Here’s what I tell people when they confess that they are intimidated by boiling water bath canning. If you can make pasta, you can handle a boiling water bath canner. And truly, it’s no harder or more complicated that than! Read through this post for a step-by-step introduction to processing high acid preserves in a water bath.
So, a little disclaimer to start out with. I’m going to detail my particular canning workflow. This might not be exactly how you do it in your kitchen and that’s okay. We all find ways to make it work with the tools, equipment and space that we have. In the end, the most important things are that you get your jars hot, that you fill them with a freshly made, hot product to the proper headspace, you use new lids, and that you process them for the amount of time prescribed by your recipe. There’s a good deal of flexibility in the rest of the details.
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, any pot can be your canning pot as long as it’s tall enough to hold a rack and your jars, and that it allows the jars to be fully submerged in the water. I like this one (thought it’s best for pints and smaller, it’s a little too short for quarts) but the best pot to use is the one already in your kitchen. If you don’t already have a pot that’s large enough to serve as a canner, I recommend opting for a durable stainless steel pot rather than a traditional enamel canner, as it will be more durable and versatile.
Once you’ve picked out your pot, position a rack in the bottom. I have a silicone trivet pictured here, but any round rack, or collection of old canning jar rings. Once you have a rack in your pot, place the jars you’re using on top.
Then, fill up the jars and pot with water. I like to use the hottest tap water available, as it speeds up the boiling process a bit to start.
It’s a little hard to see in this picture, but at this point, I only fill the pot enough to just barely cover the tallest jar I’m using. This should be more than enough water for the processing stage, because the jars are currently empty.
Once you remove the hot jars, fill them with your product, close them, and lower those filled jars in the pot, they will displace enough water that they will be sufficiently covered. Sometimes, you’ll even need to remove a little water from the pot to prevent overflow. If this becomes necessary, use something heatproof, like a Pyrex measuring cup so that you don’t burn yourself.
It is always a good idea to pour a generous glug of white vinegar into your canning pot before you start heating it. This will prevent any minerals present in your water from depositing on your canning pot or jars. I don’t live in a place with particularly hard water, but I still do this because it keeps my pot in good shape and makes it easier to clean. If you’re someone who likes more precise measurements, use between 1/4 and 1/2 cup.
Now the pot is ready to go on the stove an come to a boil. I do all of this before I ever apply heat to my preserves. That way, the canning pot has a head start on my product and the jars will be nice and hot when I’m ready to use them.
A note about lids
It used to be that you’d need an additional small pot running next to your canner, in which to warm your new lids before using. Back in 2014, Ball Canning announced that it’s no longer necessary to simmer lids prior to canning, as the plastisol sealant doesn’t require softening. Instead, they just need to be washed in warm, soapy water before applying them to filled jars. This change applies to all Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, and Bernardin lids. More information about this can be found here.
If you are using lids from a different manufacturer, make sure to read through the package instructions to determine whether or not they need to be warmed before use.
When the product is ready to go into the jars, I slide the canning pot off the heat and pull out the jars with a handy jar lifter. Just a note: These jars are hot, but not sterilized, because I turn the heat down to a simmer as soon as the pot boils. Jars do not need to be sterilized prior to filling if your processing step is ten minutes or longer.
However, if your recipe calls for a processing time that is shorter than ten minutes (very few modern recipes use this shorter processing time), you need to actively boil your jars for at least ten minutes before filled, to ensure you have sterilized jars.
Now you fill up your jars, leaving the amount of headspace required by your recipe. If the recipe doesn’t tell you how much headspace to leave, use 1/2 inch.
Before applying the lids and rings, wipe the rims with a damp paper towel or clean kitchen cloth. I use the hot water from the canning pot as my dampening water, as the heat helps remove any stubborn sticky spots. If your product is super sticky, a little white vinegar on the cleaning cloth will help.
Then, center a lid on each jar and secure it with a ring. Tighten the ring just until it meets resistance. The term for this level of tightening is called “finger tip tight” meaning that you only tighten as much as you can with the tips of your fingers. This allows the oxygen to vent, which is what produces the airtight seal once the jars cool.
Once all the jars have lids and rings, lower them into your canning pot. Make sure the jars are fully submerged and are covered with about an inch of water (you need that much to ensure that they won’t become exposed during boiling). Turn the burner to high. When the pot returns to a boil, set a a timer to the prescribed amount of processing time.
You do want to maintain an active boil throughout the processing of the jars, but make sure you control your boil. If the pot is madly rolling, the chances that you will burn yourself increase. Turn it down a little, to minimize splashing and injury. I like to use one of these spill stopper lids on my canning pot rather than the original lid, as it also helps manage the mess of the boil.
When time is up, turn off the heat. Remove the lid and let the jars stand in the water for five minutes. This allows them to cool more gradually and prevents the product loss that sometimes occurs if you take the jars out too quickly. It can also improve the quality of the seal.
Once that rest period is over, lift your jars out of the pot and place them on a folded kitchen towel or wooden cutting board to cool. You don’t want to set them onto surfaces made from stone, metal or tile, as their cooler temperatures can cause the jars to break.
Once the jars are out of the canner, leave them alone and let them cool. Best practice is to leave them alone for a full 24 hours, but if you can’t manage that, try to wait until they are completely cool to the touch. As the jars cool, you should hear the lids making a series of popping and pinging sounds.
These noises are indications that the jars are sealing as they should. However, don’t freak out if you don’t hear those noises. Jars sometimes seal slowly and quietly. Once the jars are completely cool, remove the rings and test the seals by holding onto the edges of the lids and lifting up an inch or two. If the lids hold fast, the seals are good.
Sealed jars should be stored in a cool, dark place without the rings. If the jars are at all sticky after processing, make sure to wash them before you put them away. Any sticky residue can attracts ants and other pests, so make sure your jars are squeaky clean.
New to canning. Want to can a ginger-garlic sauce (also has other ingredients). Which method is the best – boiling water bath, pressure canner or some other method? Thanks!
If the acid levels have not been checked, it will probably need to be pressure canned. The best approach is to find some similar recipes and see what the recommended technique is.
I have a question. I am new to canning. And I thought cover the jars with the 1 to 2 inches of water meant the bottom of jar not literally over the top. Are my items that I have canned ruined ?
I must add they did seal.
They’re not ruined, but it’s not ideal.
My water in the pot boiled dry and my jars are stuck in the pot. What can I do to get them out? I made catsup.
I have no idea what to tell you. So sorry.
I followed your canning method to can my apricot jam. I wasn’t around to hear the ‘ping’ after I removed the jars from the boiled water, but when I came back a few hours later, they had all depressed/sealed! *Thumbs-up* Thanks for writing this guide! I also mentioned this blog article in my post about apricot jam here: http://frances.menu/apricot-jam/
Can’t wait to can something else!
I’ve been canning for a few years, and have never done the dumb thing I did today. I had just put a batch of candied jalapenos in their jars and lowered them into their water bath when I had company show up. We went into another part of the house after the water came to a boil and I started to set my timer, got distracted and forgot about the timer and the peppers until company left – an hour later! I can’t tell just by looking at the peppers in the jar, but do you think I just ruined three pounds of beautiful, home grown jalapenos or do you think they will survive 50 extra minutes of a boiling water bath? Are there any health concerns with over processing like this? Or is the biggest worry mushy peppers?
Thanks, love your site!
The only worry here is the texture. They are probably mush. No dangerous, just spreadable.
Can you put only 1 or 2 jars in your pot at a time, or does it need to be a full set?
As long as the jars are fully submerged, you can run a canner than only has a few jars in it.
I am relatively new to canning, other than pickles. I am making jam and wondering if I can wait until the end if the day to actually do the canning–the contents of the jars will have cooled before I put them in the water bath. Is that okay? Thanks!!
No. You want the contents of the jar to be hot when they go into the water bath.
Help! I’m making jam for my wedding favors, and I’m using 2 oz food grade jars. The lids are one piece — no ring, no seal-lid. I’m having trouble getting them to seal… or else I can’t tell if they’re sealed. The lids don’t have mu ch give when I tested one on a jar right out of the box. I made sure my rims were wiped clean. Is it possible the lids weren’t hot enough?
Do the lids look even a little bit concave? If so, then they’re probably sealed. Beyond that, I really can’t help here.
I am new to canning and am going to try to avoid asking you if my pickles are safe because I know you can’t tell me, but I do have questions. I grew my own cucumbers and decided to make pickles (both garlic dill and bread and butter) based on recipes from your book ‘Food In Jars’. I used Ball pint jars and a regular stock pot with jar rings as my rack. I used Bragg’s apple cider vinegar and added raw garlic and fresh dill to the first batch and raw bell pepper and onion to the second. I processed them both the same, by pouring the boiling liquid (50/50 water and vin. + sugar added to the bread and butter pickle solution) into the jars on top of the raw vegetables. Some how I missed the part in your recipe about boiling the veg for the bread and butter pickles. I also did the same processing time for all- 5 min. boil. Some of the jars sealed right away, some took a while and a few still had a bump in the center of the lid. When I pushed the bump in, it clicked and did not pop back. I removed the rings 24hrs later and they passed the lid test. Some jars have contents completely covered with liquid while a few seem a bit low. Now, I know you can’t tell me if they are safe or not, but I am getting more worried with every article I read about botulism. Is it true that you can’t always see/smell if something is wrong and you’re better off trashing everything if you have any doubt?! Thanks so much for your time, and the great book/blog. I really would like to continue to can, but the fear might be getting the best of me.
Ugh! I’m sorry, I just read a post of yours saying that botulism will not form in pickles due to the acid! Still, any words of advice you may have for me personally would be greatly appreciated!
Botulism cannot grow in high acid environments. You’ve submerged all those low acid vegetables in a high acid environment, so there’s no risk of botulism in this case. However, you should really stick with the recipes as written until you better understand what makes a recipe safe or not safe.
i never knew you could reprosess the jars that never sealed. About how long do they keep if you don’t get them to seal properly?
If they don’t seal properly, you can keep them in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.
Hey,
I’m new to canning and I thought I knew what I was doing and apparently, I might have just messed up my entire batch. I thought that the seal had taken once I could no longer press down on the lid. So, to remedy it I put my jar back into the water bath. Some jars took 3 attempts to get the lid so that I could no longer push down on it. Does this mean I possibly ruined the contents of that jar? I am doing dilly beans and pickles. Thanks
The texture of those pickles is probably pretty terrible if you’ve been processing them over and over again. Are you letting them cool for at least 12 hours before reprocessing? You need to let the jars cool completely before testing the seals.
Darn. No I didn’t wait. I just put them back in the water. Is the only way to test the seal is by taking off the band and seeing if the metal stays? Otherwise, do I just assume that the seal took until I test it? If it didn’t hold, do I just refrigerate? Thanks so much!
You need to let the jars cool fully before testing the seals. They only seal during the cooling process. Once the jars are fully cooled, you remove the bands to test the seals. If the jars didn’t seal, you just pop them into the fridge and use the contents within a month or so.
I have had instances where my pickles are not crisp. In reading online articles it is suggested when this is the problem they have been processed too long. When water bath canning at what point does the processing time begin? Is there a certain temperature to use as a guide?
Keeping cucumber pickles crisp is a challenge. The processing time begins once the water returns to a boil. I tend to do cucumber pickles as refrigerator pickles these days to retain crispness.
Someone told me this week when I was talking about maybe doing pickles, she told me if I can find a grape leaf to put it in each jar that something in the grape leaf keeps pickles crisp
When I am dill pickles I pack the the jars as full as I can however after processing they seem to have floated up and I have about half an inch of juice at the bottom of the jar. What am I doing wrong?
You’re not doing anything wrong. Try using regular mouth jars, as the shoulders of the jars help keep the cucumbers below the brine level.
Where may I get a trivet, like the one you show in here.
Thanks
Al
https://foodinjars.com/2012/01/a-new-canning-rack/
After taking tomatoes out of the hot bath, they have the fruit on the top and about 2 to 3 inches of water at the bottom of the jar.
Is this the way it is supposed to look?
It looks like the water has been cooked out of the tomatoes and settled to the bottom.
Will the recombine, or do I need to do something different?
Thank you
Totally normal. Here’s my post on tomato canning: https://foodinjars.com/2011/08/canning-101-tomato-float-sauce-separation-and-loss-of-liquid/
Thanks for all the great information! Why should you store your sealed jars without the rings? I am assuming this is a very beginner’s question, but never knew this before. Thanks for your answer!
Lisa
The answer to your question is in this post: https://foodinjars.com/2013/10/store-jars-without-rings/
Hi, I have a VERY beginner question. Why do you have to put either a rack, trivet, towel, etc in the bottom of the pot? Will it ruin the jars to have them sitting directly on the bottom of the pot? Thanks in advance!
You use a rack to prevent breakage and to allow the water to better circulate around the jars!
Thank you for this site! What a help for a new-to-canning cook. I have a canning lid question. I am new to food in jars and made my first batch of raspberry jam yesterday. Because I wasn’t sure how many jars would be filled by the recipe I prepared a couple extra jars and lids which I did not use. The jars I know I can sterilize and use but the lids i’m not sure about. I did heat up the lids in a simmering water bath but never applied them to a jar and never boiled them in a water bath. Can they be reheated and used for my next batch? Thanks in advance.
Yes, you can still use the lids you prepped but did not use.
I reuse my used lids all the time. I do throw out any damaged ones after a difficult jar opening but since I discovered you can use lids over and over again I am a little more careful about opening my jars. Reusing your lids is a real money saver too.
It is absolutely not recommended to reuse lids.
You can reuse the rings, not the flats
It is not recommended to use the lids again so the companies that sell them make more money. It”s a scam. As long as you hear the pop the lids are fine to reuse. If the rubber seal on the bottom of the lids are frayed at all then they will have a hard time sealing. When you water bath a canning jar the internal heat causes the air inside to escape. The lid and heat keeps new air from coming in. You create negative pressure, meaning the pressure pushing down on the lids from our atmosphere is much more than the pressure pushing up from inside. That’s what causes the lid to “seal”. At equal pressure the jar lid removes easily when lifted. If the pressure is higher in the jar than the pressure from outside the lid shoots off.
Oops, I made jars of jam 2 days ago but forgot to place them in the water bath. Is it too late?
Yes. They need to be refrigerated.
Hi, I’m hoping you can help. I have been canning jam using two piece lids and occasionally one will come out of the water bath having sucked in a bit of water. Sometimes they seal and sometimes they dont, but obviously the jam is ruined in either case.
What causes this? I can find a lot of info on jars shooting product into the water bath (siphoning) but in this case it’s just pulling in water, nothing seems to be going out–no food on the rim or in the bath and headspace remains the same, but now with water where some or all the air should be.
The only way that the jars could be taking on water is if you’re not tightening the rings tightly enough. Try turning them a bit more.
I have been pressure canning for a couple of years and just got my first nasty steam burn last night. I am currently trying your water bath method right now with some applesauce and I am hopeful for safer results!! Thank you for weeding out the “unnecessary” information and focusing on the more important stuff when it comes to all the steps of the canning process.
So glad to help! Sorry about the burn, though. That sucks!
can you tell me if our pan does not cover the jar all the way with water. Can we put them on their side. Or do they HAVE to be covered with water. We used small jars the first time. Turned out great. Out of small jars. have only larger jars. Don’t want to buy anymore.
You need to have a pot deep enough to have the jars be fully upright and submerged. They will not vent properly if processed on their sides.
2 of my 4oz jars of apple butter turned sideways during the boil. Do I need to reboil them? Thanks for your site – it was a huge help for me on this first time canning!
As long as the jars sealed, there’s no need to reprocess them.
Question. I made some pickled green beans and did the hot water bath to seal them. This is also my first time. I took them out to cool and the lid was not sealing. So I opened it for maybe 5 seconds and then closed the lid and it sealed right away. Do you think it’s still safe to continue the process and are okay to eat after a few weeks?
If you’ve opened the jar after the processing even for a millisecond you have let all the air back in that the processing forced out.
I don’t know how I got as far as I did without this critical piece of information, but I’ve been sterilizing my jars prior to filling them, and not afterwards. I just learned that I need to return them to a hot water bath after they’re filled.
Yesterday I made pickle, and I didn’t put the jars back in the hot water bath. They’ve been sitting on the counter since last night (the pickle is made with vinegar, so it is high in acid).
Can I go back and put them in the boiling water bath now or do I have to toss them?
You could refrigerate them, but I don’t recommend processing them at this point, because it will seriously compromise the texture.
Hi Marisa, thanks for your reply. It’s actually not pickles but a pickle relish, so I don’t think texture is so important?
If you’re not concerned with texture, you can certainly process it. However, for best results, you need to open up all the jars, reheat the relish, repack the jars and can with new lids (because chances are that the lids formed some vacuum while they were sealing on the counter and so now the sealing compound is spent), and process according to the recipe’s instructions. If the recipe doesn’t tell you how long to process the relish, ten minutes for pint jars or smaller is a good baseline time.
I had to reprocess my jam because of a mistake I made. I emptied the jam contents back into a pot and left it on the stove for a long time – it was hot enough that bubbles were forming along the sides of the pot for a long time, but the jam never came to a hard boil (like it did when I made it the first time). Is this a problem? Does the jam need to come to hard boil when reprocessing? Thanks!
The jam never came back to a hard boil? Well, if you were recooking it in order to get a better set, you need that boil in order to cook the water out and get the firmer set. If you’re talking about the water in the processing pot, it also needs to achieve a hard boil in order to fully sterilize your product.
HI – my daughter is getting married in August and she wants to give small 64ml jars of preserves as wedding favors. I am getting the jars from Greaves factory in Niagara Falls, ON where they make jam. Do I process the jam the same way as regular mason jars? And for how long would I process them in water? Can I stack the jars on top of each other?
Thanks
You need to make sure you’re getting lids that are designed to go in a boiling water bath (ask the company). Here are my posts about canning with one piece lids.
https://foodinjars.com/2013/07/how-to-can-in-hex-jars-with-lug-lids/
https://foodinjars.com/2012/10/canning-101-how-to-use-one-piece-lids/
And yes, you can always stack jars in the canner, as long as they’re fully submerged in the water.
My Jalapeno jelly is not hott ) : I already sealed the jars and everything. Any advice?! Can I take everything out of the jars and re-boil the jelly with spicier peppers like serranos?
I am very new to canning… how long after canning do you have to wait prior to eating??
With jams and other sweet preserves, you can eat them immediately. Pickles need some time (at least 2-3 weeks) to improve.
I had canned meat and left it in the boiling hot water just over 3 hrs. I was going to leave it for the 5 mins. settling time that everyone recommends before removing the jars from the hot water bath. Unfortunately, I had left them in longer than the 5 mins. When I took them out, the lids were already down (and therefore did not pop after being out in the air cooling). Is everything still good after being in the water after the boiling had stopped and the jars were not removed to cool right away? Thanks!
As long as you did the proper processing time, you should be fine!
I tried water canning last night for the first time, BEFORE I found your website. One of my jars broke inside the pot and the applesauce was in the water. As long as I wash the other jars off do you think they are still safe or does that contaminate them? Thank you for your, more than helpful, site!
As long as the other jars look fine, then they are fine.
I am like Diane, #79, who has never hot bathed her jam. I just got through canning pear preserves and I think they have all sealed, but to be sure could I put the jars in a hot bath? I have never done this before and I was thinking I would need to loosen the lids and put them in the boiling water for 10 minutes. This may not be possible, but I would like to know.
If you wanted to process your jars, you’d have to open the jars, reheat the preserves, refill the jars, apply new lids and then process.
Thank you for your reply. I am going to reheat my pear preserves and put them in the boiling water bath as you suggested. Do the lids need to be hot when I put them on the jars and how long do I keep the jars in the boiling water? Also, I want my pears to be more amber color so hopefully I have enough juice when I reheat them. Could I add some water without affecting the taste of them?
You do as if it was a brand new batch. So hot lids and in the processing pot for the same amount of time as the first round of canning. You could add some water but it may impact the flavor.
Hi Marisa I looked back to see if anyone had answered my question #89. I see you had responded to the one after mine, could you take a look and see what to do in my situation. I am new and don’t want to get sick, but I don’t want to throw out my work if it is ok.
Victoria, the thing to do in this case is to look at the recommended times on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website and see if your times match up.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/apple_sliced.html
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/pear_halved.html
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/grapes_whole.html
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/pickled_carrots.html
Make sure that you’re not starting your timer until the water returns to a boil.
Chances are that even in the cases where you didn’t follow the exact right processing times, your preserves are still safe. If you have any concerns put them in the fridge.
I am brand new to canning- I just want to know, does this same method work for soups? I want to can soup and put them in a cupboard. If I can use this method with soups, can the soups have meat or other perishables in it without being refrigerated?
Unfortunately, it does not. Soups are universally low in acid and so aren’t safe for preserving in a boiling water bath canner. For soups and other low acid foods, you have to use a pressure canner. Here’s a post on canning turkey stock, and much of that information applies to soups as well. https://foodinjars.com/2013/12/can-turkey-stock/
I just started canning this week and as I was reading this post think I may have done something wrong and want to see if I can still eat the food I put up. I made:
Apples in syrup (20 minute processing time) 3 jars at a time
Pears in syrup (20 minute processing time) 3 jars at a time
Pickled grapes (5 minute processing time) 4 jars at a time
Daikon and carrot pickled mix (10 minute processing time) 4 jars at a time
Here is what I did. I boiled the jars in my pot followed the recipe for each item and then add my ingredients and put them down in the boiling water. I started my timer and took them out of the water and left them on a towel to cool and seal. I am not sure if the water lost any of the boil by putting the hot jars back in (everything except the daikon and carrot was hot packed), I just set the timer and went off that. Everything sealed properly, but I am wondering if these are good. Do I need to eat them right away now, are they fine if they sealed, should I reprocess them or do I need to throw them all out. Thanjs for any help!
Forgive my ignorance but I’ve followed these steps using a large pot and have removed the jar but the jelly looks runny again. It had started to set after I removed the pot from heat and put them in the jar. Is it that water has got in?
The heat of the canning pot is what made it a little runny. It should set up again over the next few days.
Thanks so much! They look ok 🙂
I didn’t heat the water before putting the pickled mushrooms in the canner. I just put the jars in the canner, added water, waited for it to boil. Then boiled for 20 minutes, which is what the recipe called for. Am I risking disease? Or is this ok? Thank you.
It should be okay.
I did not have enough mustard beans or corn relish to fill the last jar nor did I have a smaller one so I half filled the jar is this ok
Ths
It is not ideal. There’s no way to vent all of the oxygen out of half filled jars and so they are at increased risk of spoilage.
What does it mean to bring something to a hard boil?
It’s a vigorous, rolling boil.
I’ve just tried Canning/Preserving for the first time. I’m trying Candied Jalapenos. I’m dying to try them out, how long should I wait before I can open one of them.
Hello! Just had my first apple butter and first canning experience… Once I had my jars cooling on the counter I got a little impatient, having not heard any ping’ing of the jars sealing… So I pushed on the tops slightly and they went down… and stayed down. Will me forcing the tops down get in the way of the sealing process? Do I need to reprocess or something? They are not totally cooled yet. Did I totally mess up all of my work?
The jars are fine. Sometimes you tap the lids just around the moment when they were ready to seal.
I have never hot bathed my jams as they are packed hot into hot jars. They all seal fine. But the more I read about jams and everyone seems to hot bath them I’m losing confidence that maybe I’ve been wrong. For the first time this year (out of many years) I had mold on the top of my apricot/pineapple jam. What is your advice.
Processing your jars is always a good idea for a long lasting, spoil-resistant preserves.
I just did A batch of salsa on my glass cook top. I started the ten min required processing time when the water started to boil….but it was not a “full roiling boil” which I couldn’t get to. Is this enough or should I refrigerate it? Thank you!
As long as the water was moving, it was boiling. The jars should be fine.
can honey be processed in a hot water bath?
It doesn’t need to be processed in a boiling water bath canner to be made safe. It is naturally antibacterial.
When I can tomato juice I get my jars and lids hot in boiling then I pour the juice in the jars and they seal on their own. Is this safe or do I still need to water bath them?
That is not safe. You still need to process the jars in a water bath.
Thank you for this question and answer! I just had the same problem and appreciate knowing I still need to process them!
hi, thank you for this! i am fairly new to canning and definitely needed these basic steps laid out for me. i just finished a batch of pickled cukes, water-bath style. two questions:
-i totally forgot to tap out air bubbles. problematic?
-you say to keep the processing time to five minutes because the hot water can soften the pickles. well, i did all the steps, put the jars on the rack, lowered it in, and saw all these air bubbles. i started the timer for 5 mins, then realized you meant start the timer when the water starts boiling again. but it took like another 5 full minutes (or more!) for the water to come back up to a boil. so really i processed them for like 10 mins. how exact does the time have to be? is there any chance of it being really problematic if you don’t process it for long enough? or for too long?
thanks!
As long as the jars sealed well, the air bubbles aren’t an issue. But not removing them can lead to liquid loss.
And you never start the timer for the processing time until the water returns to a boil. That’s why it’s important to have the water near to the boil when you put the jars in.
I was canning tomato sauce. When the boiling stopped after the water bath I noticed the water had evaporated and the jars were no longer covered. However the lids popped and sealed. Is it okay?
It is not ideal, but it will probably be fine.
This same thing happened to me today while making spaghetti sauce. The water evaporated and the rings were exposed. The jars sealed right away.
Hi! I made apricot jam and realized I did not have lids so I put it in the jars and stuck them in the fridge. I would like to water bath them so they are shelf stable but the jam already set up nicely. Will canning them now after it has set ruin the set?
It should be okay to can them at this point. You need to empty out the jars, bring the jam to a boil and then refill the jars.
I canned tomatoes for the first time yesterday and when I woke up today there were air bubbles in the jars… Is that normal… The bubbles sit between the tomatoes and the juice and the jars are sealed.
Yep, totally normal. Read more about it here: https://foodinjars.com/2011/08/canning-101-tomato-float-sauce-separation-and-loss-of-liquid/
I just wondered why you store the jam without the ring?
Read this post for an explanation: https://foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-how-to-store-finished-jars/
Could you tell me if you have to keep the lid on while the water is boiling, for the water bath? Thank you.
You don’t have to, but it does help the pot maintain a rolling boil better, because the heat is more contained.
I made mixed berry jam today for the 1st time. I also canned for the 1st time today as well. I surprised myself and everything worked out, all my lids are sealed. Here’s my concern though, do I refrigerator the jam now or can I leave it out. The jam doesn’t seem as thick and this could be a recipe issue. I feel if I put the jam in the frig it will solidify more. Am I worrying to much? Is there anything else I need to do or did I screw up?
If you canned the jars, they don’t need to be refrigerated. The canning process makes them shelf stable. And as far as the texture goes, jam often takes a few days to thicken up. Give it some time.