Old (??) Presto Pressure Canner

[electrolux137]

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A neighbor up the street had thrown out lot of stuff today. I walked up there to take a look and saw what looks to me like a pretty old Presto pressure canner.


 


Does anyone know anything about it? It's missing the gasket and pressure release valve. I don't think I'd ever use it because the pot is made of aluminum.


 


I thought it might make a fun planter!

 

[kenkart]

BEST

Canner made, ALL pressure canners are aluminum, As far as I know there is not one made out of stainless, Gaskets and regulators are still available This is from the 70s or 80s Mine is from the 50s but very similar.

 

[electrolux137]

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Thanks for the info, Hans. If I were of a mind to do so, I'd get the replacement parts and become a canning fool! Several issues stand in the way of this, however, such as lack of fruits and vegetables to can and lack of space to store the jars.


 


When I was a little boy my dad had a huge vegetable garden. He kept us kids busy picking vegetables and kept Mama busy canning them. She had a big pantry with shelves loaded with many jars of canned goods.

 

[kenkart]

I still can

I made zucchini relish a while back.

 

[madman]

But does the food ever touch the aluminum? Won't the food be in jars?

 

[electrolux137]

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Right, I didn't realize at first that this is a canner. I thought it was an industrial-size pressure cooker!

 

[huskyvacs]

This is a pressure canner and not a cooker, yes.

My mother has a pressure cooker, and she always uses it as a giant sauce pot for spaghetti. The lid and other parts to it usually just gather dust in the basement as she never had any use for a pressure cooker and I think she probably forgot how to work it.

You can cook in it just like any other pot, not sure what it being made of aluminum has to do with anything?

I have seen photos of people that don't follow the directions with a pressure cooker or they sit on their phones and forget about it - it can turn into a bomb!

 

[gottahaveahoove]

My late mother was always petrified of them.

That photo shows why, I guess.

 

[kenkart]

The PhotoIs a fake Look No food splattered anywhere..

If you DID somehow manage to blow one up Which of course is darn near impossible,The jars you were canning in would burst and food would be everywhere, These big canners ARE also designed to cook in, and NO Aluminum wont hurt you That's just foolishness thought up by door to door stainless steel cookware salesmen to scare you into buying cookware ..Aluminum is present in many foods, in the soil , you will get much more Aluminum out of anti perspirant than cooking in aluminum,,And think about it IF that much aluminum was leeching into your food Why are my 60 year old Club and Guardian Service pans not dissolved instead of looking like new???

 

[gottahaveahoove]

True.

But, about antiperspirant.... that's assuming everyone uses it!
I know, that was awful. But, sadly, true sometimes.

 

[madman]

Aluminum has been linked with Alzheimer's. But then some studies have shown that there is no link. The important thing to remember about scientific studies is that if they look hard enough, they will find what they want to find.

That having been said, I'd personally err on the side of caution. The good thing is that most modern aluminum pots and pans are coated with something like teflon, so there's not much risk of aluminum contamination anyway.

 

[human]

My mom cooked with a pressure cooker all the time when I was little. This was before microwaves. Cooking under pressure speeds up the process and makes meats really tender. That's why Col. Sanders started frying chicken in a modified pressure cooker. His customers loved his chicken but grew impatient waiting 30-40 minutes for it to cook. Using the pressure cooker, it took about eight minutes and came out "finger lickin' good".

There was a Mormon family across the street from us when I was growing up and they didn't drink caffeinated sodas so on special occasions like birthday parties, the mom would make homemade root beer in a pressure canner much like that one. She'd mix together the ingredients, pour it in over a block of dry ice and dog down the lid. As the pressure rose, the CO2 from the dry ice would carbonate the liquid. I was fascinated by this process and the root beer was really, really good--and cold!

 

[kenkart]

I HAVE

A KFC 16 qt Mirro Matic pressure cooker from the 60s!

 

[kirbyklekter]

I'm pretty sure my mom

used to sterilize our glass baby bottles, (remember those?) in a canner. Not sure if she did them under presure, I think it was the size of the canner and the basket that fit down inside. I have it now, it's huge. Doesn't really fit one just one stove burner, unless you have like a Wolf Range or similar. It's from the 50's, Presto. Probably enough aluminum to build a couple Kirby's.

 

[huskyvacs]

I found this stock photo online from the 1950's:

 

[kirbyklekter]

Like huskyvacs says

you don't have to use them as pressure cookers. I use mine as a big old stock pot.