Beginning canners - ISO help/advice, please.

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Team Jay and Samantha

Assistant Cook
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
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4
Location
North California
My husband and I are starting to make preserves and canning veggies but we are having a hard time finding some ingredients; such as canning salt. Does anyone have some ideas on where we can find a place and/or online where we can get the supplies? ie read that kosher salt is canning salt. Is that true?
 
Welcome to DC. You can count on getting more help than you ever realized here. We have folks who can every year. So just wait a few minutes and you will have an answer.

And once you have your answer, don't forget to stick around. We love new members and pictures of food. Food Porn! I am not a canner any more. And I always canned fruit. Not veggies. So my canning days did not call for salt. But hang in there, you will have an answer. I promise!!! :angel:
 
Morton pickling salt is available online.

Amazon.com : Morton Canning an Pickling Salt 4 pound box (2 pack) : Allspice Spices And Herbs : Grocery & Gourmet Food

When we canned years ago we used regular table salt. Table salt has iodine and anti caking or clumping chemicals added to it and pickling salt is just fine salt. If you are only doing a little small batch canning I would not bother with pickling salt. If you can enough to use a box of pickling salt then by all means give it a try. I would use table salt in equal amounts to the pickling salt called for in your recipe.

Good luck!
 
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Starting to Canning!

I wouldn't use table salt for canning, it makes the brine cloudy with the additives especially if you are making pickles. Pickling salt is best, kosher salt works as well.

We can find pickling salt at all the grocery stores here, but sometimes it's a scavenger hunt, as it's not always where you would expect it to be. Salt lasts forever and does not expire, so even if you get more than you need, it won't ever go bad.
 
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I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt or sea salt for canning, because that's what I have around (Morton kosher has anti-caking ingredients). Any salt that's just plain salt will work. You can safely use any salt, but like Dawgluver says, the anti-caking agents in table salt will make a cloudy product.

I teach canning and dehydrating classes for my county Extension, and this site has all the info that we use. It's a really good resource for beginners: National Center for Home Food Preservation

Have fun, but be forewarned...canning is addictive!
 
I usually find it in a large box on the bottom shelf of the spice section of the grocery store. It says canning and pickling salt. But regular salt will work just fine.
 
WalMart or a big grocery store will have canning salt, but you might have to wait a couple months. You will definitely find it during the summer.

Do visit Bookbrat's link. That site has absolutely everything that a beginner needs to know. I have been canning for more years than I want to think about, and I still revisit that site. The Ball Blue Book is also a good reference, available with the canning stuff in the store or from Amazon.

You will be so proud when you see those beautiful jeweltoned jars lined up on the counter!
 
Thanks again for all the replies. I have one of the Ball preserving book that I use as a guideline. My husband and I just made a Jardiniere and we used Kosher salt. How long should we let the Jardiniere set for the best flavor?
 
Four to six weeks is best. At least a couple of weeks if you can't wait to try them!
 
Welcome, Team Jay and Samantha. :flowers:

I don't know anything about canning, but just want to welcome you to DC. :LOL: :)
 
I started canning a few years ago. I wish i had started sooner. I can a lot of meat. Beef and pork. It is super easy and so delicious. Invest in a good pressure canner. I do not use the one with the gauge. Make sure you get a pressure CANNER and not a cooker. They are different. You can use a canner for a cooker not the other way way around.

Mirro 22-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner - Walmart.com
 
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