Ball Home Canning Discovery Kitbestunited states

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"... Read more

I find it hilarious that people reviewed this item without even trying it. Give it a shot before you knock it or use another method, but don't write a negative review on something you've never used.

Anyway, I got this kit as a gift a few weeks ago and decided to take a stab at canning last week. I decided to make some jams and this kit was a huge help. I did not use the jars that came with the kit since they were too large for what I needed but I did use the basket along with some smaller Ball Jars. I brought the water to a boil, put the jars I used in the basket (it easily held 5 smaller cans and will hold 3-4 larger jars), put them in the water, and put a lid on top. I did not closely track the temp like some of the other reviewers. I boiled for 8 minutes as per the recipe then removed the basket from the water. It was not melted AT ALL. It wasn't even soft and it looked just as it had before it went into the pot. The jams sealed perfectly and are delicious... Read more

I've canned for over 35 years and the idea of not having to heat up my large canner to process a few jars of salsa sounded great. Despite the negative review, I purchased the canning discovery kit, took it home and set the rack and lifter in a stockpot of boiling water for 30 minutes. It came out exactly as I had put it in -- no melting. It would surprise me if a company that has manufactured canning equipment for as long as Ball would fail to fully test a new product.