Description
The NESCO Smart Canner & Cooker creates a perfect balance between safety, performance, and versatility and will soon become one of your favorite kitchen appliances. Designed to eliminate the common mistakes that cause harm or spoil food during the canning process, the Smart Canner & Cooker gives users uncompromised safety and peace of mind.
Multiple built-in safety features control and regulate the pressure continuously and allow you to can and cook without worry. The multi-functional digital display and pre-set programs give you the right tools to ensure consistent results when canning fruits, jams, pickles, salsas and more. The safety lock lid with automatic float valve ensures that the lid fits correctly and identifies when pressure is present. Water Bath and Pressure functions take the guesswork out of the equation and simplify the ability to can your harvest. The removable 9.5 qt. non-stick cooking chamber is dishwasher safe and can hold and process four Quart (Wide-Mouth), five Pint or sixteen 4 oz. jelly jars at a time. The durable stainless steel body is light-weight and has side handles for safe handling.
The NESCO Smart Canner & Cooker also prepares your favorite slow-cooked recipes faster and makes healthy, delicious meals with a touch of a button. Easy to clean and perfect for quick and efficient pressure/slow cooking, browning, steaming vegetables and cooking rice. Additional accessories include a canning rack and steam rack for canning and cooking options and a removable condensation catcher for easier clean up. Can the safe way with the NESCO Smart Canner & Cooker.
Certifications
WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm.
Karen –
I used it for the first time last night. All 5 jars sealed – yay! I won’t bother with the advantages (you’re here, you know you want one and you know why).
The disadvantages: #1 the lid doesn’t come completely off without a hassle. That’s just plain stupid. Who stores a cooking pot of any kind with the lid fully on and engaged???? No one. Why can’t the lid come off like the Instant Pot’s lid?
#2 The cord doesn’t detach from the unit. Again, didn’t anyone consider how this unit would be stored? I prefer to detach my cords (yep, the IP does it) and coil them inside the cooking pot. I keep all my canners and large stock pots in a cabinet in the garage. Being able to keep the cords inside the pots makes storing easier.
#3 The sound of the beep is annoying while setting the time. MInor, I can live with it, but it’s a shrill, piercing beep. We all know that modern electronic kitchen gadgets now make pretty beeps. (Again, my IP’s have nice beeps and sounds.)
#4 The instruction manual is rather challenging to read. It’s not really laid out nice with white space, nice fonts, etc. Also, nothing is said about the re-useable Tattler/Harvest Guard lids. (You’re to bring them out as soon as your stovetop canner is down from pressure and tighten the rings at that point.) Here again, who was on the design team? Post-Covid, we all went and bought re-useable flats with which to can.
#5 The inner pot is teflon coated or something. There again, who uses that stuff? Most of us who can and preserve food are into healthy, long-lived stainless steel pots and pans. We will pay extra for stainless steel! Not a deal-breaker for me, since I don’t plan to cook in this, only pressure can, so my food won’t actually come in contact with it.
#6 The toggle to go from Exhaust to Airtight seems really wobbly…..I couldn’t tell when it was properly seated at either location. I guess it’s fine, because the canner acted like the manual said it would, and my jars sealed…..but I’m accustomed (oh, my fabulous IPs) to KNOWING that I’ve moved it from venting to sealing (to borrow IP language).
As soon as an updated model comes out that changes these things, I’ll be buying it. I chose the Carey/Nesco because it holds 5 jars, is mostly hands-off, and had rave reviews from Pam at Rose Red Homestead. And I’m thrilled with my test run, and excited to have a small-batch, inside canning method. (Currently, I only can outside on a camp stove — An All American Pressure Canner and a normal water bath canner. So I’m limited to good weather, and know that it’ll be a day-long affair.)
Nancy –
I agree with Karen regarding the stainless steel pot. I actually looked on Nesco site to see if one was offered. Also was looking for accessories…. such as the steaming basket like I can get with my instant pot. No accessories at all are offered except the steam and canning racks. Gee, I wonder if the ones for the instant pot will fit. The only other negative I might mention is when putting in wide-mouth pints, you HAVE to wait until everything is completely cool to take the jars out because the jar lifter will not fit inside to lift the first jar out. It is a really tight fit. I would a like to see a glass lid accessory when using this as a slow cooker or soup pot.
On the positive side, I am pleased as punch I can now do small batches from my garden instead of waiting until I have enough for the BIG canner. I also like the way I can walk away from the canner after setting the toggle to airtight. It will finish, end processing and shut off by itself.
mckinzie –
I 100% agree with Karen 3/18/23 and her entire review. The canner is great. We studied canners before we purchased this. There is a suggestion of a longer time when cooking things like tomato sauce and meat so that your food stays in the kill zone long enough. Make sure you do your research for timing. That said, the machine takes a lot of the pain out of canning.
Handling the lid is an absolute pain! My husband and I worked for about 15 minutes to figure out how to remove it after it got stuck in a 1/2 open 1/2 closed position. We suggest that you keep your hands on the handle and the hinge when moving it around. Watch out for the steam!
Bonnie Bartlow –
I’ve had my Nesco canner for years and I love it. It is so much more convenient than the manual canners.
I do think the manual could be rewritten and to make it more convenient to use for the canning area.
There is ‘nothing ‘ perfect in this world.
There are more and more people who like their Nesco canner and make videos CV of them canning all sorts of things, showing us how easy it is to can left-overs, fruit, veggies, protein, for long term use and for short term events also, camping, wife’s weekend away-to make it easier for the husband to eat his wife’s food.
For those lucky people willing to use a device that helps us so much it’s a wonder and is a good purchase in my opinion!
Tam –
I havent had mine for long. I pressure canned some water and WB some Thai hot n sweet sauce. I didn’t really think about the reusable seals. I use a mixture of both because I give away some of the stuff I can. When PC you don’t get the jars out as soon as the pressure drops, you slowly Crack open the lid a little at a time to adapt air change. But I will look into it. I’m sure the lid, like most things, when you get use to them they become easier. I store my IP pro with the lid on and most of the accessories i have adapted other things not us IPs stuff. My valve closes automatically when i close my IP. And my cord doesn’t come off the IP, and that doesnt bother me I was wondering about getting the water up to temp. The only thing I could think of was to use the saute? But what concerned me was that on the box and read here about canning leftovers. You can’t just can any old leftovers. It’s not safe. There is the ph, size of veggies, density and then things like dairy, pasta, floor, cornstarch that are not safe to can. If they made any changes the # 1 thing is to remove that concept from the box and maybe a warning to only use safe tested recipes
Sheila –
Used for the first time today to waterbath some soup. I can’t unlock the lid… does it need to cool down before I can unlock it? It doesn’t call that out in the WB directions, but it does under the pressure canning directions. HELP! I’d love to give a great rating, but I have no idea how my stuff turned out.
Kimberlee –
I was canning beef today, and I noticed that my water level was really low from what I originally added. So I took it to clean it and fill it up before starting my second batch…. and I noticed the bottom was looking a little rough; like black scratches on the bottom. I get it, that the canning rack can rock as these things boil for so long… but this crevice wasn’t line with the canning rack. THE BOTTOM OF MY INNER POT HAS A CRACK ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT! Thus the low water level.
I only use this product to pressure can food, I do not cook it -I have a Foodi for that. How in the world did this happen?! This appliance is less than 2 years old, and of course, I am in the middle of a canning set…
Tasia –
Unfortunately I don’t recommend this product. I bought this canner in November of 2022 and was so excited since I was too nervous to use a stove top pressure canner. It was very easy to use and was used often until a few months ago. It started to take over a hour (one time it took 4 hours!!!) to reach to E10. Instead of reaching E10 and going through the countdown, it would go straight to the timer. This is not safe and was VERY inconvenient. I had to restart the canner many times before it would safely get to E10.
I contacted customer service in hopes of them making this right since my canner is clearly faulty after such a short amount of time. Leann was of no help. She asked me questions to see if I was using the canner correctly and ignored me stressing how concerned I am for the safety of my canned goods. She asked me to do a water test, which I did and still had the same issues. She finally admitted (after brushing off me saying this issue is not user error) that it sounds like something is internally wrong with my canner, and I should spend my own money to get it repaired at an appliance shop! When I told her how disappointing this was I received no email back.
I just got off the phone with customer service and talked to Leann personally to see if she received my last email. She simply told me “Yes, and that this issue is tricky since my canner is one year out of warranty.” I am extremely disappointed that NESCO does not care about the safety of their customers and their efficiency of their products. I would have greatly appreciated if NESCO could have resolved my issue. An expensive product should last much longer than a year and a half. I don’t recommend this product since it seems not to be high quality.
I did talk to someone on the online chat and the confirmed my question about the safety of my canner. They did tell me it was safe. I asked why my rating kept getting deleted and they said their management team reviews all ratings to ensure they can acknowledge every customer experience. I don’t see how I am being acknowledged since they could not resolve my issue to begin with and they are not approving my rating.
Overall this has been disappointing to me. I believe NESCO could have handled this differently. I am giving 2 stars since my canner is still safe to use.
Mars Barrs –
I have had my Nesco Canner over 9 months now. Once in awhile I will use it as an instant pot but otherwise it’s used for canning! I have had a wonderful time using it. And yes, one time my lid was stuck but after the first time it happened I learned how to take the lid on and off! There was not much of a learning curve. It comes off to be washed even after canning. It would be nice if the manual was updated so beginners could understand it easier. I had to read it over and over at times to understand what was going on! Now I’m an expert! LOL. I love the canner!! I’m having so much fun making soups, canning chicken, and the other day boneless ribs cut into squares! I’m all ready for my sons family to come over for dinner! It will be so easy to get ready. Yay!! I’m 69 years old and have canned maybe 12 jars in the past … beets, carrots and potatoes. Otherwise, this is a new experience which I had to learn and I have watched a lot of great YouTube videos to get ideas. I love it!! If you want to make small batches this electric canner is fantastic!! If you have doubts if it is safe, check out RoseRedHomestead on YouTube and she did a scientific test on the canning temperatures for the Nesco. Don’t stress about the small things …. Just have fun, enjoy and eat well!!