A canning pot is specially designed for water bath canning jars. It features a removable rack that keeps the jars off the bottom of the pot so the jars don’t crack. I don’t know how many jars I’ve broken before finally investing in a real canning pot. But once I did buy a pot with the rack, I rarely broke another jar.

You have two options for canning jars, either re-use your old jars or buy new jars. Either kind works fine if you wash and sterilize them before adding your canned product. Check all jars to ensure they don’t have any chips in the mouth of the jar, and discard any chipped or broken jars.

Use new, never used flat lids on your jars for the best results. I know many people like to reuse lids, but it’s not safe to use them again because, once opened, they may not seal well enough for pantry storage. 

Canning rings cover the flat lid and screw onto the jar. Rings can be reused but should be rust-free. Replace them if they are rusty. 

This specialized canning funnel fits regular and wide-mouth jars. Regular funnels will not work because they’re too small to let your canned goods pass through. The canning funnel allows you to pour ladles of hot food into jars without it getting all over the outside. This is the one tool I especially appreciate; it keeps the jars so clean.  

Use this specialized bubble popper tool to reach the bottom of jars to release trapped bubbles. Some of them even come with lines to measure headspace.

These are a specialized wide set of tongs made just for moving hot jars of canned goods. Lifting boiling hot jars out of a canner is easy with these tongs. 

Hot flat lids are hard to pick up, but a magnet wand makes it easy. This seems like a silly tool, but once I bought one and quit using a fork to lift hot lids out of hot water, making jams, pickles and more got so much easier. 

Use a stand-alone egg timer and take it with you if you need to leave the kitchen for a minute. 

Fresh-washed kitchen towels are perfect for making home-canned goods. You will need them for drying canning jars, drying your hands and various steps along the way. 

A couple of hot pads make the job easier because pot handles have a tendency to get hot during canning.  I like to keep them on the counter so they’re within reaching distance whenever I need them. 

I use these to wipe the mouth of the jar to remove any product or liquid where the lid will sit. You can also use a clean dishcloth, but I like to use select-a-size paper towels because I can use a clean one each time.