Difference Between a Pressure Canner and a Pressure Cooker

Most everyone knows what a pressure cooker is, but they are much less familiar with pressure canners. Many people even think the two terms describe the same product, but that is hardly the case. They do work off of similar principles, but they each have a totally different cooking purpose. So what exactly is the difference between a pressure canner and a pressure cooker? Read on, and you will find out.

Let’s learn a little more about each one and how they work and that will help you understand the differences between each one better when we discuss them.

PRESSURE COOKER

For simplicity’s sake, we will not get into a lengthy discussion on physics to try and describe exactly how a pressure cooker works. It will suffice to tell you that a pressure cooker is a cooking apparatus that is designed to speed up cooking times faster than much more traditional cooking methods.

A pressure cooker does this by cooking at a much higher temperature than can normally be achieved when cooking in a pot. It boils water or broth but instead of releasing the steam that is produced it traps and uses it. When the steam is trapped, it forces the temperature inside the pot to increase and thus the food inside the pressure cooker cooks faster at the higher temperature.

It’s a simple but very effective method for rapidly cooking food.

PRESSURE CANNER

Many people enjoy canning fruits and vegetables. The problem is when using a water bath method of canning the temperature of the cooking never gets above 212 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a problem because it takes a much higher temperature than that to kill a common food born bacteria called Clostridium botulinum (It causes the illness botulism). That is where a pressure canner comes into play. It reaches temperatures over 240 degrees Fahrenheit which is high enough to kill these bacteria. So food safety is one of the main reasons why people choose pressure canning over other canning methods

Pressure canners are only meant to be used for cooking non-acidic fruits and vegetables. You also cannot make pickles with them because the vinegar used in that process is highly acidic too. That still leaves many fruits and vegetables that can successfully be cooked and then canned with these devices.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO

Now let’s take a little closer look at the differences between these two devices. That will help give you a better idea of what each apparatus role is when preparing foods.

• APPEARANCE

As you can see by looking at the two pictures, there is not even much similarity in the looks between these two cooking apparatus. Even though it is fair to say there are a variety of different designs for each out there in the marketplace. Pressure cookers come in many forms, and they can be as small as a saucepan. Pressure canners, on the other hand, are more standardized in their size and looks. They are often referred to as pressure cookers on steroids. There are a lot more gadgets and gauges on a pressure canner than there is on a pressure cooker too.

• COOKING USE

As we mentioned previously, pressure canners and pressure cookers have different cooking purposes altogether too. A pressure cooker is meant to prepare foods faster whereas a pressure canner is made to help can fruits and vegetables safely. Pressure cookers help prepare meals faster that include meats, vegetables, and fruits. There is a variety of different types of meals and preparation techniques that can be done when using a pressure cooker to prepare meals.

When using a pressure cooker the food being prepared is also simply placed in the center of the container unwrapped. You also do not have to monitor the pressure on the unit while the food is cooking

Pressure canners, while able to do pressure cooking in most cases too, are mainly used to help you cook and can fruits and vegetables. These are usually placed inside the cooking vessel in jars, and the fruits and vegetables cook right inside the jars they are placed in.

When using a pressure canner, you also must constantly monitor the pressure inside the container. It must be kept at a constant pressure because of the safety concerns we discussed before. This makes using a pressure canner much more time consuming as opposed to when someone is cooking foods with a pressure cooker.

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TIMELESS COOKING TOOLS

Both cooking devices have excellent uses and will remain popular for a long time. If you are interested in buying a pressure cooker, there is lots of information available about them online. The same can be said for pressure canners too. When deciding what the best pressure canner is for you, there are many useful pressure canner reviews online to help you do this. Both of these popular kitchen apparatus make excellent additions to anyone’s list of useful kitchen products they own.