Kajikit wrote:
Okay, we have some canning experts here... I haven't done any
preserving or canning since I was a teenager, and my mother never used
a water bath - she only ever made jam and chutney and high-acid sauces
that preserved themselves. Now I read that EVERYTHING should be boiled
for safety's sake... Anyway, I want to get some supplies to try it. I
already have a set of nesting stockpots with the largest being
15litres. I have a round cake cooler that nests inside it and I use it
for making steamed Christmas pudding (I can't use it for actual food
because some of the metal on the rack annodised off in the boiling
water and I don't trust it!) Can I use this pot and nesting rack to do
canning if I buy a jar-lifter to get the bottles out again? If I need
an actual canning rack, could I use that in the stockpot? It's all a
big mystery to me, but we haven't got the space (or the money) to buy
extra kitchen equipment unless I'm going to use them a LOT.

Notice that I crossposted to r.f.p

You can do boiling-water bath canning ("BWB") using a stockpot with a
rack in the bottom if it's deep enough to cover the jars. A jar
lifter is almost a necessity. A magnet-on-a-stick is also handy for
lifting lids out simmering water when you are ready for them. Both
are really cheap accessories you can buy wherever you get canning jars.

You can also do BWB canning in a pressure cooker/canner by leaving the
vent open so it doesn't pressurize. Just fill with boiling water up to
the shoulders of the jars if it's not tall enough to fully submerge
them. (Begin timing when steam starts pouring out of the vent)

What do you want to can? Some things need to be processed in a
pressure canner.

Bob