Can you pressure can in the Granite Ware 21.5-Quart Water Bath Canner?

Last reviewed July 2026.

For acid foods, yes — but it is not a pressure canner. A boiling-water canner is the right tool for high-acid foods — fruits, jams, pickles, tomatoes with added acid — and by definition not a pressure canner: it cannot reach the 240°F that USDA low-acid processes require. NCHFP's equipment guidance treats boiling-water and pressure canners as the two distinct equipment types; the failure mode this site exists to prevent is using this pot (or any water bath) for green beans, meats or other low-acid foods.

The facts on file

Sources — read them yourself

• NCHFP — Recommended canners (the two equipment types)

How to read this

The line that matters in home canning equipment is who stands behind the claim. USDA process schedules were developed on stovetop pressure canners — NCHFP describes the equipment class and has stated plainly that those processes were not developed for electric multi-cookers. A manufacturer's own thermal validation can be genuine engineering and still not be an authority's recommendation — see what "meets USDA guidelines" does and doesn't mean. And a boiling-water canner is the right tool for high-acid foods and the wrong one for everything else.

See every canner we track, verdict by verdict →

Canning Score indexes what NCHFP, USDA and university extension programs have on record about canning equipment, with attribution — we publish no process times and no safety advice. Verdicts describe the state of the authority record for an appliance class, not a guarantee about any jar. For tested recipes and process schedules, use NCHFP (nchfp.uga.edu), the USDA Complete Guide, or your state extension office — or the Seal canning guides, which work food-by-food from the same sources. If an authority publishes new guidance, the page changes — the authority always wins.