner with love and joy!!!
My son as a joke got me the bigest blue speckled pan he could find. He’s like here mama you have such big pan you can make enough food for all my squadron in the Air Force. I have been using it regularity so I can send some canned goods home for the guys. They get some homemade goodies when their mama isn’t there. But it is hard to use sometimes because it is so big. But I love to cook so I make it an give the boys a taste of home!☺☺☺☺
WANT ONE!!!!!
I use an old fashioned blue speckled, worn out canning pot with the wire lifter inside. I would love one of these for my tiny kitchen where much canning happens year round. It would actually free up my stove for whatever is being cooked to preserve!
I come from a long line of canners and I am proud to carry on this tradition. There is great self worth in providing for your family through your own hands. When I first learned, I used the inverted method. But safer methods have moved the process to using water bath and pressure canners. I have an old pressure canner. I use the pressure canner pot for the water bath method without the lid as I have not had the gauges tested. I hope to be considered for this giveaway. It would be great to show my mom, also a canner, new ways to make things a little easier for her. 🙂
I am just getting interested in canning and have tried a few things but I only have a single burner in my small kitchen.
I have a gigantic stock pot that gets used for everything, including canning. No pressure cooker yet.
as of yet I haven’t been able to purchase a canning setup but can’t wait to start!
I can with a pressure canner my father in-law bought me for Christmas a few years ago. It works wonders for large batches of tomatoes, soups, meats, etc, but it would be so helpful to have a water bath canner for small batch jams and jellies.
What a beautiful invention! When I lived near my parents’ farm, I always borrowed my mom’s canning equipment, which included hand-me-down pieces from both grandmothers. Since moving another state away, I have had to rely on the kindness of a new friend, who loans me the canner from our local Williams-Sonoma store’s test kitchen. It’s not convenient, but it’s my only option until I can afford my own.
Crossing my fingers! Whoever wins will certainly have fun!
I am currently using two enamel canning pots w/ jars racks and a big Ball pot (which I love) once I’m done using it to make jams.
This new pot would be a huge help in our kitchen because my husband can set up the processing while my sister and I can keep using the stove for cooking. This way we can spend less time in the church kitchen waiting for jars to be done! I can’t begin to tell you how much we need one of these and how excited I was to read you had tested it out!
I can with a pressure canner my father in-law bought me for Christmas a few years ago. It works wonders for large batches of tomatoes, soups, meats, etc, but it would be so helpful to have a water bath canner for small batch jams and jellies.
I have been canning for the past 3 years. I didn’t learn until I was an adult. I use this big green speckled pot with a broken vegetable steamer basket flipped upside down in the bottom. It’s kind of curved so I have to carefully balance the 7 jars I can fit against one another so they stay upright. My mother, who lives 2500 miles away, also cans and we ship jars of goodies back and forth. I send her tomatillo salsa from AZ, and she sends me bread and butter squash pickles from MI. It’s a way to share a meal and stay in touch. I would love a new set up so I can share more love with far away family.
My current set up is so limited because my husband and I are living with my parents while we look for our own home and their kitchen is tiny! Currently I use a large stock pot with the silicon trivet you recommended, or I use an asparagus steamer pot for small batches of 2-4 jars.
I would love to be able to can outside this summer since taking over the whole kitchen for my project means inconveniencing 3 other adults who need the kitchen. It would be so great to get out of the way
I have a smallish stock pot for small canning projects, but if I am doing a full batch, I dig out a giant 10-gallon pot (used for brewing) that leaves scorch marks on the stove. I’ve only just started using a silicone trivet, before that I went without a canning rack.
I use a granite canner for water bath and a pressure canner for the items that need require the higher temp/pressure to process. I’d love to make more room in my kitchen and move the canning process to a cooler area.
I grew up canning with my parents. I have canned off/on when I could in my live. At one point I took the class and was certified as a Master Food Preserver. For the past 15 years, I was living in a home with a glass top stove which made canning a challenge. I recently moved out to the country and into a small log cabin and am getting back into canning. Being able to can NOT on my stove would be a big benefit in my kitchen, especially during those sweltering late summer/fall days (and no air conditioning!). I’m always looking into making the best use of my space e.g., I have also ventured into sous vide, mainly because it frees up my kitchen area. I use a “granite” canner for water bath and a pressure canner for the items that need require the higher temp/pressure to process. The canning pieces of my kitchen have been with me many years and 5 states. I’d love to add this to my repertoire. It would definitely be used!
I would love to have one of these. I’ve always wanted one of these, but they are so expensive that I could never afford to get one. I want to start eating healthy and I believe by having one of these, we can have fresh food to eat instead of all those processed food.
this is such a great giveaway. I am actually just starting out and don’t have much yet.
Thanks for the chance to win.
I am very new to canning. I bought a large enamel pot with a wire rack for jars at a yard sale last year. I am planning a larger garden this year and hope to get to use it more. So far I’ve only canned some jams and jellies. I am unable to use artificial sweeteners and am always on the lookout for recipes that contain natural alternatives for sugar.
I learned to can in high school with my amazing Home Ec teacher, Jean Newman. I would like to pick it up again to make healthy food for my family and elderly Mom. This product looks like I could make that happen!!
I am a beginning canner. I have a glass cooktop and it takes FOREVER to heat the water to preserve my jams and pickles. I use my Ball FreshTech Jam and Jelly Maker to make small batches and love it especially as they have so many recipes and keep coming out with more. I am sure this new water bath canner is just as great and would be a lifesaver (or at least home cooling cost saver).
Oh yes; I am still using the old blue, speckled enamel pots for my canning. The ones with the wire thing inside to lift out the jars. Which I have burned myself with lifting out the jars.I have a smooth top stove so I know that this canner is my dream. I also have my mothers, grandmothers, and a yard sale find; pressure cookers. It was my mom that always used the pressure cookers because I was afraid of them and still am.That’s why I use the water bath method for my canning of apples, pears, beans, tomato juice, tomatoes, salsa, squash, okra, and anything else I can do with the water bath method. The use of your electric pot would get used summer and fall for canning and in the winter for cooking up all the things I have canned.