Does anyone can their own foods?

Re: Does anyone can their own foods?

• Aurora_Borealis member

  September 2011

  I've done some canning before and my younger sister is the canning princess - she canned 76 quarts of various stuff this last weekend! So I can try to help troubleshoot what went awry.

  Also, this is a great website for info on home canning: https://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general.html
  

  First, what did you can? Certain foods can be canned in a water bath, but others require pressure canning.
  

  Second, were you using brand new mason jars, lids and rims? While jars and rims can certainly be reused, if they were used before there is a higher likelihood that there were superficial chips or imperfections on the rims of the jars which will definitely interfere with proper sealing. If you were given a bunch of canning supplies from someone it's also possible the rubber seals were old and did not help form the vacuum required for canning.

  Third, how long did you boil the jars? Different lids have different timing instructions based on what you are canning.  
  

  Last, how much headspace was in the jars? Was any spilled liquid or food wiped off the rim and threads of the jars? There needs to be at least .5"-1.5" of space in the jar for the vacuum to form, depending on the size of jar and the food inside. Anything on the rim or threads of the jar can also interfere with the vacuum.

  Hopefully this helps!
  

  

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• weddingbells2010 member

  September 2011

  Aurora_Borealis:

  I've done some canning before and my younger sister is the canning princess - she canned 76 quarts of various stuff this last weekend! So I can try to help troubleshoot what went awry.

  Also, this is a great website for info on home canning: https://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general.html
  

  First, what did you can? Certain foods can be canned in a water bath, but others require pressure canning.

  I canned salsa using the recipe from the ball recipe book. 

  Second, were you using brand new mason jars, lids and rims? While jars and rims can certainly be reused, if they were used before there is a higher likelihood that there were superficial chips or imperfections on the rims of the jars which will definitely interfere with proper sealing. If you were given a bunch of canning supplies from someone it's also possible the rubber seals were old and did not help form the vacuum required for canning.

  I used brand new supplies from a Ball starter kit.  But, after reading some responses on a XP on another board, I'm wondering if the pot I used wasn't sufficient... I'm not sure it was big enough even though the water covered the top of the jar.

  https://www.mybobs.com/celebrate_arts/default 

  Third, how long did you boil the jars? Different lids have different timing instructions based on what you are canning.  

  I boiled them for 35 minutes, according to the directions. 

  Last, how much headspace was in the jars? Was any spilled liquid or food wiped off the rim and threads of the jars? There needs to be at least .5"-1.5" of space in the jar for the vacuum to form, depending on the size of jar and the food inside. Anything on the rim or threads of the jar can also interfere with the vacuum.

  1 inch of headspace, but honestly I'm not sure it was EXACT.  I held the guide up to the rim to help me but I'm not sure I did that correctly. 

  Hopefully this helps!
  

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• Aurora_Borealis member

  September 2011

  Hmm, it looks like you did everything right, but you may be correct in thinking the pot wasn't big enough. It is typical (though annoying) for maybe one or two jars in a batch to not seal, but definitely unusual for none of them to seal. Sorry to not be more help or offer more insight.
  

  

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• japrill

  September 2011

  I can a lot of different foods and this is my favorite website. It has a ton of recipes and has step-by-step illustrated directions for each one. https://pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm

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