Who’s canning ?

Alright, canning experts if I can smell the contents of my jars while it's processing does that mean it's leaked and spoiled the seals? I'm on my fourth batch of stuff, quarts of beef stew this time, and every time I can smell what's cooking. The first time I had stew in the water at the end, so I took that as a sign that the seals were bad, but since then it keeps happening and I can't just keep eating the same thing every day until it's gone. That first time I also did a few things wrong, so I chalked that up to inexperience.

I:
  • start with hot jars
  • have water in canner hot-ish (not boiling, but too hot to touch)
  • fill with correct headspace (measured with a funnel that includes a measure)
  • run a bubble popper around the outside
  • check headspace again and adjust as needed
  • clean the rims with white vinegar
  • finger tighten lids
  • slowly bring to a boil
  • vent at least 10 minutes
  • bring to pressure slowly
  • use a weight (15 lbs for my elevation above 1000 ft)

In my mind, the jars should vent a little to let the headspace air out. Is that what I'm smelling?
 
Fritz the Cat said:
One out of how many?
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I had 7 quarts and they're all low. I'd say about an inch low, some a little more, some a little less.

Last time I used salt and thought it was too salty. This time I used no salt and it needed some. But I was smart and measured how much of each ingredient I put into a single jar so in the future I don't have to guess at how much to cut up. The stew recipe was simply equal parts by volume: beef, onions, potatoes, carrots, fill with boiling water to 1" headspace, process.
 
ToddDubya said:
Alright, canning experts if I can smell the contents of my jars while it's processing does that mean it's leaked and spoiled the seals? I'm on my fourth batch of stuff, quarts of beef stew this time, and every time I can smell what's cooking. The first time I had stew in the water at the end, so I took that as a sign that the seals were bad, but since then it keeps happening and I can't just keep eating the same thing every day until it's gone. That first time I also did a few things wrong, so I chalked that up to inexperience
  • use a weight (15 lbs for my elevation above 1000 ft)

In my mind, the jars should vent a little to let the headspace air out. Is that what I'm smelling?
Click to expand...
I believe you got the weight or the elevation wrong, We use 15 lb and I'm at 1400 ft. The jiggler by itself is 5 lb and we stack two rings on top. (5lb each)

As for the jars, once the lids are on the rings get finger tight only. The jars will vent just fine. Yes there might be some leakage but if the lids all go POP! as they cool down you'll be fine.
 
I use the jiggler plus both rings for 15#. My elevation is like 1008', and all the guidelines I've seen say 0-1000 is 10#, 1001+ is 15#, so I took that at face value and went with 15#. I tighten as tightly as my fingers can, without using my wrist.
 
Twigg said:
What kind berries ? soopa market or wild ? Add any pectin ? Curious minds (Mine anyway) wants to know.
I'm sitting here with a piece of toast with peanut butter and the last of my blueberry preserves and I'm jealous of that jam ! [wink] [smile]
Click to expand...
Just did round 2, unfortunately they are supermarket :(
My new bible is the Ball Blue Book of canning recipes. We did strawberry jam last week, no pectin, it was awesome, so this BlackBerry was also no pectin. Basically just 2 cups of sugar per Qt of berries. It is alot of sugar but since we started canning we have cut out all perservates so this is our treat.
 
Doing another small batch of ripe tomatoes this morning. Picking them as they ripen and doing 5-6 quarts at a time.

Froze two gallon size ziplock bags of cherry tomatoes the past two days. We thaw them and use to make a light sauce.
 
Enzo said:
Would they keep the bright green color if you blanched and shocked them first before canning?
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I may try next batch. I thought that would be like double cooking them? And they will get heated again when we eat so three times sounds like a lot.....
Made sloppy joe in a can last night and just tried it, was awesome!View attachment 513401
 

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Twigg said:
We use a regular pressure cooker. The kind you can get at a walmart or target. No pressure guage, just a "jiggiler" on top. You can spend a lot more for a dedicated pressure canned if you want. It may or may not have more capacity depending on size. The pressure cooker does the same exact thing the more expensive canned does.
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This! Walmart has them. Use the "jiggler" way more accurate than the gauge unless you have it routinely calibrated. It is not factory calibrated. The jiggler never fails!
 

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