Can you believe until a few days ago I was still canning green beans in an old fashioned, as in not pressurized canner? Why, because I?m just not one to fix something if it?s not broken. But this year when I gazed out the two long rows of green beans that are climbing their way up the corn stalks, I thought, goodness at the beans. I?ll never get all these canned in one day. You see, canning the old timey way you have to boil the canned beans for three hours. That?s right, three hours and the canner only holds nine quarts. I was looking at four cannings, that?s twelve hours of watching a pot boil, not to mention the time it takes for it to start boiling.
So, with reservations I purchased a brand new 16-quart pressure cooker. I?ll be honest, the reason I haven?t modernized my canning process is that I?m just plain scared of those pressurized time bombs. While growing up my mama had a pressure cooker that she used to cook pinto beans, and tenderize rabbit and squirrel in. I never thought much about it until the day the darn thing blew the pressure valve out and spewed pintos all over the ceiling. That was a pretty scary? and messy day.
I push my fears aside and open the box to unleash the silver monster. I take the instruction manual in hand and read it cover to cover. The first indication that there may be a problem is on page ten of that manual. It says to turn to page fourteen for the cooking timetable for approximate cooking times. I flip to page fourteen to see how long I have to cook my green beans. On page fourteen it tells me how to identify my pressure cooker and where to locate the serial number and info about a one-year warranty, but it doesn’t tell me how long to cook my green beans. Nowhere in the manual does it have that information. The manual also does not tell me how much water to put in the cooker. Luckily I have a canning book I ordered from Ball that tells me to cook my quart jars full of beans for twenty-five minutes under pressure. I finally go on the Internet to see how much water to add. Two to three inches if anyone else needs to know.
There was also a smaller box that held what the manual called selective pressure controls. One was 5 PSI, the other 10 PSI and last but not least there was a 15 PSI. Somewhere in the manual I read that if you live under 1,000 feet elevation you should use the 10 PSI. Okay, I?m ready. I follow the manual step by step; I even do a trial run with only water in the cooker like the manual suggests. Second indication that all might not be going well is when the pressure builds up in the cooker and the 10 PSI selective pressure control does not gently rock, it expels steam exactly the way mama?s cooker did all those years ago when it blew! I quickly turn the burner off and step outside until the selective pressure control stops spitting and spewing.
Now I am anxious. What do I do? Return the cooker defeated or lock horns with the pot of tin? Of course you know what I do. After the silver monster cools, I start all over again, no trial run this time, I?m ready for the real thing. I put my seven filled jars of beans in the cooker, fill it with three inches of water, plus a tablespoon of vinegar to keep the cooker from staining, lock the lid in place and wait for the pot to boil, so to say. The manual says to let steam come from the hole for ten minutes before putting the selective pressure control on top. When ten minutes has elapsed I drop on the 10 PSI and wait for the gentle rocking to begin. In a matter of minutes the selective pressure control is going crazy again. It?s spraying steam and trying to jump off the top of the cooker. Again, I turn the burner off and step outside. By this time I must admit, because the Lord already knows, I have spit out a few bad words and the little man that rides on my shoulder is giving me down the road saying, ?I told you so. You should have stuck with the old ways. You never should have bought that thing, you know better.? ?Shut up little voice.?
After a few deep breaths I go back inside, pick up the manual and call the toll free number on page seventeen under the heading, Canning Problems. A very nice lady comes on the line and I tell her about my crazy selective pressure control. She proceeds to tell me that some selective pressure controls don?t gently rock, but act exactly like mine is doing. I thank her and go back to the cooker, turning the burner on high again. This time when the steam comes, and the bucking 10 PSI is raging I face it like a champion. I turn the burner down to medium heat and square up eye to eye with the pot. Finally the cooker quits throwing a fit and settles down to erupting every few minutes just like the helpful lady said it would.
Thinking I have mastered the one-eyed 10 PSI monster, confidently I start my second batch. Right away I know something is wrong. There is a loud arcing coming from the burner on the stove, and steam is not only coming from the hole in the top, but also from the safety vent on the handle. I check the burner and don?t see flames so I continue to wait the allotted ten minutes and then sit the 10 PSI selective pressure control on the lid. At once the steam starts coming from all the holes in the selective pressure control. It never stops long enough to build up the correct amount of pressure.
Again I dial the toll free number in the manual and another nice lady picks up. Right away she tells me that I have a problem. She tells me to let this cooking run it?s course, and for the next one make sure the rubber seal in the lid is adjusted properly and that there is a opaque O-ring on the safety vent on the handle. I end up cooking this batch the old timey way, three hours.
To make a long story a little shorter, on the third try the 10 PSI control doesn?t work again. By this time I am about to stroke out and my husband knows it. He suggests I try the 15 PSI selective pressure control. I argue that is not what the manual says, and then I remember some other things that it said was not correct either so I sit the 15 PSI on the lid. It works perfectly. Needless to say I?ll be returning the 10 PSI selective pressure control and asking for a new one like the toll free lady told me I should do.
The worst part of this experience was I let a 16-quart pressure cooker rattle me. I was outside my comfort zone and the thing knew it and acted upon it, just like the devil does. Satan comes at us in all different shapes and sizes. He waits until we are venerable and then he preys upon us. I really feel ashamed that I let the boogieman have his way with me. Fear is one of the devil?s weapons. He uses it so that we doubt our abilities and ourselves. So lesson learned. Don?t let a pressure cooker called Satan stop you from accomplishing whatever you have set your mind to do.
Isaiah 7:4
And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted?
