Weck canning jars - important step that I missed...

Remember all those cherries that I washed, pitted, and canned way back in June?  All 18 lbs?  I was so proud to use my new Weck jars.

On this cool, crisp morning, I decided to treat myself to a few cherries in yogurt.  So I opened up a jar...but it wasn't sealed.  I reached for another, snapped off the clips, and IT wasn't sealed.   Panicking, I went to Weck's website and read this:

"Jar after cooling down
A vacuum now prevails in the jar. The normal pressure of the surrounding air outside the jar presses the lid down on the jar, thus firmly sealing it. The spring clamps required during the canning process are now unnecessary and should definitely be removed after the jars have cooled down."

So, the clips should "definitely be removed after the jars have cooled down".  

That's interesting.  I left the clips on.  I wonder why they need to be removed?  The website goes on to say:

"Why is it absolutely necessary to remove the spring clamps after the processed jars have cooled down?
After processing, the spring action of the clamps is replaced by the natural force exerted on the vacuum inside the jar from the pressure of the air outside the jar. If you were to leave the spring clamps on the jar, you would not, by trying to lift off the lid, be able to test whether the jar was properly processed and sealed or not. This simple, but extremely important seal-test ( the "lid-lifting" test) cannot be performed when using jars with a thread type, a wire-bail type of closure or any other mechanical sealing devices."

I'm pretty sure that I read their website when I first purchased the jars.  I don't remember seeing any of this information.  Maybe it's been recently added?  Or maybe I just missed it.

Later today, I removed all of the clips and checked the jars.  Fortunately, I only lost 4 jars of cherries and none of the more recently canned beans or apple pie filling. 

 Note to self (and other Weck users!): Remove the clips when jars are cool and check the seals.

BPA is in our canning lids - very sad

Organic Gardening magazine kindly sent me a free issue last week. Secretly, I pretended that it was a reward for all my fan-tab-u-lous blogging, but let's be real. I'd been enjoying the articles and lovely photos for the past couple of days. Then...WHAM! I get hit with this info:

"Canning jar lids from the brands Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, and Bernandin are coated with bisphenol-A (BPA) - an industrial chemical used to make polycarbonate plastics and the epoxy resins that line many food containers. BPA is an estrogenic chemical - meaning it can mimic the hormone estrogen - and a wide body of research links it to an increased risk for reproductive and developmental problems, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes."

Right after I read this passage, my husband walked into the room and he could see that I was upset. I told him why. Then he asked, "What are you going to do?"
Hmm...I thought about the answer to that question. I had several options:
1) Throw out all of my jars of carefully preserved vegetables and fruits. (This seems a bit harsh, especially when I face the fact that all of the food that I have eaten from jars for my whole life has potentially been contaminated with BPA.)
2) Buy new German jars that have glass lids and rubber sealing parts. (Likely expensive. And what will I do with all those old jars?)
3) Write a letter to Ball, Kerr, and anybody else who's address I can find.
4) Pretend I didn't read that page and try to forget. (Ignorance is bliss, I tell ya!)

In the end, I think I've decided to go ahead and use up the goodies I've preserved and look into the German jars for the future. Surely a non-food use for the old jars will pop up. The German Weck glass jars are pretty, but pricey - $15 for six 1/4L jars. In the meantime, I'm going to write a letter to the American lid manufacturers and beg them not to use BPA.

Old Canning Jars Are Brought Back to Life

My husband's grandmother (Nanna) gave me her old canning jars:
I love this old box that she kept them in. The company who made the jars seems quite proud of the "magic button". Maybe it had just recently been introduced.

Nanna also gave me some lids and rings. I thought this was a fun picture that compares the old with the new...the rings themselves haven't changed. The lids have changed a little bit and packaging has certainly changed a lot.
I wonder how old the jars and lids are...Nanna is 80... One of the jars commemorates the 200th birthday of the US. It proudly shows the liberty bell and the dates 1776-1976. So they might be from the 70s. A few jars look older than that to me, because they have a strange dent in the bottom. My husband thinks the dent was placed on the jars, so that the factory machinery could grab onto it as the jars were being made. May your gardens prosper and your jars seal!

Tomato Sauce Recipes

Last week I posted on the tomato sauce I made. Heather asked me to post the recipe. There are actually 2 recipes that I've used to make tomato sauce. Both are from the US Department of Agriculture Extension. These recipes are tested for safety by the USDA, so we don't have to worry about spoilage.

The first recipe is:

(Click on the recipe for an enlarged view. You can also click on the processing time chart.)

The 2nd recipe is my husband's favorite, due to the spicy peppers I put in. It takes more effort to char the pepper skins and remove them, but the end result is quite tasty:

(Click on the recipe for an enlarged view. You can also click on the processing time chart.)

In all honesty, I don't always follow the recipes/rules shown here to the letter. Sometimes I might not have on hand one of the veggies that is listed. For example, I don't want mushrooms in my sauce, so I don't use them. Sometimes I only have 15 lbs of tomatoes, so I halve the recipe. I really don't think it matters, as long as we keep the tomato-to-other veg ratio pretty constant. Tomatoes provide acidity, which helps prevent spoilage. Happy canning!

The Happiest Place in Wal-Mart

Caning funnel and lids-
If you don't have a canning funnel, you've got to get one!
It makes the whole process much faster and less messy.
I got mine as OSH and it fits both small and large mouth jars.

I've noticed something. The canning section in Wal-Mart is the happiest, friendliest place in the store. Maybe in the whole town of Marina!

I drive a few extra miles to the Marina Wal-Mart store to buy my canning supplies. Sure I could by my lids at Safeway, but they were charging $4.69 for a package of 12 little metal lids! Wal-Mart's price: $1.50 for the exact same brand and item. I think I bought 11 packages of lids the other day...that a savings of about $35. Worth a couple of extra miles of driving.

But that's not the only reason I go there. I actually enjoy the canning section of Wal-Mart. They have lots of items to choose from. But most importantly, everytime I go, there seems to be another "canning person" in the aisle. Last time, it was a fisherman who really liked to can his extra sardines and shad. They're "fantastic", he said with a big smile.

Most recently, there was a lady in the canning section who eagerly asked me what I was canning. I said "everything that comes out of my garden"! I told her about the plum jam, strawberry jam and preserves, tomato sauce, beans, and zucchini pickles. She, herself, was wanting to can strawberries. She visited the fair last week and became inspired by all of the preserves entries in the local competition.

Nobody ever talks to me when I'm in the shampoo section or on the toothpaste aisle. It's the canning section that gets people talking and I love it!

Seed --> Plant --> Tomato --> Sauce

I made 6 pints of tomato sauce from all of the varieties that I had on hand; whatever was ripe. Summer in a jar:

While I was stirring the sauce as it simmered on the stove, I started to think about January. That was the beginning of my tomatoes' life cycle. I started the seeds at the very end of January. Every morning I carried the seedlings outside to the greenhouse to spend the day. In the evenings after work, I would faithfully bring them inside to stay cozy and warm. After about 4-6 weeks, I potted them up to 1 gallon containers. Finally, in April they went into the ground. I planted them deeply, cutting off the lower leaves and burying the stems up to the top couple of nodes. Right after they were planted out, we faced a crazy windstorm that lasted 2 days. The next week the little plants were tested by an attack of aphids and white flies. I battled the pests with soapy water and we prevailed. On July 4th the first ripe tomato was picked - a dependable Stupice. Later in July, I panicked and sprayed milk at the first sign of yellowing lower leaves. Now, by mid-August there are enough tomatoes ripe at one time to warrant a round of canning.

What a long, strange trip it's been ;)

Don't you just love wierd-looking tomatoes?! This is Stupice, a great cool-summer, heavy-producer of small-medium tomatoes. They have a good taste...not great, but they are nice and meaty and can make a good sauce.

Canning Strawberry Jam

According to our local paper, canning is making a comeback! Ball is the largest supplier of canning products in the US and they report a 30% increase in sales over the last year. Current sales for 2009 are continuing to rise.

This is my second year of canning and it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy saving all of the organic summer fruits and vegetables. It's a great feeling to see all of the finished jars lined up on my shelves. And the best part is that it's so easy! So far I've canned plums, plum jam, tomato sauce, salsa, pickled zucchini, and pickled cucumbers. The only real concern is to always follow safe and current canning procedures. There are 2 main methods: (1) boiling water canner (big pot with a lid and rack on the bottom), and (2) pressure canner. The simpler boiling water canner is used for food that have a lot of acid (e.g. fruit), while the pressure canner is used for foods with less acid (e.g. salsa).

High Ground Organics is a great local farm that hosted a strawberry U-pick last weekend. The tasty berries were only $1.50 per lb - a great bargain for making jam! So I bought 25 lbs.



Strawberry Jam Recipe
4-6 half-pint jars (8 oz.), lids, and rings
4 lbs stawberries, wash, hulled, and crushed
1 cup apple juice
sugar (optional, sometimes I use none, sometimes 1 cup)
1 packet Ball® No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin

The fruit pectin is a natural substance found in apples, from what I understand. When you buy the Ball® No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin, there is a handy insert with complete instructions for making strawberry jam, as well as other fruit jams and jellies. These are the instructions that I follow. In addition, there are other Ball recipes and tutorials on their website.

I always get my jars, lids, and rings at Wal-Mart because they are so much cheaper there. This recipe only requires a boiling water canner, which is basically a big deep pot and a lid. Place a rack in the bottom of the pot, so that the jars won't be directly sitting on the bottom. If you don't have a rack, make a layer of extra rings (screw cap thingies). This will prevent the jars from breaking. The pot needs to be deep enough so that the jars will be covered by at least 1 inch of water when sitting on the rack. No fear! You can make jam!