What did I do wrong?

[SueC]

I got some peaches at a good price, took them, cut them, packed into the jars firmly (at least I thought it was firm without bruising the fruit) added sugar and water to within a half inch from the top, sealed placed in cold water, brought to the boil, and

[Darlene]

hmmmmmmmm...

 

First of all, when I pack my peaches in my jars, I make a syrup from the sugar and water and heat that to boiling, and pour it over the peaches. I then place the sealed jars in a hot water bath canner and process from there.

 

I don't know if you had air in your your jars or if because you added sugar then water, without making a hot sugar syrup to begin with, is what effected your peaches.

 

((((sue))))

[SueC]

Ok - I still dont have a Ball Blue book so I am sort of trying to work from what I read. Next time I will heat the syrup! And I think I will be a little more pedantic as to how the fruit is packed in the jars.

 

A little learning curve, but I will get there in the end.

 

Sue

[Ferretma]

Quote:

... When I removed them, they had lost about 1 and 1/2 inches of water and the fruit was all floating at the top of about 2" of syrup. What did I do wrong? ...

I think I know (she says, speaking from experience).

When you were processing, is it possible that you had the heat turned up really high? I had this exact same thing happen and it was because the canning water was boiling too hard. According to (someplace - I wish I could point you to where I read this but I can't remember), the water needs to be at a rolling boil but not an insanely fast boil.

[SueC]

That could have happened too!

 

Next time I get some cheap fruit I will try again. I am heading south for a few days soon and might get some cheap fruit, at least I hope too!

 

Sue

[Dee]

I've found when I keep trying to adjust the heat so the "jiggler" only jiggles 3 or 4 times a minute I lose liquid from my jars. I've given up finally and just let that sucker jiggle as often as it pleases BUT once the pressure does build up and it starts jiggling I lower the heat a little one time and then forget it.

[Necie]

I have heard, like Dee said, that pressure variation during processing will cause this. Also depressurizing too fast. (Which wouldn't be the case with HWB peaches.) But I always let my canner come down to pressure on it's own and tend to get alot less liquid loss this way.