July is nearly over, which means it’s time to get serious about completing this month’s hot pack preserving challenge! If you’ve already finished up your project for this month’s #fijchallenge, please use the form below to record your information and be counted in the final tally. If the embedded form isn’t working for you, click here.
If you’ve not yet tackled a batch of jam yet this month, check out this month’s introductory post for some ideas.
To be counted in the final tally, please submit your projects no later than Monday, July 31.
Oh, and if you do post to social media, make sure to use the #fijchallenge tag to help spread the word of our preserving activities!
I wonder if you might have a moment to answer something for me about a mishap with my first attempt at your Basic Tomato Salsa from Food in Jars a.k.a. my first attempt at canning salsa?
About 10 minutes into the water bath, I lost power because of a thunderstorm. I took the jars out about 5 minutes later because the water was cooling and I was thinking I would end up having to refrigerate them… they all ‘pinged’. Then of course, within 15 minutes the power was back. I decided to put them back in the water bath but I did not unseal the lids and reheat and change them. Once it was a rolling boil, I timed it for the 15 minutes suggested in the recipe and then let them cool an additional five in the water off the heat. They never pinged again, and appear to be sealed but it’s only been about 2 hours and I am still well within the 12-24 hour window. I know the consistency might be different, but what are your thoughts on seal failure and safety on these? I think I should maybe have dumped them out and reheated them and put new lids on instead of what I did, so I think I will put them in the fridge once they have gotten to room temperature, but I guess I want to know some ideas for the future…. because summer power failures are so common where I live and that is the main time I can. I narrowly avoided a power failure during a water bath day before yesterday but today was not so lucky.
What should you do if there’s a power failure during canning that is enough to take the water out of the rolling boil stage? Is there any way to salvage things that is safe? I really appreciate your time and all the wonderful resources you have. Thanks so much!
I’ve never run into this issue before. If it happens again, you want to leave the jars in the canner during the power outage, as taking them out caused them to seal. As long as they’re sealed now, they should be ok.
Thank you! I think I panicked because I never know if it’s going to be a few minutes or hours outage! Tonight I made Peach Mostarda from your recipe and got exactly 9 half pints. They have a lovely color and just the right amount of heat.