Can you do canning on a glass/flat top stove?

I had a glass cook top for years, and I did plenty of canning. No problems at all. I've also heard that you "can't" use cast iron on a glass cook top, and I had no problem with that either.

For many years before that, I did lots of canning on electric ranges with feeble coils. No problems there either. I do prefer my gas range, and I sure wish I had a copper pan, so if you want to do some shopping...

To echo betteirine's point, making better jam is as good a reason as any I've every heard for getting a great gas range. Then of course of you'll have to get a Mauviel or similar French copper jamming pan, which definitely would work much, much better on a gas range with higher BTUs and a big burner. Think giving the mouse a cookie . . . . The gorgeous heavy jamming kettle and controllable, high-BTU gas range are "nice to haves," not "must haves" for making jam, though. I would say, too, that if you can make jam with a friend on her or his nice gas range, you should. It will be a different, more pleasant experience, especially if you don't have a lot of experience in making jam, yet. ;o)

It's not the kind of fire you have, it's how hot you can get it. Or something like that. Like AntoniaJames said, as long as you can bring a pot of water to a boil, you're good. If our pioneer ancestors could manage it outdoors with no thermometers and cast iron kettles over wood fires, we can do that, and more.

One of my daughters-in-law has an induction cooktop and has made some pretty yummy jams and pickles on it. You should do fine with yours. Unless, of course, you have your heart set on getting a new gas range, in which case ignore everything I just said.

I agree, you should be able to use that stove. You may, however, decide to upgrade if you start doing more canning or want to use a pressure canner. If you're just starting out, Ball has a neat kit they just came out with. You can use your own pot:http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/new_products/2.php?product=326 for more info.

As long as you can get it hot enough to boil an enormous pot of water, and as long as you can get it bring to a boil fruit (or whatever) in a good sized, heavy pot, you should be fine. I made one of the best batches of raspberry jam ever -- and I've been made several dozen jars a year of the stuff for 20+ years -- in an ordinary (i.e., cheap) stock pot on a six-inch electric burner in a rental cabin on a river in Oregon last year. (I then used the same pot, in the rather modestly equipped kitchen, to process the jars, sitting them on extra rings placed in the bottom of the pot, and using water I'd boiled in the two other smaller pots I had available, while making the jam itself.) Having a gas range is lovely for so many reasons, but if you're careful and are willing to learn from a few mistakes, if necessary, through the trial and error process, you should be fine using the electric burners!! My one caveat here is that the stove I used was not a glass top. I cannot see how there would be any difference, so I'll defer to others on that particular point. ;o)