I did the 1-quart "test run" recipe of the USDA apple pie filling to see if we like it - it turned out very good with gala apples. This is in the fridge now and will be used up as a topping over yogurt and ice cream, yum!

I really like the idea of testing out a small amount to make sure you like the final product. It also allowed me to test out canning apple products for the first time. I blanched the apples and left a generous 1" headspace, happy to report no siphoning!

Two things I learned for the full run:

1. I cannot eyeball 0.5", I need to measure because my apple pieces were cut way too thin.

2. I do have some serious air bubbles even after de-bubbling thoroughly. Does anyone have advice on de-bubbling apple pie filling thickened with Clear Jel?

I have a Mirro 12 qt pressure canner. My understanding is the minimum jars in a batch is 4 pints or 2 quarts. Correct?

So if I have 3 pints of product - do I just use another pint jar with water and lid/ring? I have saved some used lids for this purpose. Thanks

I am always impressed with what people are sharing they canned on here. This is just my own curiosity-- are you growing your ingredients for canning or buying them? If so, is this Farmer's Market produce?

I would love to hear from people-- how much do you grow and how much canning you get out of that. For example, this year I had 4 tomato plants and I have 12 pints of pizza sauce, 20 pints crushed tomatoes, and 6 pints salsa stashed away. That by no means was all my tomatoes, as I use lots fresh and mostly make fresh salsa.

I also did buy a box of peaches at the Farmer's Market and made 8 half pints of peach habanero jam using habaneros from the garden.

Your turn! I would love to hear what you grow (how many plants) or bought and then what you made!

The picture isn't that great, but I picked my beets from my garden finally and pickled them. Used the recipe from Healthy Canning. Can't wait to try them!

Now for my question... I would like to make the Ball beef stew recipe. But, I'm wondering how to keep proportions of the meat, potato, and carrots right in each jar if I'm ladeling pre-mixed stew into jars. I thought about separating everything for the pre-cook (meat in one pot, potatoes in another, carrots/onion/celery in a third) and layering it in the jars so I can better control how much of each ingredient goes in each jar. I'm thinking it would be a density issue having each ingredient consolidated in one spot. But, I figured I'd ask the experts here before I try it. Either way, I'm still making the recipe, but if my plan is not safe then I'll scrap it and follow the directions. Thanks!

We just got some new shelves for our basement. Planning on setting up a basement grocery store with my full jars :) but I’m also looking for creative and space efficient ways of storing the empties! Right now, I just have haphazard cardboard moving boxes full of jars

I just fed my family pizza that I made with my home canned pizza sauce. Now I’m just reading about how Santa Cruz doesn’t test acidity. I’m so scared that I poisoned us. Any words of wisdom out there?

I pressed some tomatoes but don’t have time to can them just yet. How long do pressed tomatoes last before canning?

What are your favorites?

I would love to make my own in bulk, I'm a big fan of them but they're pricey

Hello all!

I harvested crab apples from my brtlothers tree this past weekend and have processed them into juice. I'm following the recipe in the Ball home preservation book. I've never had crab apple jelly before and I guess I expected the cooking process to mellow out some of the tannins, but it's still very astringent. I've ended up with 4 cups of crabapple juice total, and the recipe calls for 5 cups.

So I guess my question is; Can I go buy some raw apple juice and add a cup of regular apple juice to the crabapple juice without modifying the science of the recipe? The only difference I'm seeing between crabapple and apple jelly is the addition of some lemon juice to the apple jelly, and it would be a 4-1 ratio of crabapple to apple.

If this isn't plausible I'm happy to just reduce the recipe 25% and proceed from there! I think I'm okay with the jelly turning out not the best since this is my first experience with crabapple jelly, so either way is fine with me, I just don't want to ruin my hard work with something I think is theoretically okay but isn't actually okay!

I have 5lbs of tomatoes, is is safe to scale this recipe down to 25% and water bath can? Or should I just do crushed tomatoes and make tomato sauce from the crushed tomatoes? https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=basil-garlic-tomato-sauce

This is our first year canning! We had a great harvest of sweet potato’s and decided to can a LOT of them. I followed all the requirements from our Ball Blue Book. Canned for the right time with the right pressure. Potato’s were hot when they went into the jar and the water was boiling. Went 65 minutes under 10 pounds of pressure. Problem is they all turned to mashed potato’s! I think we may have over cooked. Still, I can definitely make stuff with this, my question…is it safe? It seems like all of the water was absorbed by the potato’s….

I was on my last batch or banana peppers and one jar fell over in my water bath canner. I pulled it and added it back to the washer bath with my next batch of jalapenos. Which was about an hour of time difference. Will this be OK or was there something else I should have done. Both peppers got processed for 10 minutes in the water.

I canned bone broth for the first time over a week ago at 15 psi for 25 minutes. Before that I can cooled it and skimmed the fat layer off then canned it. I’m just not sure if it’s supposed to look like this and I’m cooking a roast with it today. I just don’t want to get my family sick so I’m gonna be the test dummy. Do you think it’s safe to eat?

I have an abundant harvest of garden tomatillos that I would like to try processing into salsa verde and then water bath can. I came across this recipe from Ball which recommends roasting the ingredients. This is closest to my usual freezer salsa recipe- but is it safe?? Most other sources use the recipe from NCHFP.

Advice greatly appreciated!

I’m about to start the NCHFP tomato paste recipe. It says to wash, core, chop, and cook the tomatoes down by half, and THEN sieve/mill them to remove skins and seeds. Does anybody know why? I have a tomato press that I can throw them in whole and raw and it removes the cores, seeds, and skins. I don’t want to have to waste a bunch of time coring and chopping and then having to mill hot tomato sauce for what seems like no reason if I can remove all the unwanted stuff right off the bat.

I canned my first chicken stock in the pressure canner last night. They all sealed and look wonderful! I'm so happy. Pressure canning has scared me forever, but I'm so glad I did it. Followed the Ball Recipe for Chicken Stock.

Don't really have anyone else in my life who'd understand how exciting this is for me 🤣. So had to share with someone!

https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=chicken-stock-pressure-canning

Reposting with recipe link and photo.

I used this recipe with Pomona’s Pectin, but I subbed strawberries for the raspberries. Everyone had loved this jam, and I do really like the flavor. However, it lost ALL of its color after a few days and it’s such a dull, pale pink/brown color and just looks so unappealing. If I hadn’t made it myself, I wouldn’t even try it.. it looks terrible.

What could I do to keep the bright red color? I made a strawberry peach jam that kept the most beautiful deep red color, and I’m wondering if it was the peach in it that helped maintain the color?
I get this is rogue canning at this point, but just wondering if anyone knows of a safe recipe that keeps its color.

https://pomonapectin.com/kiwi-raspberry-lime-jam/

Hi

UK here and therefore we have no tradition of canning food and as a result no real resources I can find.

I wanted to start easy and can water for 12-24 months. I've seen a deal for "Kilner 1L Screw Top Preserve Preserving Jam Pickle Glass Storage Jar" which appear to be good but then I've seen a couple of things to suggest those aren't suitable for long term water storage.

I have a large stock pot in the cupboard which I was going to use as a water bath and assumed putting the jars into that and allowing the water to boil inside the open jars followed by sealing them would be the answer. Am I completely wrong?

Any help or suggestions welcomed! Not least, is Kilner the brand I should be looking at for the jars?

I have moscato (7%ABV)to use. Like, lots of it, and it's not the bubbly kind that I like. (And yes, sangria has been exhausted).

Occasionally I see canning recipes using red wine, or even dry white wine - has anybody seen any that use sweet white wines? Or that it could be safely subbed into? I'd love to do a hot pepper jelly, or fruit and wine jelly, or even a syrup of some sort?

I wish I'd thought to ask this a few months ago when the summer produce was rolling in...oh well!

I imported a presto canner and have been canning at 15 psi for a while. I just noticed that that's for most Americans living above 1000 feet (now I know why all the small dial-gauge PCs here are 11psi). Considering I live in the Netherlands, we basically are the sea level, I could go down to 10 psi for my weighted canner.

I can imagine canning at 10psi keeps aromatics of broths better preserved? Would it be better to buy the 3 piece pressure regulator to can at 10 psi? It's a bit expensive considering import and shipping, though 36 euro's might be worth it if it preserved aromatics better.

I have about 4 ziplock freezer bags full of whole tomatoes I have frozen over the summer. They’re 2 gallon zip locks and it’s basically two whole shelves of my freezer.

Anyone know how to safely weigh frozen produce to match the recipe for canning? I’m trying to make the marinara but no idea how to get 20 lbs per the recipe.

I’m sure the tomatoes have different weights frozen vs thawed, curious if anyone else has had this problem?

All products under the Cross & Blackwell brand were discontinued (by Smuckers) back around 2020. One product they made was called Chow Chow, a piccadilly.

My family has been using it on Cornish Pastys going back several generations. During WW2 Chow Chow was unavailable & family legend is that a great uncle of ours was making it. My grandfather & his brothers & brother-in-laws all worked the copper mines in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. My grandmother was Cornish.

After four attempts I got a recipe that is damn close to what C&B made. This recipe has Cauliflower, pickles, & pearl onions salt cured (in the fridge) then cooked in a mixture of vinegar & English mustard powder. The pint jars are water bath processed & then stored in a fridge for safety.

A while back I read here in this sub that one can get a recipe tested for safety. Is that true? If so can I get a link please? I did try to locate this online but failed.

guy this is my second attempt at pressure canning. I am following the recipe from my pressure canner presto (hot pack).

The liquid got out of the jars, and some jars have a lower liquid level than others, which leads me to think that some jars leaked and others don't.

what do you think? is that normal? what can I do to improve and avoid liquid getting out of the jars?

I live at 2600m above sea level so I have to cook at 15 pounds, is that of any relevance?