Ball® Home Canning Discovery Kit (by Jarden Home Brands)

Let me say that I am not a "canner," or whatever the people who do a lot of canning refer to themselves as. I am a musician with a little down time at the end of August who has been inspired to preserve some of the fresh fruit that is floating around SoCal this time of year. This item was perfect for me: inexpensive, worked great, and no, it did NOT melt.I was concerned after reading a few of the reviews of the product (many of which were written by people don't even own the item), so before I purchased the basket I did a little online research. The melting point of polypropylene (that's what the rack is made of) is somewhere around 320 degrees fahrenheit. Since water boils at 212 degrees fahreneit, I felt pretty safe.And I was. No melting. Let me repeat that: no melting. Just canning.Let me add that my stock pot is only 8 quarts and the rack touched the sides of the pot the entire time I boiled my fruit preserves (ideal "melting" conditions). No melting. Additionally, the recipe I used had me boil the jars a fairly long time -- 45 minutes -- and since the rack only holds 3 jars at a time I submerged it twice in succession (each time for 45 minutes). No melting. In fact, the rack was cool to the touch the moment it came out of the water.Highly recommended.

I don't know why there were a couple of reviews saying the product melted when they used it. I think that's ridiculous, and that they didn't ACTUALLY use it before reviewing it. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to put the handle on, but that was honestly the toughest part about using this product. It was fantastic! It held up very well and was extremely sturdy. It hold 4 pint jars and only 2 quart jars, but for a beginner like me, that was enough. Maybe the more experienced canners would want more room, but it fit my stock pot well and I didn't have to worry about how I was going to get the jars out of the pot. I didn't have a rack, either, so this solved both of those problems. I'm very pleased, and will absolutely use this again!

I have a garden and I’ve been trying to start doing more with the produce over the last few years, and have been struggling with muddling my way through learning how to preserve food. I’ve found uTube videos frustrating, hilarious and useful. But one thing I’ve learned is I don’t need to use the huge 21.5 quart pot for water baths to seal 3 jars. This may sound crazy, but I don’t know how people can put up huge quantities at one time. I seem to average three or four jars. So I started using my stock pot that has a pasta strainer insert instead. The problem with the strainer is it sits up to high in the pot, and the pint sized jars don’t really fit. Which is why I purchased the “Ball Home Canning Discovery Kit.”First, I only bought this for the basket. The three jars were a nice addition. The basket I would give a 5 star rating. It has little feet to raise the plastic up off the bottom of my pot, I can fit three jars at the same time with a few inches of water over the tops of the jars/lids. I was having a terrible time trying to find a mat or anything that could act like a rack you would find a pressure cooker. The basket actually has 3 circles in the bottom, so I don’t know if that would make it hard to use four jars or not. But with the raised sides, I think the basket helps keep the jars from getting jostled into the side of the pot while it boils. For this reason only, I recommend this product.The fitted lifter. The strap that is the “handle” actually was broken in my order, but I doubt that will actually improve how I feel about the lifter. Because my jars slid to one side of the basket when I picked everything up it didn't seem sturdy. Not like it would break sturdy, but like it could be designed better to make the basket stable. I didn’t feel comfortable using it to lift the basket with the jars in it to even try putting it in the water bath. Others may have a better experience with the lifter, but I didn’t like the fact that it doesn’t actually lock onto the basket. Instead, it slides up and down. I found this part of the contraption quite frustrating. (Should I mention that my pot wasn’t deep enough to put the lid on with the tips of the handles sticking out?)I haven’t tried any of the recipes.I have a jar lifter, there are tons of them on Amazon, you can buy one with all the canning tools or individually. I would really recommend getting one of these and skip using the basket lifter. You have better control over each jar, and don’t have to worry about the jars tipping over and clanking into one another as you lift the basket out of the water. Norpro 6 Piece Canning SetNorpro 600 Jar Lifter I’m not an expert and very far from being a pro. But I’ve really enjoyed the process of canning with a water bath. There is something really satisfying in putting up items to eat later. It’s the only reason I would recommend this product. The basket is wonderful and made using a stock pot super easy.

Ok. First, the original order arrived quickly. When I opened the Discovery Kit, everything in it as fine, with the exception of the green basket, which had split right down the side, making it non-functional. I contacted Amazon, and right away, they started prossing a replacement kit. I was directed to return the damaged original kit within a certain period of time, and given several different options of how to do this. The return process was painless. The replacement order arrived within 2 days. After I checked to make sure everything was ok, I sent back the original. First time I ever had to return anything back to Amazon, and it was easy! The kit itself is a great concept, the items are useful, the direction booklet is easy to understand, and the recipes are pretty cool. I will probably be purchasing some more of these to give as gifts. Very happy with this product! I am also very happy with the customer service!

We are starting to get into canning and I thought I would try this out. My husband wanted another kit, but I got this one. The basket is a little flimsy but works nicely still. It provides an easy and affordable way to start canning. Simple for the canning starter in just three simple steps. It lets you easily remove your jars without spilling or getting burnt. This kit is used for small batch canning. We don't have anything else to compare it to, but when we get better and use something else, I will come back for a comparison followup.Can't wait to get better at canning, so we can stock up for a year.You get 3 regular mouth glass mason pint jars (16 oz) with lids and bands with the basket.

I chose this rating because I thought this is the best product for me and I would recommend it to all my family and friends