Homemade Half-Pint Canning Rack

Whenever I think of "half pint", I think of Little House on the Prairie (it's what Pa called Laura), and smile a little inside : )  At some point in my growing-up years, though, I realised that a half pint is really just one cup.  And I never understood why people would say "half pint" when they could just say "one cup".  I guess I still don't really understand that one.  Anyway. . .

Is anyone else ever really frustrated when they want to can up something in half pint jars, but their only water-bath canner is made to fit quart jars?  What a waste of time, water, and energy to heat up a pot full of water that is made for quart jars!  Well, obviously, I am frustrated by this.  But, at the same time, I definitely don't want to risk breaking my jars by just sticking them in any old pot and letting them bang around with the force of boiling water!  What's a girl to do?

Why, make her own half-pint sized canning rack of course!

Luckily, I have tons of extra electric fence wire lying around my house (it's a long story), which is really easy to bend into whatever shape you want it.  So, I bent, and bent, and bent some more, until I got what I was looking for!




First, make two rings, one just small enough to fit inside the pot you are intending on using, and one smaller than that.

Then, make three of these thingys in roughly this shape.  (You know, this is a very precise art ;)  The only really important part here is that the middle flat part is wide enough to fit the bottom of your intended jars.

Then, arrange in a criss-cross pattern something like this.  Lastly, put the smaller ring outsidet the bumps around the center of the rack.  Sorry I didn't take a picture of that last bit, but if you have a regular sized canning rack, I think you know what I mean.

I tried fussing around with making it stay together in a nice, sturdy, easily moved manner, but it was getting to be too much of a hassle, so i just put it in the bottom of my pot with a couple empty jars to keep it all in place nicely.  Then I filled it with water and heated it that way.  When I was ready to add my filled jars, I put them in and took out the empty ones, and it kept its shape nicely, even under boiling water.  I suppose if you had a soldering iron it would be really easy to make it nice and sturdy, but since I don't have one, I'll just make it do this way!

Anyway, now I have another size pot I can use for canning!  Mission accomplished!



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