| Author |
HomeSafeHome:  Flat cooktop ok for canning?  |
|
|
Tabigirl
Farmgirl in Training
29 Posts
Tabitha
Kent
WA
USA
29 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 7:20:57 PM
|
| My old cook top has finally died. I have been looking for replacements and am considering a flat top glass cooktop. Apparently this type of stove is not good for canning and special cookware is needed basic stovetop cooking. I love the idea of wiping down one flat surface, but do not want to sacrifice my canning abilities. Does anyone have anything to share on this topic? Take care, Tabitha |
|
|
YiberryYadeeKarin
True Blue Farmgirl
343 Posts
Karin
Spokane Valley
WA
USA
343 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 7:49:18 PM
|
Tabitha,
The year after I started canning, I got a new stove top. It isn't the flat, smooth type that you're talking about but they are the flat burners that stand up (like the coil burners but not coils, if that makes sense). My understanding is that you are only supposed to use flat bottomed pans on any kind of flat burners -- thus, no canning pots!
I did a little bit of canning on my mother's stove and haven't done any since. I have thought about setting up either a hot plate or a Coleman stove (the latter outside) and doing it out there.
Of course, this was a long time ago that I got my stovetop. Maybe things have changed since then.
Good luck!
Karin |
 |
|
|
Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 8:07:05 PM
|
Tabitha,
I have had a flat top Kenmore/Sears cookstove for over ten years now and I love it.
That being said, this year I got back into canning and found that, yes, it is difficult to can using the flat top... just takes longer to bring the water to a boil. It's not that it can't be done, but time is a consideration. I think it took an hour for a full canner of quarts to come to a boil. That's a long time, but not impossible.
Maybe you could get the cooktop you dream of for everyday use, and get a used coil type stove to put in the garage or the basement for canning?
Humor is the prelude to faith and Laughter is the beginning of prayer. -- Reinhold Niebuhr
http://farmstyle.blogspot.com
|
|
|
|
Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2007 : 8:07:09 PM
|
I'm able to make jelly and salsas on my cooktop, I use a large stockpot. I use Preferred Stock and Lynn's Cookware... both are flat based cookware, but I'm able to still create a little bit of jellies and salsas.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~ |
|
|
|
Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
|
|
Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2007 : 03:53:30 AM
|
I got upset last year because my old enamelware canner was too big for my new JennAir cooktop, so I bought a smaller pressure canner on sale and decided to just used it for a hot water bath. The bottom is flat, and I think all I did last year was hot water bath tomatoes.
I canned heavily for many years, and last year I decided that I wasn't going to spend time doing it. But I froze a bunch of tomatoes and wanted some in jars too, so I did a batch or two.
Now what to do with my big pressure canner! It holds 42 quarts, and is a monster. No way will that ever go on my stove. Shoot, I looked it up last year and it goes new for just under $500 now!!! I never would have paid that then. |
|
|
|
ktknits
True Blue Farmgirl
582 Posts
Kathy
Northwest Indiana
USA
582 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2007 : 05:07:49 AM
|
| I've been afraid that I'll scratch the flat top with the weight of the canner and the boil-over will be a bear to clean, so I haven't even tried it. I'm interested though to see what your experiences have been. |
|
|
|
Hideaway Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1553 Posts
Jo
Virginia
USA
1553 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2007 : 05:23:24 AM
|
I've said many times, I always learn something here! It has happened again; I will be replacing my rangetop and oven in the next 18 months and have been going through the gas vs electric decisionmaking process. I'd thought about the flat top options, but I never gave a single thought to the fact that canning would be difficult to impossible on a flat surface, so THANKS, again, Farmgirls. You saved me a potential headache/heartache if I'd gone that route. (I am still wrestling with the gas vs. electric choice, I have the option to have a gas range & /oven, or dual fuel where the range is gas and the oven is electric, or just replace with full electric.) That's for another post, I guess!
Jo
"There are no strangers here, only friends you've yet to meet." |
|
|
|
MsCwick
True Blue Farmgirl
775 Posts
Cristine
Farmville
Virginia
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2007 : 07:31:30 AM
|
| I just got a new HotPoint glass top stove for our anniversary last July, but when we were in the store picking one out, the man said that the one I liked wasn't as good for canning, bbut they did have a model that was better for canning, so you just would have to ask the sale rep at the store. I'm guessing the stove that is better for canning might be a little more powerful. My stove will boil a HUGE pot full of anything really fast, like 2 minutes if I crank it up to 7 or 8. |
|
|
|
Tabigirl
Farmgirl in Training
29 Posts
Tabitha
Kent
WA
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2007 : 3:17:03 PM
|
Thank you all so much for your words of wisdom. Your input has truly helped. We had a light dusting of snow last night and it is supposed to drop down into the 20's tonight. I noticed some of MaryJane's long necked garlic poking through the earth and am really looking forward to Spring :>) In the meantime I will enjoy the reprive.
Blessings to all! Tabitha |
|
|
|
Mari-dahlia
True Blue Farmgirl
269 Posts
Marianne
Hoosick Falls
New York
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - Jan 12 2007 : 2:59:02 PM
|
tabitha,
Your choice on your stove should depend on what you are most confortable cooking with. I am not comfortable with gas. I am an avid cook and grew up in the restaurant business but hate gas stoves. It reminds me of an industrial kitchen and does not make me feel comfortable.
The thing I like most about electric is the ability to have things on the stove for hours on simmer without burning it. I too am looking for a new cooktop. The most important thing, as with a gas stove is how much energy the individual burners put out. Most salesmen know this for a gas stove, but most do not for an electric. I have canned on a Kenmore flat top and until this thread, and 15 years later, I really never noticed a problem.
I am looking at a thermador 6 burner cooktop. It has the most energy put out on it's burners that I can find. |
|
|
|
brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Jan 12 2007 : 4:40:23 PM
|
I have a large granite-ware (dark blue with white speckles) water-bath canner that I bought last summer. The label on the canner said NOT to use it on flat-top or ceramic-top ranges. I tried it anyway (see my post on another thread) since my stove is so old and I'd like a new range - thinking the worst that could happen would be that the range top would break and I could get a new stove.
No luck. It worked just fine..... But if you want to keep your range intact I wouldn't try it!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
|
|
|
Celticheart
True Blue Farmgirl
811 Posts
Marcia
WA
USA
811 Posts |
Posted - Jan 12 2007 : 11:04:57 PM
|
I bought a Kenmore ceramic-top stove 2 years ago and I can on it all the time. When we were looking I told the salesman that I'd heard you couldn't can on the ceramic-tops. He said his wife does it all the time. Just to be careful about moving the canner across the top to avoid scratching it.
"I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidence of the determination to live." Vita Sackville-West
|
|
|
|
beckels
True Blue Farmgirl
237 Posts
becky
warrington
pa
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2007 : 5:29:41 PM
|
The only problem I have with a flat top stove is making sure I dont scratch the surface. So when I cook with my cast iron pans I am extra careful. I see no problem with canning that I can think of
beckels |
|
|
|
lonestargal
True Blue Farmgirl
607 Posts
Kristi
Texas
607 Posts |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 09:02:09 AM
|
| I have a GE glasstop and did all my canning just fine last year. In fact until I read this post I didn't know you weren't supposed to. I use all my same cookware including cast iron ALL the time just fine. I will say that it did take longer but it still worked just fine. I LOVE the glasstop...it cleans SO easy!! |
|
|
|
MsCwick
True Blue Farmgirl
775 Posts
Cristine
Farmville
Virginia
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - Jan 28 2007 : 10:15:09 AM
|
You arent supposed to use copper cookware on a glasstop! It will take the finish off the top. It happened to my MILs stove.
|
|
|
|
Mamarude
True Blue Farmgirl
107 Posts
Anna
Durango
Colorado
USA
107 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 4:09:47 PM
|
I used my water bath canner on my ceramic flat top stove and it worked just fine and dandy! I canned tomatoes, applesauce,tomato sauce, and jellies. Probably not supposed to, but it worked just fine!
Cherian |
|
|
|
Sheep Mom 2
True Blue Farmgirl
1534 Posts
Sheri
Elk
WA
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 5:08:59 PM
|
I remodeled kitchen and baths for 15 years and according to my appliance wholesaler, you can not can on ceramic cook tops as it cannot handle the heat deflection and can cause cracking in the cooktop or the solid-type burners either. I have not canned on either one but that was what my wholesaler told me. That was several years ago now and perhaps that doesn't apply anymore but I chose electric coil type burners instead of solid when I bought my stove. That being said, I did put in a heavy duty special canning burner because I kept burning out the burners. I make it two years on those at $100 ea. and then they start to separate. I am going to gas next as I am tired of replacing burners.
Sheri |
|
|
|
herbquilter
True Blue Farmgirl
891 Posts
Kristine
Bonney Lake
Wa
USA
891 Posts |
|
|
Sheep Mom 2
True Blue Farmgirl
1534 Posts
Sheri
Elk
WA
USA
1534 Posts |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 2:43:15 PM
|
Kristine your pictures make me know without a shadow of a doubt that my supplier was entirely correct. My advice - don't risk it.
Sheri |
|
|
| |
HomeSafeHome: Flat cooktop ok for canning? |
|
Flat cooktop ok for canning?
