does anyone else can?!?

Mom & I finally got around to canning up the apricots she picked from her mini-orchard yesterday. We ended up making 3 quarts, 5 pints and a 1/2 pint of apricot jam... not bad for a little tree that we thought was never going to produce fruit!

Since apricot jam never lasts very long in our houses, we decided to go with the water-bath instead of pulling out the pressure-bath system. We've been using the water bath to can together for 19 years and have canned literally HUNDREDS of jars of relish, jelly, jam & pickles. But this time we had a jar actually open up in the bath. When we pulled the lid off the pot, there it was... still sitting there upright in the basket, but the lid was floating in the water and the top 1 1/2" of the jar had been replaced with water, and a full 1/2 cup of our jam was swimming in the bathwater.

Does anyone have any idea how this happened? Mom screws the lids down tight, and I KNOW she didn't put it on too loosely. Was it maybe a defective band? Could the jar maybe have a crack that we didn't see? We're at a loss... we've never seen this before!

Oh... we're using that jar. We scooped the water out of the top, and it set up like a thick syrup... so we're using it as pancake topping. Neither one of us could stomach the thought of wasting a quart of homegrown organic apricots just because a little water had gotten into it! We just desperately want to know how this could have happened, so we can avoid it in the future!
love,
mom

 

I dont can but I use the jars for various things, it sound like it might not have threaded properly. Thats all I can think of, either it was put on at a slight angle so it seemed tight but was actually on crooked and popped off or the glass or metal threads were defective. Thats all I can think of Ive never had a problem using Bernardin jars. I dont buy the cheap-o's. What brand did you use?

 

We only use Ball... we've had problems with Kerr lids not sealing properly, so we've stuck with just Ball for years now.

That's about all we can come up with too... it's weird, hundreds of jars and this is the 1st one!
love,
mom

 

I just started canning this year. I really wouldn't stress myself out too much about one bad can. I would just chalk it up to a freak accident and let it go at that. My major problem this year was that I didn't know that pears and peaches would shrink in the can. I ended up with some cans with just a few pieces of fruit and a lot of syrup. Oh well, that's how you learn.

 

My grandad (who i live with)s grandmother used to can all her food for winter and sell lots and he's interested in starting that again, and so am i.

Are there any good websites on it?

 

Here's a few:
Check these folks: [ http://www.homecanning.com/ ]
the basic info [ http://www.homecanning.com/usa/ALBasics.asp ]
get this book, it's only $4.95 [ http://www.homecanning.com/usa/ALOrder.asp?P=2576 ]
These sites have a huge amount of really great info:
http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Food/Can_Links.html
http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/canningguide.html
For great info & a lot of great recipes:
http://www.pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

fluke. I hate it when a jar breaks in the middle of processing!

I usually go on a gardening and canning frenzy every OTHER year, and do enough for two years so I get a break every other year. Much nicer, no burnout.

 

I now limit myself to applesauce and jam, and I use the inverted jar method, and so far it has worked for me. I never liked using a canner, so when it was suggested that you could adequately seal the jars just by making 100% sure everything was hot and sterile, then just turning the jars upside down for 5 minutes, then turning back upright, I decided that was the process for me.

 

my family has been using the inverted jar thing for a long time now and has always worked very well, once in a while you will find a jar that won't seal well but it's rare...

the whole lid popping off is definately strange, and the jar didn't have any chips or defects, hmmm, yeah like it was mentionned probably a threading issue, I've never seen or heard of that happening.

 

It was a defective lid. If you want to have extra assurance that canned preserves be free of bacteria, and you're using water bath,add powdered vitamin C to the batch. The acid prevents discoloration, adds tartness..and prevents mold. Just a little tip from an old hippie who has done a LOT of canning!! Peace.
OmGanesha