No, depending on how high your flame is. You don't need a violent bubbling boiling pot of water:-) just as long as it bubbles. I usually turn my flame on high just to get the water boiling then when I drop my jars in I turn it down to a medium flame.

Yes. If you have one of those metal things use it:-) It's not really necessary but what the heck:-) You don't want your jars to touch the bottom of the pot. The bottom of the pot gets VERY hot and your glass jars may crack. To keep them up...get a towel and fold it up once or twice. Lay that on the bottom. It will keep you jars from touching the bottom of the pot and it will also add a bit of stability. So your jars won't be bouncing around as much:-)

Hope that helps

Microwave doesn't seem like it would work that well, unless you want to keep it on for the whole hour. When you steam, it is not only the high temp, but the length that the sterilizing objects are exposed to that temp that does the work.

[This message has been edited by limegreen (edited April 17, 2000).]