Ball FreshTech Electric Water Bath Canner, Silver

Excellent canner! I have been home canning for a lot of years and when I heard about this canner, I decided to buy it and try it. I found it has a lot of good points: 1. It's really convenient to use right by the sink so I can use the spigot to empty out the water. 2. It has good capacity. 3. The tight fitting lid is a plus. There are two steam vents in the glass lid, but the kitchen doesn't get overly steamed up when the canner is operating. 4. I like the fact that this electric water canner allows me to use all of the stove top when I am prepping for and cooking pickles, relishes, fruits, jellies, or jams. 5. The canner parts store inside the canner itself which keeps the parts together and makes for much easier storage. All in all, it's a wonderful appliance. I'm glad I bought it.

I do a LOT of canning, all through the year. Some small batch, some large batch. My problems? I have a glass-top stove with only 4 burners of various size. By the time I get my huge pot on the stove for my quart-jar canning, my small pan with my lids, and whatever pot I am using to make whatever I am canning, my stove space is beyond maxed out and I worry about my glass-top stove. So when I saw that Ball was releasing this, I saved and saved and saved so I could jump on it as soon as it was released. And I am *so* glad I did!I pretty much paid little attention to the instruction manual, other than a quick glance. It is fairly self-explanatory, except for the large metal disc with holes in it. It goes together easily, and is marked clearly for water limits inside the canner. I put it together, and immediately set about making some taco sauce from the Ball canning book.The electric canner is a dream to use. It heats well, though it will not get to a full rolling boil unless you have it at the canning setting. It got to a full rolling boil in a little less time than what my pot would be on the stove (I tested it the night before, out of curiosity.). I put my jars inside the canner to the high setting and let it heat up while I made the taco sauce. This way, the jars were kept hot while I waited. Then I bumped it up to the canning setting about 10 minutes before I was ready to jar the sauce. From there, it was a simple matter to pull the jars, fill them as usual, and stick them back in the canner. As for the large metal disc? That is to help conduct heat within the pot during canning and to help diffuse the boiling water. You simply set it on the tops of the jars when they are loaded, and pull it out by the handle when they are done! I also noticed that this prevented the jars from rattling around within the canner, which I appreciate.I loved having the pot by my sink, as that makes it so much easier to fill (and empty). My stove was less cluttered and more efficient, and the canner holds several more jars than my old pot. At this point, I don't have any cons - but it's a new piece of equipment, so I will be curious to see how well it holds up to lots of canning during the busy summer season.In short - while I have not gotten any of the other FreshTech equipment, as I couldn't justify the price for the limited usage, this will truly be in fairly constant use in my house. If you are looking at any of their pieces, this would be the one I would recommend over any of the others. Throw in the steaming capacity and the ability to use it for drinks (summer parties!), and it really is an excellent piece of equipment for a good price.

Does everything during the Canning process. Perfect size for quart size jars. Love it. The spikot is great to remove water when needed or when done.

Works really well and is much more convenient than working on a stove.

Love love love this! Used it for making jam and jelly last night! It was so easy! I was using a 2 burner hot plate with my water bath canner on it to save stove top space. Always worried the canner might tip off the hot plate. This plugged in by the sink, wasn’t in my way of the stove or sink and heated up quickly and all my jars sealed! I’m pretty excited with this purchase and can see I will be making a lot more jams and jellies and salsas in the near future!