Canning supplies are the first step in making homemade preserves. Once you stock your kitchen with this list of basic canning equipment you’ll be ready to transform your fresh fruit or frozen fruit into homemade preserves.
Making jams, jellies, curds, marmalades, and other fruit spreads at home is a rewarding process. By crafting your own jams you can save money, control what ingredients are in your fruit preserves, and learn about the easy process of preserving foods.
Over the years I’ve enjoyed making many types of fruit spreads from jams and jellies to sweet butters and curds. Browse through all the canning recipes on my site here on this Canning Page. I am sure you’ll find recipes you’ll love making at home like orange-lemon marmalade, pecan praline sauce, and grape jelly.
Canning Resources
Excellent resources online that provide information about how to preserve food at home include the following:
National Center for Home Food Preservation and Pick Your Own
Read more about What is Pectin in this post that shares information about types of pectin and when it is necessary in jam and jelly recipes.
Canning Supplies
Here are the basic canning supplies that you’ll find useful as you learn how to preserve food. You may already have some of these– such as the stock pot. Other items like the jar lifter and magnetic lid wand will look funny at first but will become indispensable as you start making preserves.
Getting started in preserving and canning isn’t difficult but you do need to have the right canning tools. I’m guessing that once you get started with an easy jam recipe that you’ll catch the bug and will be canning all summer long!
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Get started on homemade canning with this basic list of canning supplies! Mason jars are the first canning supply you need to buy. Jars from Ball are my go-to, although other brands make canning jars too. Jars come in multiple sizes-- 4 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz and 16 oz. Also make note of the opening of the jar as it can be Regular or Wide-Mouth. Jar lids cannot be reused so you will need a steady supply of mason jar lids. Lids come in two sizes-- Regular and Wide Mouth. A Water Bath Canner, also called a Boiling Water Canner, is simply a very large stock pot (use it in the summer for corn on the cob or lobster!). I recommend this Water Bath Canner from Ball because it comes along with 4 essential canning tools: a jar lifter, lid lifter (a handy magnetic wand that helps place the lids on the mason jars), a plastic spatula that aids in removing air bubbles from the filled mason jars, and a funnel that makes transferring the hot fruity liquid into the mason jars easy without making a mess. Here are the tools included in the above canning set if you wish to purchase them separately. If you already have a very large stock pot, then buying these canning tools without the pot is the way to go. A pressure canner is a second method for processing your canned food. This tool is required for certain foods depending on the pH level to ensure safe preserving. An extra long handled spoon is a tool my mother-in-law first shared with me. She is an expert jam maker! The hot, bubbling fruit and liquid has a tendency to jump up while you are making jams and marmalades. This long handled spoon is very helpful in keeping your hands away from the hot liquid. Speaking of keeping your hands away from the hot liquid, let's protect your hands and arms with extra long silicone gloves like these oven mitts. A digital kitchen scale is a tool that you will use frequently-- not only for making homemade jams, but for baking as well. Canning Supplies
Ball Regular Mouth Mason Jars
Ball Regular Mouth Jar Lids
Note that you can use the Bands more than once. The bands come with the mason jars. If you eventually need more bands you may buy those separately too.
Ball Enamel Water Bath Canner, Including Chrome-Plated Rack and 4-Piece Utensil Set
Ball 14400-10720 Ball Utensil Set 4 Piece
Pressure Canner with Pressure Control
Beechwood Stock Pot Spoon, 24 Inch
Extra Long Professional Silicone Oven Mitts
Digital Food Scale
I hope you’ll find canning and preserving as rewarding as I have. Making preserves at home will not save you any time– there are more than enough options to buy at the grocery store– but you will delight in making quality jams, jellies and preserves to share with your family and friends. I’d love to hear what you make! Tag me on Instagram @abakershouse
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Holly Baker started the food blog, A Baker’s House, in 2011. She is the writer, recipe creator, and photographer for the site. Holly loves to bake and shares recipes for gluten free food, canning recipes, as well as traditional desserts too. Her recipes and food photography have been highlighted by BuzzFeed, Reader’s Digest, and She Knows.
Anne|Craving Something Healthy
Friday 26th of April 2019
I have always wanted to learn how to can fruit and vegetables but I have such a fear of giving someone botulism! Thanks for this great post - I'm gonna try to be brave this summer!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Tuesday 23rd of April 2019
So many great tips! And especially perfect for the upcoming season when we can pick those wild blueberries. I can enjoy some of my fave things all year long :)