Violet, Help

[ScrubbieLady]

Violet, what do I do when my recipe makes more jars than I can fit in my canner. I made plum jelly today. The recipe is for 9 cups. Well, I put my jelly up in half-pints. Only 7 will fit in my canner. Today, I took the last 2 cups, put them in a pint jar, covered it to keep it hot and processed it when the 7 half-pints were done. Is that a good solution?

 

Also, is it my understanding that we need to let jars sit in a water bath canner for 5 minutes after turning off the heat? If so, why?

[Violet]

Isn't your canner tall enough to stack the jars ? It is fine to stack them. Preferrably use a rack between layers, but if you don't have one, then stagger the jars.( Put two down underneath, then the top one will sit in the center of those botttom 2 jars. ) You can stack jars in both a pressure canner or BWB canner.

If you cannot stack them, then do as you did with the jelly. For a jar of fruit or something that can be reheated and packed, then don't fill the jar with the liquid. Have the liquid boiling as it goes into the jars. If it is a raw pack food, then you can pack the food first, add the boiling liquid before sealing and processing . If it is hot pack food, then wait and pack the contents and the boiling liquid after your first load is finished.

The extra 5 min. for a BWB and the extra 10 min. in a pressure canner are to help with siphoning of the jars. It will help settle things down and helps get a good vacuum seal.

In the BWB canner you remove the lid, then sit for the extra time. In a pressure canner, once the pressure is at zero, only remove the weight, then set the timer for the extra 10 min. After that last 10 min. you then remove the canner lid and the jars.

Hope this helps.

[ScrubbieLady]

Thanks Violet. I was using my little canner. I have the regular rack on the bottom(I am looking for something else to use for a rack) and it separates but only allows 7 jars. So, I guess if I can't find a different rack, next time, I will use my big BWB.

 

I knew about the 10 min for the pressure canner. I just learned recently about the 5 min in the BWB.

[Crazy4Canning]

Also remember that anything can act as a BWB canner - any pot with a lid that covers your jars with at least 2" of water can be used.

 

Some ladies use knives on the bottom of the pot, others will wire together old canning rings, still others have pots big enough to fit a small rack.

 

This is a really elegant solution for not enough space if you can't stagger the jars.

[ScrubbieLady]

Thanks, I hadn't thought about the used canning rings. Someone mentioned using towels but I wouldn't think the water would circulate right. The other large pots I have are my pressure canner(I don't want to use it because it takes more time to heat up) and the pot I use to make the jelly and, of course, my big BWB canner.