canning
I made 15 jars of apple butter, and none of the jars sealed. I had hot, sterile jars and hot butter, standing at room temp. when I was done. Now, I am trying to save my butter using the boiling-water method. I think I forgot to tighten the rings on the jare the 1st time. Now, the rings ore tight. Any suggestions as what went wrong, and am I on the right track to save my work?
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13 Comments:
Look at this PDF from the Ball Fresh Preserving website.
This is serious stuff so you have to be very careful.
In order to use your product, you must:
a) RE BOIL IT. There is no way around this.
b) Re-sterilize your jars.
c) Either examine closely or discard the lids you are using. If they seem AT ALL defective, dump them and grab more at a hardware store or Wal-Mart-type place. New lids = Cheaper than botulism.
d) Gently heat the lids in simmering water but do not boil them. This makes the ...goo under the lid pliable so it will mold to the jar helping to seal it.
If you are at sea level, the boiling water bath should take 10 minutes. When I lived at 7000 feet, it took 20 minutes.
One more thing - do NOT "Swartzenegger" the bands onto the lids prior to sealing in the BW bath because you will prevent air from escaping the jar, which causes the vacuum seal. If you left your bands ever so slightly loose, this is correct so that's not what went wrong.
chiff0nade at 2:17PM on 11/27/07
Wait...if I'm reading your post correctly, you didn't process your butter in a canner before? Simply popped it into jars and hoped it would seal itself? Hello botulism!
I also hope that you've used a recipe that is approved for canning, most recently fruit butters have come under fire for not being safe for boiling water canning. My best suggestion to you is to either follow chiffonade's instructions above for proper canning, or dump it all into freezer bags and freeze it.
ErikaWaz at 2:37PM on 11/27/07
...you didn't process your butter in a canner before? Simply popped it into jars and hoped it would seal itself?
You would be surprised how many people think this is safe! I would not put up anything if I didn't process it through BW bath first. I've never been comfortable with pressure canning - one day I'll get over that.
chiff0nade at 2:53PM on 11/27/07
I'd say just freeze it. Going through the whole procedure again takes FOREVER, and there's no guarantee it will come out right the second time.
Earlier this year I made some strawberry jalapeno jam. I did not manage to thoroughly "melt" my sugar, but only realized this after processing. I re-boiled and re-processed the whole batch, only to have it never set up properly. The contents of 12 jars is now part of my compost pile. What a waste of time!
Kerosena at 2:56PM on 11/27/07
Oh...one more thing to add to my comment - make sure you take a clean, white, lint free cloth, dip it in boiling water and wipe the rim of each jar after you add the product. Slopping product on the rim will prohibit jars from sealing. (I hate it when that happens!) I've had to re-boil products because jars didn't seal and while I grumbled at the outset, it didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. The jars did seal on my second attempt. It's worth a try - just to be safe. If you wanted to give your apple butter as gifts, frozen might not be a good alternative.
chiff0nade at 3:42PM on 11/27/07
Canning via boiling water bath is safe if the contents are acidic. I'm not sure that apple butter would qualify. I would use a pressure canner in this instance. Tomatoes and tomato products, pickles, and any jams or jellies with very high sugar are the only things I would can with a water bath. I don't even can my tomatillo salsa, I freeze it. Better safe than sorry!
Library Lady at 4:24PM on 11/27/07
You have to out those lids in the water for a bit. I usually stick mine in when I fill the pot and let them cook while its heating up. If your lids are not at the right temp they will not seal.
I would bring the jars to room temp, scoop them out, stick the jars in the dishwasher on hottest temp, warm the apple butter back up, do not burn it just warm it in a sauce pan (Get a pot together and drop the fresh never before been used seals in the water. Refill those jars and then process them for about 15 mins in the water with lids and seals, they should seal.
JerzeeTomato at 5:14PM on 11/27/07
Also, the canning process may vary depending on the brand of jar you use. With Ball or Kerr jars, the processes described above should be fine. I just put up 12 jars of apple butter in quattro stagioni jars, which instructs you to let the product cool down a bit before jarring and then leave the jars in the water until the water has completely cooled. I have no idea why, but I followed the instructions and all but one of my jars sealed (I hadn't wiped the rim well enough).
Also, I chose to reduce the amount of sugar in my recipe by A LOT (from 2 cups to 2 tablespoons) and through an email with a Ball representative realized I need to process for twice as long - as if it were apple sauce. Just a tip for those of you wanting a more apple-y and less sugar-y apple butter.
LizNYC at 5:41PM on 11/27/07
go out and buy yourself a canning book. It's essential for a new canner. There are so many variables involved it could be one of a millon things. Follow a few recipes, every fine detail until you know canning a little more. Bernadin makes some great books out there for canning.
Lilartist at 9:59PM on 11/27/07
I would freeze what you have.
The Ball Blue Book is a great canning guide. I would also suggest The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol Costenbader.
Canning is dangerous, like everyone else here has said. Be careful!
(We can salsa every year.. Okay, I use the word we loosely. My husband cans every year, but I like to read all of his wonderful cooking/preserving books)
Urban Mom at 11:14PM on 11/27/07
I live in apple growing county and almost every weekend during apple harvest there is some church group or charity organization cooking and selling apple butter for fund raisers. The next community over even has an apple butter festival. If canning it was so dangerous then they would not be doing it. Granted it can be dangerous but a little common sense goes a long way. Also most communities has a university extension office, part of a national program, that has a home economics dept that also can give you answers and recommended practices for canning. Heres one site from NC cooperative extension service with USDA approved methods and step by step instruction for canning . http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/search/search.php?restrict=www&q=canning&type=Statewide
calicowade at 9:43AM on 11/28/07
Trying to use the heat from the product to seal the jars is fine - if you plan to leave them in the fridge. That's just not safe otherwise, and as other people have mentioned, botulism is bad. If you buy a big canning pot with rack for water canning, it's really very easy. And so much safer!
Peasantwench at 11:03AM on 11/28/07
OK, so here is how I solved my problem. I re-processed all the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes after full boil. All the jars sealed this time. I did wipe all the jars down before putting the lids on. This recipe is a family one, passed down through at least 3 generations. And, yes, I didn't use the water method the 1st time, but will in the future. My mom never processed this in water, so I was doing it her way. all other fruits and veggies were given the bath treatment, but never her jams and jellies. Live and learn. thanks for all the great input.
mommajanet at 11:58AM on 11/28/07