Can Jelly That Has Been Canned Successfully Be Cooked and Canned Again?


Event #142 • July/August, 2013

Canning has been an important role of my life since I was a young girl helping my mother and grandmother can in our Detroit basement. I loved the smell of fresh peaches simmering in syrup and the pungent spices used for making pickles. I loved going out in the garden and picking fresh fruit, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I also loved our family weekend outings in the country, picking upward boxes and baskets of foods to tin can from roadside markets and farmers' trucks.

In growing upwardly with relatives who experienced the Depression, I soon realized what a wonderful thing it was to take a pantry chock-total of all sorts of foods to "see us by." Once properly canned and stored in the pantry, any food not eaten during the wintertime volition remain good for years, without losing any of its gourmet sense of taste or diet.

E'er since and so, I've made home canning an important part of my quest for a self-reliant lifestyle. And, boy-oh-boy, take I canned a wide variety of foods! From pickles, jams, jellies, and preserves to venison, pork, beef, chicken, meals-in-a-jar, stews, soups, and nutmeats— I've canned them all.

I dear instruction others about canning. For more information, check out my volume, Growing and Canning Your Own Food, my "Ask Jackie" column in BHM, and my web log. I fifty-fifty host seminars here at our homestead. Truthfully, I think everyone who is able should learn how to can. It is an like shooting fish in a barrel, enjoyable, and frugal thing to practice.

Throughout the years, I've found that there are certain common mistakes that folks (me included) have made. Over and over, I've heard "I did this and this, and so my nutrient turned out bad." I actually detest for this to happen considering some people just chuck out the whole idea of canning right then and there. So, here are a few mistakes that home canners make and some advice on how to ready these mistakes.

The pressure canner blew up!

There's always a story floating around that someone'southward mother, aunt, or neighbor had a pressure canner that blew upward in the kitchen, bravado nutrient and glass everywhere. All I tin say is, "Yeah, right…" I hear this all the time. It's the most frequently-given reason why folks don't want to endeavour pressure canning.

Allow me say hither and at present that it is near impossible for a modern pressure canner to blow up. Modern pressure canners (those built inside the final 40 years or so) are equipped with at to the lowest degree i fool-proof prophylactic device— a petcock. The petcock releases steam and pressure when it gets over xv pounds and has a hard rubber plug that pops out if the pressure gets too high. In add-on, many canners, such as the All American, come up with both a dial and weight. If the pressure gets too loftier, the weight jiggles and releases steam and pressure. No blowing up.

Yous practice demand to monitor your pressure level canner while it is building pressure and during processing. Like a deep fryer, you don't just fill it and become in the other room or outside while information technology is doing its thing. (A long time ago, my oldest daughters decided to make French fries, so they put the potatoes in the deep fryer and went outside to sunbathe. Needless to say, they ended up having to call the burn department.) Y'all need to monitor your canner's pressure level— stay in the same room! If you desire to ready another batch of food to can, that'south perfectly fine. But check often to make certain the pressure isn't climbing past the force per unit area yous are processing your food with.

As an added safety precaution, be sure to always check your petcock and steam vents before you can. Run a needle through them to make sure a bit of food hasn't blown out of a jar and gotten wedged in the vent. In the past, this is ordinarily what blew up the erstwhile canners without safety features. The plugged vent permit the steam pressure build upwardly until the chapeau blew off. Again, with modern canners, this is near impossible.

Always use a rack to forestall the jars from coming in contact with excessive heat from the burner. If you don't, the lesser of the jar may suspension out!

The bottoms broke out of my jars

This unremarkably happens during water bath canning. The reason is elementary: hot jars put into a cool canner or cool jars put into a boiling canner make the bottoms of the jars cleft and interruption during processing. Always brand certain your jars are hot and the canner a little below boiling before you put them together. You lot tin can hold your jars in another canner full of boiling water or fifty-fifty hold them in a sink full of hot h2o so they stay reliably hot. Then pack them quickly and put them into a very warm canner. Fifty-fifty when pressure canning, I ever take the time to oestrus my canner a fleck so I'm not putting hot jars of nutrient into a cold canner. By doing this uncomplicated footstep, I have no jar bottoms pause during processing.

Another cause of broken jars is setting your jars of hot, processed food directly on a kitchen counter or table to cool. Setting them most an open window with a cool cakewalk blowing on them will besides cause breakage. So will canning outdoors and putting the hot jars, right out of the canner, on a table in a windy area. Make sure at that place is no wind or breeze, and e'er set your hot jars on a make clean, dry towel and they will cool safely … in one piece!

Tunking jars together while very hot can upshot in broken jars. The jars should also take plenty space betwixt them to create a expert airflow. A good airflow results in a good seal.

Liquid blowing out of jars

Liquid blowing out of jars during canning can happen for a couple of reasons. The showtime and about common reason is letting the pressure level vary during processing. Let'due south say you are canning at 12 pounds pressure only it slips upwardly to 15 pounds before you notice it. If y'all apace plough off the heat and permit it go to 12 pounds, and then turn the oestrus back on a couple of times, this can cause liquid to accident out of the jars. It is better to slowly bring it back to the correct force per unit area.

Opening the canner too presently afterward processing or bumping the weight a couple times to "hurry" things up will too cause liquid to blow out of the jars. Once the pressure goes back to zip after your batch of jars has processed fully, look five minutes or and so. Then release whatever steam and remove the lid of the canner. Don't try to salve jars by over-packing food. Filling the jars by the recommended headspace volition likewise crusade liquid to blow out.

Although unsightly, the food in jars with a depression liquid level is perfectly good to eat. A depression liquid level does non touch on the shelf life or the gustatory modality of the nutrient.

My jars didn't seal

Having a couple of jars that don't seal in a big batch of canning is nothing to be concerned most. Reprocessing it is easy. Simply reheat the food, check the jar rim for nicks or food particles, use a new, previously-simmered chapeau, and re-process within 24 hours. Or, you lot tin can but refrigerate information technology and eat it.

Nonetheless, if more than 1 or two jars fail to seal, in that location is a definite reason. And the most common reason is not reading directions. Canning is definitely not rocket science, simply you practise need to follow tested recipes and the directions for every food, every time you tin it. Never rely on retentivity. Fifty-fifty with all my experience, I always open my canning volume and read the directions before I can that particular food. It's a good habit to get into. And you'll have fewer failures along the fashion if you lot practice.

One other thing we thought of that quite a few folks have washed wrong, including my oldest son, Bill, is to begin counting the processing time in a water bath canner from the fourth dimension they put the jars into the canner. This is wrong and can effect in failed seals, mold, or fermenting foods. The time should always begin when the canner full of jars comes to a full rolling boil.

Examine every jar earlier you fill them to check for nicks or cracks in the rim of the jar. Always be sure to wipe the rim of your filled jars with a damp, make clean material to remove whatever food $.25 or grease before putting on your lids. When they are done processing, do not wipe the jars and lids before they are cooled. If you take minerals in your water, your jars may take a whitish motion picture on them after they come out of the canner. This picture is nothing to worry about, but some folks accept a towel and wipe it off before the jars have cooled. The lids volition non seal properly if you do this. Wait until the jars have cooled completely, then yous tin accept off the rings and wash the jars thoroughly under warm, soapy water with no sick result.

When your batch of jars are through with their processing time, let the gauge render to zero or permit the canner cool so there is no remaining steam if using a weight only. But do not leave the hat on the canner overnight and presume that the jars will seal just fine. Sometimes they appear to seal, but in storage, the seal releases and the nutrient spoils. Again, read the directions and follow them. When the volume says "let the gauge return to zero or allow the canner to cool naturally so remove the hat and remove the jars," do simply that. Information technology does not say to leave them for several hours in the cooled canner!

Exist certain to put your hot, processed jars onto a folded, dry towel away from cool breezes. Setting hot jars onto a wet towel, on a bare countertop, or next to an open window can cause broken jars.

My grandmother water bathed light-green beans

Years agone, dwelling pressure canners weren't readily available, and then people did process foods such every bit vegetables and even meats by belongings them in a humid water bath canner for iii hours. That usually caused the jars to seal, although the nutrient was terribly overcooked. Just, no affair how long y'all hold jars of food in a water bath canner, the temperature of the food in the jars never reaches above boiling.

Boiling temperatures kill molds and yeast, along with some forms of bacteria. But it does not kill the bacteria that crusade botulism (food poisoning) or their toxins. And so you could boil your green beans for 3 hours in a h2o bath canner and yet have toxic nutrient in your pantry, even though the jars had sealed. To impale these bacteria, food in your jars must achieve 240 degrees— a temperature which is only reached inside a steam pressure canner.

No, botulism is not common in this land, but it does occur. Do you actually desire to take a chance your family's safe by continuing an dangerous canning exercise? Again, always read the directions (from a mod canning book) for each and every food y'all tin. All low-acid foods, including vegetables, meats, poultry, and fish (and recipes including them) must be processed in a pressure canner.

Can I reduce the processing fourth dimension if I boil foods first?

Any time you tin can up a batch of food, you accept to care for it as if you lot had just mixed it up fresh. This goes for your own recipes of chili, soup, and stew, besides as when you lot re-can large #x cans (institutional size) from the store. It's always possible for bacteria to float into that food between cooking and canning. So to be safe, yous must process that food as though it were made up fresh and follow the processing directions exactly in your canning book. If you don't, you'll have incompletely processed food that may go bad during storage or expose your family unit to the danger of food poisoning.

My sweetness corn turned brown during canning

There are a couple of reasons why corn turns an unappetizing brown after processing. The almost common is that the corn is i of the newer super-sweet varieties. Plant or purchase a variety of corn that is not "extra sweet" or "unbelievably sugariness." One popular diversity sold is Kandy Korn, a super-sweet best seller. Information technology is very practiced, eaten fresh. Just information technology is a poor option to can. I've done information technology with mixed results; some batches are fine, others turn chocolate-brown.

Some other possibility is that the corn was processed at too loftier a temperature. This often happens when a person fails to monitor the pressure gauge while the corn is processing. If you should exist processing at 10 pounds force per unit area, don't assume that fifteen will get in "better."

Brand sure that water covers the corn well and that y'all use the correct headspace recommendations.

If you lot do end up with unappetizing brown corn, it is fine to eat. Most folks won't desire to swallow it as a side dish because of its appearance, so just utilize it in your recipes.

My jelly didn't fix

This just happens sometimes, fifty-fifty with the most experienced jam and jelly preservers, me included. Personally, I don't worry most information technology and just use the unset spread as syrup over pancakes or ice cream. It'due south sweet, fruity, and thick plenty non to be runny.

I retrieve the most common reason it doesn't gear up is from tweaking the recipe in your canning volume. Don't add together extra fruit juice to your recipe, thinking that you can get away with adding a piddling more sugar. It never works out and yous'll be disappointed with unset spreads.

Whether you employ a recipe with pectin or not, don't hurry the humid of your spread. If your recipe calls for added pectin, add the full amount. Never double a recipe. It often does non plow out well; either information technology doesn't gear up or it scorches.

If you've done everything right and the preserve notwithstanding doesn't jell, you can save it and remake it again to get a firmer product. Before re-canning, just retrieve, some fruit preserves and jellies take up to two weeks to set up upwards. And some fruits, such every bit chokecherries, are a bugger to set. Whenever I beginning to melt downwardly my chokecherries, I utilize apple juice as a liquid, non water. The apple tree juice is high in natural pectin and helps the chokecherry jam or jelly to fix. I also add together powdered pectin.

If y'all want to remake your jam, jelly, or preserves that accept not fix afterwards two weeks, here's how:

Spreads made with powdered pectin, such every bit Sure-Jel:

To remake failed jelly or jam, simply practise 8 pints at 1 time. For each loving cup of spread, measure ane½ tsp. powdered pectin, 1 Tbsp. water, and two Tbsp. saccharide. Set sugar aside in a split bowl. Combine pectin and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to forbid scorching. Bring the pectin and water to a eddy over medium oestrus, stirring frequently to foreclose scorching. Add unset preserves (or jam or jelly) and saccharide, stirring constantly to prevent scorching and to mix thoroughly with pectin mixture. Bring to a hard eddy for 30 seconds. Quickly ladle into hot jars, leaving¼ inch of headspace. Identify a hot, new, previously-simmered chapeau on jar and screw downwards the band firmly tight. Process in a water bath canner for the fourth dimension shown in the original recipe.

Spreads fabricated with liquid pectin, such as Certo:

To remake failed jelly or jam which has been fabricated with liquid pectin, but do 8 pints at ane time. For each loving cup of unset jelly, measure out ane½ tsp. liquid pectin, 3 Tbsp. sugar, and 1½ tsp. lemon juice. Place failed preserves (or jam or jelly) in a large bucket and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to preclude scorching. Quickly stir in saccharide, lemon juice, and liquid pectin. Return to rolling boil, stirring constantly. Eddy hard for i infinitesimal, stirring constantly. Remove from oestrus. Ladle hot jam/jelly into hot jars, leaving¼ inch of headspace. Identify a new, hot, previously-simmered lid on the jar and screw down the ring firmly tight. Process in a boiling water bath canner for the time required in the original recipe.

Without added pectin (boiled down jam, jelly, or preserves):

Ordinarily when these don't set, it means y'all haven't read or followed the directions correctly. Read them once more and recheck your method. If it still seems correct, heat the unset product in a large pot until the temperature in the recipe is reached or the jelling bespeak is reached. Be sure the preserves slide off a clean spoon in a canvas instead of dripping off in drips. Then rapidly ladle the spread into hot jars, leaving¼ inch of headspace. Identify a hot, new, previously-simmered lid on the jar and screw downwardly the band firmly tight. Process in a water bath canner for the time required in the original recipe.

Cracks and nicks in the jar rim are a mutual crusade of seal failures. Here, I'one thousand checking each jar rim advisedly with my finger. Be careful; sometimes nicks in the glass are sharp!

My jars have come unsealed during storage

This happens once in a while, simply it should non happen very often. If more than ane jar in a large batch comes unsealed, or this starts happening frequently, you have a problem.

The about common cause is that food bits take been trapped under the chapeau during processing. Be sure to wipe both the rim of the jar and the threads to remove any clinging nutrient particles earlier putting the hat on the jar. Another cause of food getting trapped nether the hat is varying pressure during canning which oftentimes blows liquid and small food particles out of the jar during processing. These particles sometimes guild nether the lid and around the rim of the jar, causing seal failure either right away or after on.

Another common crusade is, again, not post-obit directions. If the food has not been processed for the correct time, it won't stay sealed. Never take shortcuts, thinking that 30 minutes is as adept as xl minutes in a pressure canner. Or thinking that because a soup was put into the jars boiling hot, it doesn't need to be processed equally long every bit if it were not previously boiled.

Another mutual crusade of seal failure in storage is packing food besides tightly into a jar, not using the recommended headspace. The food swells during processing and touches the underside of the lid, sometimes causing seal failure in storage.

Not removing air trapped in the liquid when you pack your jars will also crusade seals to fail in storage. Take the time to slide a plastic or wooden spatula or chopstick downwards inside the jars to release any air bubbling.

Finally, when the processing fourth dimension is finished, don't leave the jars in the pressure canner with the lid on. I did that once because I was exhausted from a 36-hr canning session. I left a big batch in the canner, turned off the heat, and went to bed. The adjacent day, every one of those jars of sugariness corn seemed sealed, so I put them into the basement. Two weeks later on, I started to aroma a stink in the basement. The seals had all failed— I threw out 9 quarts and 14 pints of spoiled corn. I've never done that once again!

Incorrectly exhausting steam before shutting your pressure canner tin can also lead to nutrient spoilage. Most canners crave ten minutes of steady steam escaping from the vent before you lot begin processing past flipping down your petcock or putting your weight in identify. The steam should non come up out in spurts; it should be steady and vigorous. If you shut your canner also shortly, the nutrient oft will non estrus for long enough during processing and tin can spoil in storage even if the lid appears sealed.

My fruit or tomatoes are floating in liquid in the jars

This is zilch to worry nearly, although many showtime home canners are distressed to detect this happening. The fruit crowds near the top of the jar with lots of syrup or juice below it. Raw packing the fruit is mostly what causes this. If you simply rut your fruit (or tomatoes) in their syrup or juice, they won't float in the jars. Be sure to pack your fruit well without smashing information technology into your jars. The fruit volition slightly shrink in processing.

My pickles are shriveled

This about oftentimes happens when you can whole pickles, commonly sweet gherkin blazon pickles. There are two mutual causes of shriveled pickles. The get-go crusade is that too much saccharide was added to the cucumbers at ane fourth dimension. Follow your recipe to the letter and add the carbohydrate over the catamenia of time indicated. The second crusade is not pricking the cucumbers with a fork earlier soaking them in the alkali. Pricking lets the brine penetrate each cucumber, plumping it upwards during brining.

This condition is unappealing, but the pickles are still edible and usually quite tasty.

My pickles are soft and limp

There are several reasons that pickles become soft after processing. I believe the most common is boiling them likewise long. Refrigerated cukes are nice and crisp, but those left on the counter at room temperature are limp and wrinkled. Pick a recipe that requires picayune to no humid earlier packing and a very brusk time in a humid water bath canner. Grandma's best pickle recipes required no water bath processing and the pickles were always sealed and crisp. They were packed cold in the jars then the boiling brine was poured quickly over them and the lids and rings were fastened in place. Every jar sealed and remained sealed. Today, to keep u.s.a. absolutely prophylactic from any possible food-borne affliction, experts now recommend processing all pickles in a boiling water bathroom— some for every bit little every bit 5 minutes and most for 10 or even fifteen minutes. The longer you lot boil pickles, the softer they tend to get. Some folks add grape leaves or powdered alum (pickle-well-baked) to the pickles to assistance them stay crisp, with varying results.

Some other crusade of limp pickles is not removing the flower end (as opposed to the stalk finish) of each cucumber as it is prepared. Be sure to trim it off completely to remove whatever leaner or mold-causing organisms present.

Using weak vinegar or a alkali that is besides weak (often fabricated so by adding water) also causes limp pickles. Be sure to cover all of your pickles in the jar with brine. Those that stick up out of the brine will become soft and soggy. But use 5% acidity vinegar in the brine. If you lot use homemade vinegar, exam it to brand sure it is strong enough to use in pickling. Likewise, use pickling table salt, not common table salt. Tabular array salt contains iodine, a necessary supplement to diets, just information technology can cause pickles to become soft or discolored.

Using other-than-fresh cucumbers is some other very common reason for pickles going limp. E'er pick your cucumbers just earlier pickling and be sure to wash them thoroughly. I store mine before processing in a large bowl full of cold h2o.

The food in my jars is getting discolored and stake

This is mutual when home-canned food is stored in conditions with also much oestrus and/or calorie-free nowadays. An attic is very warm in the summertime months and if y'all have windows in the attic, the light, coupled with heat, will discolor your food. Canned foods should be stored in a dark, cool location, such equally a dry basement that is not subject to freezing temperatures. The discolored food looks unappetizing and may soften (especially fruit), but as long equally the jars remain sealed, the food should be okay to use.

Even though I've canned for more than 45 years, I always get out a canning volume. It's too piece of cake to forget a step or procedure.

My rings and lids are getting rusty

Condensation in a damp basement can and does cause canning jar rings and lids to rust. I had this problem in the farmhouse basement we used, years ago. By simply adding a dehumidifier to our storage area, so using a small wood stove down in the basement in the winter months, my problem was solved completely.

Only there can be another common crusade of jar lids and rings rusting. Did you know that jars store much better if the rings are taken off of the jars before storage? Well-nigh folks just take the cooled jars to their pantry after processing. Instead, you tin do what I do (what you're supposed to practice) and remove the rings and wash the jars off with warm soapy water when they are cool. During processing, nutrient juices ofttimes blow out of the jar and lodge between the band and the jar threads. If you don't remove the band and wash the jar, this remains during storage and attracts moisture, which rusts the rings and the lids. These lids somewhen rust through and spoil the nutrient. When washed, the lids last years longer.

I practise sometimes store my jars with the rings on to relieve storage space for the rings, just I always remove the ring, wash and dry the jar, and so put the band back on.

Some people fearfulness that if they remove the band, the jar will come unsealed and the food ruined. This is non true. If the jar is properly sealed, removing the ring never lets the seal come undone.

My Tattler reusable jar lids don't seal reliably

Some people try the Tattler reusable canning lids and don't read the directions on the box. Or they have older jars with difficult-to-empathise directions on the box. They employ the lids just like they do regular lids, and that doesn't work with Tattler lids. With regular two-piece metal lids, you pack your food, wipe the rim of the jar clean, place a hot, previously-simmered lid on the jar, and spiral down the band firmly tight. Then it goes into the canner.

Tattler lids are different in the manner they seal and you lot need to be enlightened of this. I use them myself; they work wonderfully for years and years if you follow the directions on the box. You pack your food, wipe the rim of the jar clean, place a hot, previously-simmered chapeau and rubber on the jar, and screw the hat only fingertip tight. Now that'due south barely snug, just it'southward just enough to agree the lid on the jar during processing! Most folks mistakenly tighten the ring as with metal two-slice lids.

When you take the jars out of the canner, immediately tighten the rings all the style and set the jars on a dry out folded towel to absurd. This is like the old zinc lids with rubbers where the instructions say "complete the seal." If y'all follow these instructions, they'll seal correctly and you lot tin reuse them over and over for decades!

Conclusion

Canning is simply a learned life skill. Like all homestead arts, the more you practice, the better yous'll become— and the more than confident you'll go, too! I've had to deal with a lot of these common issues over the years in my ain canning and with the canning my friends and BHM family accept done. I'm hoping that by reading this article, y'all'll be able to solve some of your own mistakes and avert making others. Happy canning!

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Source: https://www.backwoodshome.com/avoiding-common-canning-mistakes/