Violet

Hmm, usually cloudy brine is due to spoilage, unless you did not use canning salt. Other kinds of salt can cause it to be cloudy, too. Also, if it were a fermented food it would possibly have cloudy brine. This was not fermented, though. I am sure you processed them, right ? I don't know what would be in the jarred garlic to do that. It should not have been an issue. Where did you get the recipe for this ? It looks like the Univ. of Georgia/So Easy to Preserve recipe. Cloudy brine is not a good sign, Wormie. I am sorry.

You will have much better corn by blanching. Blanching kills enzymes that cause spoilage and deterioration. It should not be frozen unblanched.

I repackage dry things using canning jars and oxygen absorbers. Seems to work great for me.

I am glad you trashed the jar and all ! That is the right thing to do. Should not handle with bare hands, should use rubber gloves. It is surprising how many people still try to can pints in a cooker, not a canner ! There was a Presto cooker a few years back that said you could can in it. I know recently they changed that on the box. We still find some foreign brands that say you are able to can in them. We try to do as much educating people as possible for these reasons. Since all of you are now familiar with safe food preserving, you also will do your share to spread the word. I think this story should be sent to all those wacky groups that do so many unsafe things. At least it may save someone down the road from dealing with the same sort of scenario as the lawyer. He was fortunate to not have any more permanent damage than he does and it was not fatal. Had he waited much longer at all and he would have died. If any of you can spread the word to any of those groups, please do so. Even if they scoff at you. One person you help is worth it ! Dried foods are fine if unsealed ... they have no moisture in which the bacteria can grow. That is how drying works. Otherwise we would also get sick from dried foods. Well, other than jerky, we stress keeping it in the fridge after 2 weeks for up to 6 months, then freeze it for longer storage. Here it won't last even 2 weeks as it gets eaten . The only exception is in case it mold in foods, then of course, you would toss them. That is usually with fruits. Water activity is where moisture allows bacterias, yeasts, molds to grow in foods. Since you remove the moisture, no food for them to grow. Veggies should be really crisp and most will shatter when you hit with a hammer. Zucchini would be like leather. Carrots are really chewy like and sort of leathery, too. Corn and peas are really hard.

It is true, a botulism case here in my state...... A lawyer who canned elk improperly, used a pressure cooker, not a canner, not processed long enough, either. http://nwpr.org/people/austin-Jenkins

I suppose so.... too many people warping the canners or having them weld to the stove. I just talked to another client today that warped her canner. We do say the only brand we know of for a stove safe to use outdoors is Camp Chef. You turn it down as low as it will go. Get the 2 burner one. It has a wind shield on it. The burners are adjustable more than other stoves. I know Presto shows a diagram of their canner on a propane turkey fryer with a big X through it.

That guideline is old and incorrect. Soup or any other food canned that way will be considered unsafe. You also need to only use 1/2 of the jar of solids, half broth. Both must be boiling, in other words, no raw pack on the veggies. You make the soup, then can, filling the jars half and half. Then, if your outdoor burner is more than 12,000 BTU's your food will be underprocessed, also. The time it takes to come up to pressure and to cool down naturally is part of the safe processing time. It can come up to pressure too fast, so the soup will be considered unsafe. Pints are 60 min, qt. 75 min. If it has seafood, then 100 minutes. Adjust for altitude, if you need to, if you live over 2,000 ft. elevation.

Dogmom, you substituted dry powder pectin for liquid ? You cannot do that and have it turn out. Dry pectin is added first to dissolve it and get a gel. Then add the sugar. In liquid, it is opposite, you add the sugar first, then the pectin. They are not interchangeable in recipes. If this is what you did, then it won't dissolve. It depends upon what you are canning if you can use fresh lemon juice . If it is recipe that needs lemon juice for safety, then it must be bottled. If it is just a flavor ingredient, then sometimes fresh lemons are used. If it is added to something already high enough in natural acid, then sometimes fresh is fine. The other high acid ingredients will be enough in a jelly recipe to use fresh if it is a full sugar jelly/jam. Sugar in a full sugar recipe, where you have at least 50% sugar, then it will be a preservative. Low sugar jams and jellies don't have that preserving agent to keep them safe. It is all science based. Sugar binds up water, just like high salt concentrations. Called "water activity". Water in a product will allow molds and other kinds of spoilage to still grow. This is how we can dehydrate foods and keep them from spoiling, it removes enough water so the bacteria won't grow. We use this : FAT TOM, it is a way to remember things that affect food safety in storing foods. These are some of the factors Food Acid Time Temperature Oxygen Moisture Take the first letters to spell FAT TOM

Dogmom, what kind of pectin are you using ? The liquid ? Usually you boil jelly for 1 min, not 1/2 min. Maybe it is not dissolving if you are only boiling 30 seconds. The vinegar is needed due to the low acid peppers. This is really good. Cranberry Pepper Jelly (makes 5 half pints) 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice cocktail 1 cup vinegar 5% acidity 2-4 jalapeno peppers halved and seeded 5 cups sugar 1- 3 ounce package liquid fruit pectin Combine juice, vinegar and prepared jalapenos. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and let simmer 10 minutes. Strain the juice. You should have 2 cups liquid. Discard solids. In 4 quart pan, combine liquid and sugar. Bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin . Return to full boil and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour into clean hot jars. Place one dried red pepper in each jar, if desired. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Philbe, they will not kill bacteria with just steam, unless it is under pressure in a pressure canner. Please, do not try using one of those steam canners. The jars must be covered in boiling water with the water over the tops of the jars by 1 or 2 inches in order for them to heat enough to kill bacteria.

Thanks, everyone for the encouragement. At least the last 2 days I have not looked like the Hunch Back of Notre Dame ! I can straighten up better. I take any small victory as being one step closer to being able to function. I have considered one of those walkers with the seats on it. Was sitting here debating if I could actually make some blueberry jam. It is the bwb canner that would be the hardest since I have to get it down and fill with water, all that stuff. It is hard to sit and think about wanting to can something and not being able to. I am going to go look on Amazon for a new canning book, LOL.

Yes, bottled juice is fine. You can even make soda pop jelly ! Root beer, Mt. Dew, Dr. Pepper, all kinds. You just have to use commercial pectin with the juice to get a gel. You can use frozen juice and mix it up, too, and use it. Have fun ! Cranberry jalapeno is good.

I canned pepper relish today. Not able to do hardly anything. Have some sort of rare arthritis, they think. I can not even walk in the mornings for hours. So, I am not able to do my normal amount of canning.

What kind of fresh produce ? We do instruct to wash all produce, even bagged salads. Especially wash the outsides of melons, and scrub cantaloupe with a veggie brush. Cutting into the peel of things pushes bacteria into the produce. Just use plain running water, no bleach or soap. Produce washes don't do any better than lots of running water.

I have been looking online and all the parts listed for that number are for a cooker, not a canner. I would not feel comfortable in suggesting you use this to can in. This is a really old cooker !! I looked at pics on ebay to see one.

I don't see how an 8 qt. pressure cooker would be large enough to hold 4 qt. sized jars. The 8 qt. is how much water it would hold empty. Usually the smallest size canner is 16 qt. This sounds like a cooker to me and not a canner. I know that Presto had a small cooker before like that and they at first called it a canner, then now I see on the box it only says cooker. I need to see about the model number before I say one way or another.

Haven't seen it in years. Old recipes were based on the strong vinegar. That is why you need to use current tested recipes and at least 5 % acidity vinegar.

I was able to eat this yesterday. It is more like an omlet, not really bread. I could taste the cream cheese. I would roll them up with a little bit of jelly and eat them. Not bad, just not like bread.

They sure look good ! May have to try these later. Thanks for the recipe.

Borax, what mineral in it ? Never heard of that !

I think CrazyforCanning knows that part, but a good reminder. She took the course from my boss and me a couple years ago. That is how I met her. It was funny, though, she posted here that she was going to take a course, then come to find out it was the one I was helping to teach !

The only thing I can think of and not sure if it was taught then is the extra 5 min. wait on a BWB canner after the processing time. Then, the extra 10 min. wait on PCing. You remove the lid on the BWB after the time is up, but wait 5 additional minutes before removing jars from canner. With the PC you do not remove the lid at first, you just remove the weight or counterweight, leave the lid tightened on, then set the timer for an additional 10 min. before you open the lid and remove the jars. This helps with the issue of siphoning. Sandy is also saying fruit butters are not recommended due to the density, but I have not personally seen any info stating that. It is still on the Univ. of Georgia website. I would need to find more concrete information before I make the statement they are not recommended for canning. I think one of the biggest ongoing misconceptions is that you can use Clear jel for thickening broth before canning. People argue that since Clear jel is for thickening foods before canning, that it includes low acid things. It is not, of course. Same for salsas. People think it is Ok to thicken salsa with Clear jel before canning. Just pie filling and jams are the only thickened foods still. The verdict is not out on the Tattler lids. We have some concerns since you tighten them down after processing. We are not sure that it is allowing for a true vacuum seal. Air may still be in the jars with those lids. Plus, we are not sure about the formaldehyde in the lids being released when heated. The Ball, kerr, Golden Harvest no longer have any BPA in the lids. I know I tried some Tattler. You can get a false seal with them. I know I had that issue. They seemed sealed, but later were unsealed in my pantry. I only tried on jam as I did not want to risk on low acid foods. To me they are too expensive to buy as many as I would have to own. Plus, if they stop making the gaskets again like they did in years past, you are stuck with expensive plastic lids. If I think of anything else I will let you know.

I like Luzianne tea ! It is made for iced tea. I have the iced tea maker, too. I don't use a paper filter in mine. Love that iced tea maker ! I just use all cold water. I don't add the ice. Oh, I use filtered water, too, not just tap water. Stevia to me is awful. I had a plant, it was still awful to me. I never find a sweet taste, just bitter. That Truvia and stuff in the boxes is not all that natural, not like they want you to think it is. Same with agave nectar. That stuff is so processed and is just as bad as high fructose corn syrup.

Sorry, no, tea is not safe to can. High ph level. No way to figure out a safe processing time. I have been asked this a lot of times.

We told you it was something you could do !! What is next on your list to can ?