Suzanne said:

What is different/better about a steam canner?

When you use a waterbath canner you are dealing with a pot full of glass jars, full to the brim, and a pot full of water deep enough to cover them.  HEAVY! and dangerous if you manage to spill the hot water on the floor.  The steam canner looks like a waterbath canner — but upside down.  The smaller "lid" is on the bottom, holding the jars and only a few inches of water.  The "pot" fits over the jars onto the "lid" and holds in the steam while the jars process.  Less water, lighter pot.  It will only work on things you would normally can in a waterbath canner — it is NOT A PRESSURE CANNER!  You can turn the pot upside down (rightside up?) and use it as a regular waterbath canner, too.

You are going to love this one…

I've looked at steam canners for years and considered buying one.  They all looked like the ones I described above.  I put my new canner on the shelf and took a second look at it — you use this one with the deep pot on the bottom whether you are doing the waterbath or the steam canning route.  The lid fits much more tightly than my enamel canning kettle, and therefore holds the steam in the pot which the enamel kettle can't.  The only differences in the way you use this one?  You use the canning rack in the bottom with one side up for water bath, and upside down for steam canning.  You also cover the jars with water for the water bath method (just like always) but use only a few inches of water for the steam canning route.  I'm cooking down pears for pear butter right now and I'll try out the new canner when it's ready for canning.  I'll let you know how it comes out.

(And yes — all that hot water really scares me.  If I have to I use a saucepan to dip the hot water out into the sink until the pot is light enough for me to lift.)

Dede, you are an enabler!  LOL! 

wvhomecanner said:

WV_Hills said:

My only thought — when I simmer fruit (pears, apples…) to evaporate the juice it concentrates the flavor.  I wonder how different the taste will be without the concentrated juice in the mix.

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I wouldn't think there would be much if any difference – I know that the juice extracted via the steam juicer is often too intense to drink without diluting. Adding some of the extracted juice back to get the flavor you want is what many do to the pulp.

dede

I put the butters I make (apple, pear, pumpkin…) in an open roasting pan, into the oven, and bake on low – 225/250 degrees – until they thicken.  If I start with 4" in the pan I simmer it until there are 2" left.  This time I'm simmering the pulp after extracting most of the juice. I'll let you know how the pear butter made by evaporation compares to pear butter made after extracting the juice with the steam juicer.  If there isn't any real taste difference the steam juicer should reduce the simmer time by half or more since there won't be as much liquid left in the pulp to evaporate.