mirro matic pressure cooker safety valve quotation

When home canning fills your shelves and appears in daily family meals, you could use a large-capacity pot, like the Mirro 22-Quart Pressure Canner. The large, tall pot lets you safely process more than 25 pounds of beets, potatoes, or other low-acid vegetables in one batch. Bigger can be better if you’re preserving a season’s salmon catch or turning venison or beef into stew meat.

Mirro’s history is a bit more scattered than the other big names in pressure canning, but it’s been around since the early 1900s. It began changing corporate hands in the 1980s, and after several shifts ended up with France’s Groupe SEB, which also owns All-Clad, Tefal, and Imusa. Through it all, little seems to have changed in the canner’s design.

I spent a couple of weeks testing this large-capacity pressure canner and cooker with large and small batches to see how it stacked up against the competition. Here’s what I found.

Mirro’s largest canner has two uses: pressure canning and pressure cooking. Older versions of the user’s manual mentioned using it as a water-bath canner, but my test unit’s booklet (dated September 2019) says to use “a conventional cooking pot” instead.

Like most full-size pressure canners, Mirro’s 22-quart model can hold 7 quart-sized jars, but this canner is so large that you can stack two layers of smaller jars. You’ll pack in the greatest number of regular-mouth ones: 18 pint-sized and 24 half-pint jars. Mirro provides two canning racks to make stacking easy. Set one rack on the pot’s bottom and one between the jar layers.

The canner’s streamlined design is attractively polished outside and functionally matte inside. The pot’s aluminum construction rules it out for induction cooktops, and it has a concave base that won’t work well on glass-top stoves. Given these features and its fully loaded weight, which can top 45 pounds, it makes sense that Mirro would only recommend gas and electric coil heat sources.

The pressure canner comes fully assembled with its operating valves tucked in a small box. Before you start canning or cooking, Mirro recommends running the canner under minimal pressure with just water and baking soda. This treatment didn’t seem to prevent the aluminum interior from darkening, which seemed to be the intent, but it was a great way to give the canner a test run.

The user’s manual is worth reviewing to learn about the canner’s components, but it doesn’t always jibe with U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines. Jar sizing and processing instructions seem to have been culled from an older or inaccurate source, and they gloss over some details. It’s hard to recommend the model to an entry-level canner without that caveat that you should follow USDA guidelines, rather than Mirro’s manual, to ensure safe processing.

This canner’s key feature is its weighted gauge. Mirro includes three regulators, calling them operating valves, that can be swapped out depending on what you’re canning or cooking. Weighted gauges lock you into broad pressure targets, so you may be processing jars under more pressure than they need to safely seal. The upside is a weighted gauge doesn’t need annual accuracy testing. The company recommends swapping out the gasket annually and having the entire setup checked at an approved service center every 10 years.

The canner tested well when processing beans in mixed batches and sealed all lids when I jarred up soup. It took practice to get a steady regulator jiggle on my gas stove. Setting the pot on a larger burner helped, but at my 3,000-foot elevation, I still had to adjust the burner heat more often than with dial-gauge canners to keep the pressure steady.

It also took a few tries to lock the canner’s lid closed so that it would build pressure. It was easy to over-twist the lid, but perfect top-to-bottom alignment still vented steam through the pressure indicator and handle rim. Turning until the top handle was just slightly forward of the lower one on both sides immediately popped up the pressure indicator once the canner started to steam. This may be a quirk of the specific pot I tested and not all Mirro canners.

Even though Mirro sells this model as a pressure cooker, you’d probably skip this use unless you’re feeding a large, hungry crew. The recipes in an enclosed booklet are all scaled for small pressure cookers, so you’d have to make triple batches and plan to feed 24 to 36 people from this pot.

This large canner typically sells for $100 or less, making it one of the most affordable ways to fill your shelves with home-canned goods. For that price, you get a second rack for double decking and operating valves at three pressure levels, pieces that are sometimes sold as add-ons to other pressure canners. Mirro’s design also requires less maintenance than many pressure canners, cutting down on your costs down the road.

Although it’s less expensive than much of the competition, the canner has more limitations. You’ll want to choose another brand if you have a flat cooktop. If you’re nervous about pressure canning for the first time, you may prefer a model with a dial gauge so that you get more feedback on what’s happening inside the sealed pot.

Mirro’s pressure canner is easy on the budget at initial purchase and over time, but you have some other options that keep you in a similar price range.

Presto 23-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker:Presto’s 23-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker (view at Amazon) holds a couple more jars than Mirro’s similarly sized model and doubles as a water-bath canner for jars ranging from half-pints to quarts. It sells for a few more dollars (with a retail price of $109), but needs less frequent gasket replacements. Its dial gauge does need annual testing, which could require shipping it off to Presto.

Presto 16-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker:To step down in size and save some cupboard space, consider Presto’s 16-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker (view at Amazon). It’s nearly the same price as Mirro’s larger canner but also works as a water-bath canner for pint-sized and smaller jars. It has the same maintenance needs and costs as Presto’s larger model and can be used on glass cooktops that can handle its 41-pound loaded weight.

The Mirro 22-Quart Pressure Canner has basic looks and features and packs lots of jars inside. Experienced canners at low elevations may love this low-maintenance, weighted-gauge model. Novice canners and anyone living at a high elevation will want to do some research before processing the first batch.

Mirro makes two models of pressure canners: a 16 qt and a 22 qt. Both of these models are weighted-gauge canners, with no dials on top of the machines. It’s unclear where these are made.

The Mirro company started with the merger of three aluminum companies in 1909; the merged company named itself the “Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company.” [1]”New Company to Embrace Three”. Manitowoc Daily Herald. March 8, 1909. p. 1. In 1917, the company introduced the Mirro line of goods. [2]James M. Rock. “A Growth Industry: The Wisconsin Aluminum Cookware Industry, 1893-1920”. Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 55, no. 2 (Winter, 1971-1972): 86-99. By 1957, the company had become so synonymous with these goods that it renamed itself the “Mirro Aluminum Company”. [3]”Would Change Goods’ Official Name to Mirro”. Two Rivers Reporter. March 20, 1957. p. 2. Mirro was located at 1512 Washington Street  in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

In 2004, a company named Global Home Products purchased Mirro, along with Regal and Wear-Ever brands (founded 1888), and combined them into The WearEver Company. [4]Description to photo of Juicer. Museums of Mississauga, Canada. Identifier: 2005.6.11, Item 1932. Accessed March 2020 at http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/discover/historicimagesgallery

In 2006, Groupe SEB from France bought the “Mirro Wearever” company in a bankruptcy sale. The Mirro line of goods became its entry-level cookware, joining T-Fal (mid-range) and All-Clad and Krups (upper end).

Production of Mirro was moved out of the country in 2001. Its admin offices were moved out of Manitowoc, Wisconsin at the same time. In 2015, the entire former plant was razed to the ground. [5]”History comes tumbling down”. Gannett. htrnews. December 30, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2015 from https://www.htrnews.com/story/home/2014/12/30/history-comes-tumbling/21078275/.

At time of writing (spring 2020), Mirro is still part of Groupe SEB. We do not know where the manufacturing is done, nor where the customer service is handled from.

Mirro has changed hands many times in the past few decades. No doubt, there has been loss of in-house expertise and experience, including in its pressure canning line, and without the people to maintain them, the documentation has fallen far behind. This may account for some of the confusion you will encounter about Mirro pressure canners.

As of 2020, Mirro sells what it calls “pressure cookers” in four sizes: 8 quarts, 9 quarts, 16 quarts and 22 quarts (US quarts.) [Other cookware is also made under the Mirro name.]

The “current” (as of 2020) Mirro pressure cooker / canner manual is undated; it appears to be from the early 2000s. The manual was written for their 8, 12 and 22 quarts (US) pressure cooker / canner models. Since at least 2017 the choices have changed: the sizes they now offer in pressure cookers are 8, 9, 16 and 22 quarts (US.)

On page 4 of that undated manual, they appear to identify the 8 quart, 12 quart and 22 quart models as pressure canners. “Cooking rack…to place jars off the bottom of the 8, 12 and 22 Qt. (US) canners.”  On page 34 of the same manual, they write: “CAUTION: Pressure can only in models with selective control (5, 10, 15 lbs.) only. Do not try to can in single-control model.” It may be that at the time of writing their 8 quart came with a selective control; now (2020), it does not – only a single 10 lb pressure choice.

The fact is, their manual certainly did seem to refer to their 8 and 12 quart models as pressure canners (see chart below under “Manual”.)  The 8 quart would not hold any quart jars; the 12 quart model would hold 7.

The USDA pressure canning recommendations only support pressure canners large enough to hold 4 x 1 US quart (1 litre) jars at once. [6]The reason for this is that warm-up and cool-down times in the canner are counted as part of processing time; a smaller canner would heat up too fast, and cool down too fast. So even if the person who wrote the manual for Mirro classed the old 8 quart as a pressure canner, the USDA never would. And whoever wrote the manual for Mirro is probably long gone after all the company buyouts and no longer around to accept responsibility for that.

This means that of the older pressure “pots” referred to in that manual, the 8 quart does not qualify as acceptable for pressure canning; the 12 quart would.

And it means from their currently-sold range (dating from at least 2017, current as of 2020) that the 16 quart and 22 quart models are the ones that are acceptable pots to do pressure canning in.

As of 2020, Mirro makes two models of pressure canners: a 16 qt and a 22 qt. Both of these models are weighted-gauge canners, with no dials on top of the machines. Each comes with three separate weights: 5, 10 and 15 lbs.

Please note that as of 2020, to the best of our knowledge, Mirro still does NOT recommend either model for use on glass-topped stoves. “Mirro pressure cooker/canners are not designed to be used on a flat top (glass or ceramic) range because they have concave bottoms. On a flat top range, a large area of the bottom will be out of contact with the heat source, preventing the transfer of heat and the buildup of pressure.” [7]Swanson, Marilyn A. Using and caring for your pressure canner. Pacific Northwest Extension: University of Idaho · Oregon State University · Washington State University, 2013. PNW421. Page 9.

Please note that regardless of the smaller pressure canner sizes referred to in the old manual, from their currently sold product line up only the 16 quart and 22 quart are acceptable choices because they will hold the minimum 4 x 1 US quart (1 litre) jars.

Swanson, Marilyn A. Using and caring for your pressure canner. Pacific Northwest Extension: University of Idaho · Oregon State University · Washington State University, 2013. PNW421. Page 9.

We examined 10 hot Mirro pressure cookers over the last 2 years. Figure out which Mirro pressure cookers is best for you. You can also Filter by type, model, material and capacity or choose one of our Mirro pressure cookers editorial picks.

The pressure cookers are beneficial substitute to get creative with your cooking, this 12 quart pressure cooker canner is look like open box. The cookers are self-opening, so you can see the inside for the first few minutes of use, the cookers will then let you know there is empty and how much food it provides cooked. The food is preheated in the oven, so you can start cooking without ever having to worry about cooking an extra meal, the cookers are to get creative with cooking.

The pressure cookers are splendid surrogate to get your canning process done quickly and easily, this canner grants an 11- quinn valve that makes canning processes basic and reliable. The black and red colors give it a look that is sure to impress, this canner also gives water measuring scoop, which makes canning processes more efficient. This is a replacement part for the pressure cookers, it is a spring-steel gasket and is used to protect the pressure cookers from damage. It is essential for enthusiasts uses where rapid pressure growth or rapid cleaning and cleaning by end user is required, this is a vintage pressure cooker that is complete with a gasket m-0644. This cooker was originally used for cooking doves, it is an excellent cooker for a variety of reasons. It is uncomplicated to clean, it extends a small size, and it is lightweight.

For your convenience, we complied Mirro Matic pressure cooker parts, manual, and reviews. You are being given everything you need to know before buying a Mirro Matic pressure cooker, and anything you might need once you receive it in the mail.

Not all pressure cookers sell individual parts, so use this to your advantage. It saves you time and money since you do not have to mail in your pressure cooker and wait to receive a new one.

With other pressure cooker companies, you may even have to pay the shipping costs for receiving a replacement pressure cooker, which is a total waste of time and money.

There is one main manual / instruction booklet that typically comes with Mirro Matic pressure cookers. You should have received a copy of it with your pressure cooker, but if not, there is an online version you can access or download.

The Mirro Matic pressure cooker manual can help with safety tips, instructions on how to use your Mirro pressure cooker, types of replacement parts, and even recipes that work best with a Mirro Matic pressure cooker.

Overall, Mirro Matic pressure cookers are extremely reliable. The only cause for concern is the type of metal for some of them; since they are aluminum, the metal is thin and can warp if heated in just the right way.