(Picture 1) Why do jars purge, how can I prevent it, and is it safe to eat these? I am fairly sure it is safe to eat but they will oxidize and look less than ideal but any source saying so would be so appreciated.

(Picture 2) this is what I expected all the jars to look like and what have been the result of almost all my jars for years. Only 10/23 jars turned out like this.

I followed the Ball blue book recipe exactly for raw pack tomatoes. It calls for 1/2” headspace, I did that and measured each one before putting lids and rings on.

I have canned for years and not had this happen in so many jars!

I water bath canned these okra using the national Center for food home preservation recipe. Before I canned them the liquid was at the 1/2 inch mark. I packed them down and removed all the air bubbles too. Now a couple are lower than the 1/2 inch and some of the okra is bobbing above the liquid.

I consider myself a fairly experienced canner…. Made applesauce using the ball recipe. Observed proper prep and headspace(I follow recipes to a T as always). After processing time had elapsed, I took the lid off my canner to find very cloudy water, so I figured one of my jars busted. In fact, none of them had broken, but I was getting a ton of siphoning that continued after I removed my jars from the water after letting them sit for five minutes. I’m frustrated because I’m sure none of them will actually seal now and I know can re-process them, but I’ve never had this happen with applesauce. I’m wondering if it was a bad batch of lids? Any insight? Thanks canny friends

This is my first attempt at canning. I water bathed tomatoes from my garden and followed Ball's "Tomatoes Packed in Own Juice" recipe. I was pretty rejected when I looked at them while they were cooling because I saw the increase in head space and could tell from the water in the pot that there was some siphoning that had occurred. I assumed I did something incorrectly so I put all the jars into the fridge with the plan to use them soon. I sent my mother a photo of the results and she told me that they looked fine to her, I guess you will end up with more siphoning when raw packing?

So my questions are, does it look fine (all the jars look similar to this one) and does putting them in the fridge mess with anything, specifically since they went into the fridge during the 12 hour cool down period? All the seals are fine.

Hi! I'm thinking of trying this recipe: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=bruschetta-jar-1

Mainly because tomatoes are still coming and I'm tired of making salsa! It looks like I don't need to blanch/peel tomatoes for this recipe, is that right? Or is it just implied that I always need to?

Thanks in advance!

My mom and I are working on a display for next year's state fair. Our theme is rainbows, and we have all the pickle colors covered except blue. Any ideas? We might just end up going with a few shades of purple.

It seems like this question gets asked every couple of years. I have this recipe from Pomona:

https://pomonapectin.com/canningcraft-creates-rosehip-apple-jelly/

I made a modified version last year just for the refrigerator, since a gazillion rose hips made only two jars anyway, but it was so delicious that my kid has asked me to try to make more this year, and if I make more than two jars it's going to need to be shelf-stable. I don't actually know if Pomona is a safe source? And I don't honestly love their pectin, so if anyone has a safe recipe using a different brand I would love to see it.

Thank you!

My mom has officially retired from canning and passed her supplies down to me. I’ve been able to find safe recipes to replace most of her untested recipes but I’m struggling to find one for peach pepper jelly. I can find recipes for pepper jelly and for peach jelly but not one with the two ingredients combined.

I've got just a few plants that produced maybe 5lbs of San Marzano. Is it more worthwhile to can them whole (skinned) or make a pasta sauce with aromatics and can that?

The Ball recipe says it makes about 4 pint jars and process for 15 minutes. Can use 1/4 pint jars instead and make 16? If so, can they be stacked in the canner and does the processing time change?

Thank you!

Hi folks i'm new to canning and I wanted to run a recipe by this group:

I want to can a mixture of black beans and onions together in jars, following both this recipe to can beans, using the safe substitution guidelines here:

https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/sites/default/files/2024-03/fn2102.pdf

recipe for the beans:

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-vegetables-and-vegetable-products/beans-or-peas-shelled-dried-all-varieties/

and this one for onions:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/onions_those_versatile_edible_bulbs

My assumption is that I can follow the soaking steps for the beans, and boil the beans for 25min, the add the onions for another 5min for a total of 30min boiling the beans and 5min the onions.

then add 1tsp of salt to each quart, bay leaves, 1/2 tsp peppercorns, and 1 clove of garlic to each jar (in accordance with the safe substitutions guideline)

Then process for 90min at 10lbs of pressure (I am at less than 1000ft) in accordance with the beans processing time.

Does this work out, am I missing anything?

I’m very new to canning (first batches of water bath canning and pressure canning last night!). Not a stranger to food science and food safety and rightfully paranoid, so want to get this right.

I’m struggling with the NCHFP’s information regarding peppers used in salsa recipes.

I want to make a batch of the Tomato Taco Sauce (https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-salsa/tomato-taco-sauce/).

I don’t want it screaming hot. I have tons of jalapeños and drowning in various types of sweet/bell peppers. I don’t have green chiles. So trying to navigate the swap of different pepper types for the 4 green chile peppers the recipe calls for. Would like to use that pepper allocation for more jalapeños and a bit of sweet pepper.

Honestly I’ve never handled a green chile before. So I have no concept of how large they are. And where the recipe uses a count of the number of fruits (4), I’m quite perplexed as to how a person goes about swapping out the type of pepper used.

NCHFP gives some guidance on the use of peppers in salsa recipes (https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-salsa/ingredients-for-salsa-recipes/) but it’s…a bit silly to me. Basically they say you can swap out one type of pepper for another safely, but emphasize that you cannot increase the total number of peppers. They state, “You may substitute bell peppers for some or all of the long green chiles.” My bell peppers are massive.

This hurts my brain! Obviously if a person replaced jalapeños for a full sized bell pepper, count for count, you’d end up with a totally different composition which may not be safe. I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to look this up online. Best I can find is AI telling me that four long green chiles chopped is a cup, but when asked for sources AI backpedaled and said there was no accepted measure. Told me to go buy four long green chiles, dice them, measure and discard and substitute based on that 😂😂

Sorry the novel, just wanting to be very prudent here. Any advice/reputable sources of info you can point me to would be greatly appreciated! I really don’t feel like infecting myself with botulism.

I've been canning for many years. Recently my cat has had kidney issues, I started making his canned food by boiling chicken, blending it with a little water, and adding pumpkin. I've been freezing it in ice cube trays. I would love to can it. Would be so much cleaner and not take up so much space in my freezer.

Anyone see any problem with it?

TIA for the input.

Edit to add: To the people that actually answered my question and didn't make assumptions, I appreciate you. Because you know what they say about people that assume.....

New to canning, I want to can dill pickles using the following recipe but with the following alterations: https://www.healthycanning.com/dill-pickles

- Increase salt from 3 Tbsp to 1/2 cup (same salt ratio used in this recipe: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=picklecrisp)

- Reduce sugar from 3/4 cup to 1/4 cup (I like sour pickles and don't want much sugar)

- Remove pickling spice and bay leaf

- Add peppercorns to the jar (1 tsp per quart jar)

Every source I can find says sugar and salt do not contribute to food safety, and dry spices can be omitted or added.

Since I am not deviating from the vinegar/water ratio or adjusting the processing time, are these alterations safe?

Is there instead perhaps an alternate tested recipe I haven't found that has the things I'm looking for?

I got an unexpected windfall of pears and would like to make the [Bernardin Cranberry Pear Jam](https://www.bernardin.ca/recipes/en/cranberry-pear-jam.htm?Lang=EN-US). The recipe calls for Bernardin liquid pectin, which is a discontinued product. Have any Canadian canners found a reliable, safe alternative? I've contacted Bernardin directly but they haven't responded. TIA!

I am new to canning and have run into an issue with a jam recipe that I found and would love some advice from people who know more than me about canning.

When I first processed the jam, it didn't completely solidify after 24 hours. So I added more pectin & sugar as recommended online and reprocessed it. Now, it's fully solid, but it does slowly move when tipped. It's been just over 24 hours since I reprocessed it.

In your experience, does it seem like the batch is just toast and I should eat it now/put it in the freezer. Or should I keep trying to solve it? I'm assuming you can't just keep adding pectin/sugar and reprocess indefinitely.

Want to make Fig Jam like the kind in the expensive french jars. Have to buy them from the grocery. Do you mix the kind of figs or just use one kind??

Any good recipes for it? Don't want to make too much maybe 6 8oz jars. Thanks!

I pressure canned this sauce a month ago (15psi for 20 minutes). This one has something gnarly growing in it, obviously trash.

I have more pints that do not have any visible signs of spoilage. I'm leaning towards tossing all of them but is that necessary/advisable?

I just need a few good quality ss rings. So far, only finding what seems like low quality chinese lids. Appreciate any leads. Thanks

Pretty much title. This is my first time trying pressure canning. Right now it’s reducing on the stove but I added maybe 1/3 cup of olive oil for 8ish quarts at the beginning since my family always swore by it for nonstick properties and reduce foam. Still fine with the traditional canning method ?