Canning/Jarring - How Do I Not Kill Myself?
I was going to attempt to can (glass jar actually) my A-mazing strawberry jam tonight. Any thoughts on how I can avoid botulism?
This article pretty much says don't even think about it unless you have a canner - I don't and was going to do open-kettle.
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_fnut/_timely/BOTULISM.htm
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12 Comments:
I don't have a canner or the actual utensils and I'm doing just fine so far with my canning. I use a big pot, or more recently, my turkey fryer! I sterilize the jars very well and then once the jars are filled and sealed put them back into the boiling water for 20 minutes. Sure, having the right supplies can be helpful but not necessary. If I can do it, so can you!
There's plenty of articles on this subject online...just check them out. Also, wait to hear that POP once the jars are out of their final boiling stage...you know your jars are sealed then. I'm SURE there are plenty more experts here that can help. Just giving advice from one novice to the next. Good luck!
arm1970 at 4:29PM on 06/03/09
Thanks arm1970. That's what I was planning to do til I mentioned it to a few friends, and was told that you have to send your jars for testing. Which seemed crazy and financially impractical. Then I started reading these articles.
Is there an easy way to tell if a jar of jam went bad once you open it?
GastroNomalies at 4:41PM on 06/03/09
Get the Ball canning book and follow the directions.
It is all of 8 bucks.
http://foodsafety.psu.edu/canningguide.html
JerzeeTomato at 4:48PM on 06/03/09
Unless you are an expert in the field of canning and food chemistry, don't "draw outside the lines". As long as you follow the directions of a reputable recipe source, you will do just fine. Canning, especially low acid foods, is no time to get creative or brave and certainly don't cut corners. Use good quality produce and make sure your jars get a good water bath. Don't test the seals until everything has cooled... Enjoy the fun of canning now and the satisfaction of eating and sharing the "fruits" of your labor later.
czken at 4:48PM on 06/03/09
Send your jars WHERE? I've done canning and echo the sentiments of others - as long as you're following a recipe from a reputable source and sterilize your jars first, you're good. If a jar doesn't seal, put it in the fridge and eat that jam first. You can tell if things go bad because they have mold on top or are fizzy or just don't look/smell/taste right. I always take a cautious spoonful out of a a just-opened jar to make sure everything's okay, but I've never had a problem.
marzipanda at 4:55PM on 06/03/09
Insane. Sending jars off for testing. Tell that to my grandma....
I have never had issue with canning, and like was already said, follow some basic directions and you are good to go. The Ball Blue Book and the Ball website are great, and there are a ton of other books and sites for the basics, as well as tips and advice.
Heck, I 'quick-can' a lot of my high sugar jams and never have an issue even with mold, much less with botulism. I would be MUCH more wary if you were trying to can meats or meat broth without a pressure canner etc. but jam? You will be fine.
sadiepix at 5:22PM on 06/03/09
Echoing the "follow the recipe" sentiments. Feel free to fiddle with the amount of spices, but when it comes to the chemical/acid/salt components, you want to leave that alone.
I've just gotten back on the canning wagon after a long time, and I'm with you on the reluctance to poison anyone. But really, if something goes bad, it's probably not going to go a little bad, it's going to be explosively stinking-up-the-neighborhood hazmat bad. Okay, maybe not hazmat, but you're going to open the jar and quickly seal it and throw out the whole jar.
You don't need a pressure canner unless you're canning low-acid items like meat. Otherwise you just need a pot that can hold the jars and enough water to cover the jars when you boil them. Then follow the instructions for how long to boil and how to handle them. If you're at high altitude, you need to boil longer, and there are charts for that.
If you've got a recent canning book, it will tell you what foods need to be pressure canned. Other foods, you might need to add a bit of acid (ascorbic acid, vinegar, whatever) to reach the proper level.
My mother used to do some canning when I was a kid, and believe me, she violated every rule. She re-used the flat lids, she didn't do the boiling water bath, and when she made jellies, she simply poured hot paraffin on top -- no lid at all. I'm not advocating her methods, but let's just say that when something didn't work, we knew it. Even before opening the jars, sometimes. Trust me, if those lids start bulging, you don't want to know what's inside.
dbcurrie at 5:34PM on 06/03/09
I made strawberry jam for the first time last week and was also kinda daunted by the whole "submerge the jars in boiling water" part. I didn't have any fancy tools and just ended up using a big soup pot and plain old kitchen tongs to get the jars in and out. Aside from being a bit dicey holding the jars with the tongs, everything worked out fine!
erelmartin at 7:29PM on 06/03/09
@erelmartin - The only "special equipment" I own for canning is a jar lifter. You can use tongs wrapped in rubber bands, but since the jar lifter was $4, and it makes things a lot easier, I invested.
My favorite canning resource is Pickyourown.org - recipes and advice from experienced canners for everything you can think of wanting to put up.
producestories at 9:00PM on 06/03/09
I've taught home canning workshops for many years and for the life of me I can't think of a reason why you'd send jars out to be tested (if they're chipped on top they're bad- is all you need to know), or where. Everything you need to know to be safe is in the "Ball Blue Book". Pick up a current edition at any Borders or well stocked book store (or Amazon.com). Lots of good recipes for jams & pickles in there, too.
kathyvegas at 9:20PM on 06/03/09
"Send jars for testing"
I'm going to guess your friends don't cook...just a wild guess.
erinlovestoeat at 9:49PM on 06/03/09
There are two ways to not kill yourself (by botulism)
1) Make sure the pH is less than 4.6 (i.e. you want it to be acidic). For most jams, this is a non-issue. If it is, squeeze in some lemon juice. Simple. For stuff like Tomatoes, you should probably get a pH tester to be safe.
2) process your cans in a "12D" process. Basically, hold it at a high temperature long enough to reduce the possibility of a bacteria surviving by 12 base-10 logs. so if you had a 1,000,000,000,000 bacteria before (actually, a pretty low number), you now probably have 1, for all intents and purposes, you now have a sterilized product. This is often what you want to avoid doing when you step outside the line since you probably don't have the equipment that will bring the cans/jars to the appropriate temperature for to achieve this, and just boiling the jars in an open-top kettle will not achieve this level of sterilization.
s_sevilla at 9:06PM on 07/08/09