A friend of mine on the Christian Forum asked this question and nobody seems to know the answer! Why do pressure canners have different water capacities if the most a canning recipe calls for is 2 quarts of water? For example, my canner holds 12 quart jars and up to 4 quarts of water..other canners hold 12 quart jars and only 2 quarts of water..whay need more water than is called for in pressure canning recipes (mine all say 2 quarts for meat)...????????

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), February 12, 2002

Answers

I was thinking about this earlier,and I think the larger capacity may just be in case you want to use it as a cooker rather than a canner alone. You could cook up some big batches of soup, or a very large roast in some of those big canners. That is all I can think of...

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), February 12, 2002.

most canners have a removeable screen on the bottom, and you pressure cook with it also

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 12, 2002.

I think each canner manufacturer builds theirs to a little different standard and it takes more liquid to make the steam to make the pressure?? I have notice that difference in the different canners.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 12, 2002.

Check out pressurecooker-outlet.com, they have some canners at good prices.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), February 12, 2002.