Last fall after helping my friend Teresa learn how to make and can jam she borrowed my canning rack and accessories. She still has them (not heart-broken though, they were much too big for the small batches of canning I like to do). Last week I was going through the coupon sheets that come in our local mail and saw one for $2 off the new Ball Canning Discovery Kit.
I was in a certain big box retailer this morning and happened to go by the canning section when I saw it. They had it for $10 (less than the $11.50 Ball sells it for in the above link). With my coupon I got it for $8. What a deal, I couldn’t pass it up. It is small enough to handle my micro canning I do and no need for a large pot anymore! This is a neat idea for the urban cook. It comes with the basket/handle, a small booklet on canning and 3 nice Ball jars with lids and rings. So I am not heart-broken that my other kit has never come back now 😉
Ball is also selling a traditional kit of tools, but with the basket all you need is a funnel, of which they had an American made one by Arrow Plastic for $1.23 sitting next to it. Most of the other tools never get used (at least by me) so need to buy twice….
Now if my blueberries would start thinking about ripening I can look forward to canning some of my most excellent blueberry lemon jam!
~Sarah
I am just curious about this Canning Discovery Kit. Does the basket hold quart jars? What is the diameter of the basket? I thought I could borrow my friend’s rack because I have a 12-qt. stockpot that I thought it would work with, but the rack was too big in diameter to fit. Would I be better off buying a water bath canner?
Thanks for the help.
It does hold the bigger jars.What I like about it is I don’t need a massive pot to can anymore, I can use my smaller pots 🙂 I think it comes down to how much you actually plan on canning. If all you want is to do a few jars here and there it is good, if you want to really get int9o canning I would suggest a traditional set up.
Have you used it yet? I read a review that the basket melted. I think I would really like this product if it is good quality. The fact that it will do quart jars would be great.