Hey guys. I followed the pickled hot peppers recipe in Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. (I used more jalapeños than banana peppers youll notice). Before going in the canner the peppers and liquid were at a 1/2 headspace. When I took them out of the canner I smelled the vinegar in the canner. After sitting now, this is what they look like. Did these siphon? Or why did I smell vinegar? I smelled vinegar on the inside of the rings too once I unscrewed them

I am in a canning frenzy and trying to use *unique* recipes ie. fruit salsa and chutneys and jams. Is there a golden rule about when it is OK to use frozen fruit instead of fresh? So much cheaper usually and available like mangos.

I would think in a cooked recipe ok. But how do I know? Thank you so much!

Hey everybody - I can't figure out where I'm going wrong here. I'm convinced that I'm either missing something significant, or there is a mistake in the published recipe (or perhaps I'm just bad at math).

I'm looking at Ball Blue Book 38th edition, "Watermelon Rind Preserves", page 68. The recipe calls for 1.5qts watermelon rind, 4 cups sugar, 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice, 1.5qts water, and 1/2 cup sliced lemon all going into the saucepan in the final step.

• That's 16.75 cups of total ingredients going into the saucepan
• The recipe claims to yield 6 half-pint jars; that's 6 cups
  • After I dissolved the sugar and added all of the ingredients to the saucepan, I was left with about ~12 cups total volume, or 2x the estimated yield

The recipe says to boil "until watermelon rind is transparent and syrup thickens." I boiled my mixture for 90 minutes. The watermelon rind was transparent around the 1hr mark, but they syrup had not noticeably thickened. I turned up the heat and kept going at a roiling boil for another 30 minutes. Ultimately, the mixture reduced by about 1/3rd, but it was still at least 1.5x the volume of the estimated yield, and not nearly as thick as other Ball preserve recipes that I have made (it is still closer to the consistency of water, vs jam).

It seems like the recipe calls for far too much added water. The volume of ingredients vs the estimated yield just doesn't make sense to me, and my final product seemed way too watery.

I did scale up the recipe, but I was very meticulous about making sure that I measured out my ingredients in the correct proportions. Maybe my larger volume of total ingredients was just reducing more slowly than a smaller portion would have (because of the whole surface area-to-volume thing). But still, I would have thought that a recipe which requires reducing by half would have mentioned that somewhere in the instructions.

Trial run with a new recipe. Smashed garlic, fresh dill and peppercorns.

Got some last of the season spicy and sweet peppers, as well as a few yellow tomatoes and other salsa related veggies.

I've already got some tomato salsa recipes but I LOVE mango salsa and would love to try making some of my own.

I will be likely be using frozen mango since it's the most cost-effective, but I'm open to experimenting with different varieties of fresh mangos (I can get a few types fresh from my local Asian super market, some Indian and some Thai types)

General preferences for mango salsa (but not mandatory, just nice-to-have's)

• Zesty/tangy flavour is better than very sweet (so lower sugar)
• Prefer tasting citrus acids over strong vinegar flavour (but vinegar is fine as an ingredient as long as it's not overpowering the flavour)
• Spice level comfortably in the medium to HOT range
• Recipes with diverse spices encouraged, I've had mango salsa before with stuff like ginger in it that was lovely
• Less of a strong onion flavour (got some onion haters in my house) so other ingredients that add richness to flavour besides onions (I know it's usually safe to simply omit onions from water bath canning recipes since they are low-acid)

Also would love to hear what safe alterations people make (like the 1tsp of dried spices per 1 pint jar or subbing lime juice for lemon juice tricks) to conventional mango salsa recipes that really add another level of flavour.

Thanks in advance friends!

Perusing the Blue Book #38 and reading the fruit vinegar recipes. There is no intro paragraph or follow up paragraph about storing after opening. I checked the NCHFP and didn't see a specific answer either. So, after opening is it safe to store at room temperature or does it require refrigeration? I have other flavored commercial vinegars that don't state on the label that they require refrigeration so I'm left wondering. TIA!

So I was making apple pepper jelly with apple cider, lemon, sugar, pectin, peppers. I’ve made this before and it went smoothly. But I tried a new pectin this time. Up until now, I’d been using the original sure jell pectin in the yellow box. But I ran out and decided to try my new ball real fruit classic pectin. I did use a bit less than 6 tablespoons when scooping it in because I wanted to keep an eye on the texture, and I was gonna add more if I felt it wouldn’t set.

I’ve been using the spoon test with good results for many batches now. I stick a bunch of spoons in the freezer. When I want to test the texture, I dip a spoon in the cooking jelly, and let it sit in a dish for a minute or two. I come back to the spoon and check the texture. If it runs right off the spoon, I keep on cooking or maybe add more pectin if it keeps failing the spoon test.

What was super weird about this batch is that it passed the very first spoon test. Which never happens. I usually test it early. I expected it to fail the spoon test. But it was solid and didn’t run at all. It wasn’t hard or super thick, but it wasn’t soft or runny either. I thought it was odd at the time, so I spoon tested it again. It passed again. So I stopped cooking it and started canning it.

Did my usual water bath canning. I usually do 10 minutes, but I did 9 minutes because I was worried I’d already overcooked it.

And now….. both the next morning and now two days later, it’s not really set.

I mean…. It’s not straight up liquid. There’s some gel to it. But it’s really running. It does cling. But it should be firmer. I put my opened jar in the fridge, figuring that would make the texture what it should be. And it’s still really loose for a refrigerated jelly.

I just don’t get how it totally passed the spoon test but completely failed irl?

I really don’t want to have to recan it lol. But I think I have to. Is there anyway I can just…. Cook it for longer? Like re boil it with the current lids still on without opening them? Or do I have to dump it in a pot and add more pectin and re can it all like normal?

I’ll still wait another day or two to see if it magically firms up on its own.

Is it normal for different pectins to behave so differently?

I did notice this ball pectin was like light brown and textured , whereas the sure jell is pure white and fine.

Just finished. This makes it 175 quarts from my 36 plants. Over 1,000 lbs! I ran out of quart jars so did some pints too. Still had 3 quarts of sauce left that are in ziplock bags headed for the freezer.

I still have a bunch of green and some blushing on the vine…maybe 100 lbs more. I’ll put those in boxes and wrap with netting to keep fruit flies out, and we’ll just eat or cook with those as they ripen.

My wife is making this recipe: https://www.ramonascuisine.com/perfect-quince-jam/

She insists that last year, she didn't process in a how water bath after putting the boiling hot mixture into sterilized jars. She claims that I was there when she did this. I know I would have said something.

Now, we have 20 pints canned. Most lids have popped, but some haven't. I said that it was weird that some of the sticky jam on the sides of the jar didn't wash off in the hot water bath, and she said that she didn't do that.

She says that since the recipe doesn't say to hot water bath, she didn't do it.

i know i didn’t do my usual quick heating to deter separation, i was dealing with a needy pup recovering from surgery and got distracted. it’s been over a decade since i’ve had sauce separation. but having some seperate and some not is new to me. and yes - i did stir the pot of sauce between scoops, and it was on very very low heat whist doing so - like i always do. thx for any info!

Hi.. I recently made and canned this apple sauce. I had one jar of of the 30 that have this weird bubbly buckle. Is this safe? If I lift it by the lid, it's sealed.

Hello all,

I need help understanding what went wrong. This weekend I made the ginger pear marmalade found in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I thought I followed the recipe to a T, but it seems like I've produced some really tasty pothole filler. It might re-liquify if I throw it in the microwave for a while, but it's absolutely hard right now. Now I've never made jam or marmalade before so I'm not sure where I went wrong. Any ideas? The flavors good so I'd actually like to get this right eventually. Thanks so much.

I bought some brand new jars today, and the lids were on so tight that the seal is compressed. I assume that these are not okay to use?

First time making the Ball tomato sauce recipe and we have a large bowl of leftover tomato pulp. What's a good way to use this up? Are there any safe jellys, chutneys, or dehydrated recipes that your family likes? Something other than just freezing for soup or pasta?

Hi, I have a garden full of beautiful peppers and I want to put up some harissa sauce. They only real one I can find is on the ball jar website, but it calls for four bell peppers and eight Birdseye. That seems kind of dumb because my bell peppers are vastly different in size from each other and so are my chilies. I want to scale this up. Also, does anyone have either advice or a recommendation for a harissa sauce recipe for putting up that measures by weight? Here's the one I'm looking at.: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=harissa-sauce

13-ish pounds of apples and a few hours of work later, I have some delicious apple pie jam and applesauce! I used Pomona’s apple pie jam recipe and followed Healthy Canning’s guidance for the applesauce. I have one more quarter pint and two pints not pictured because they didn’t seal, but I’m pretty happy overall!

I didn’t find one on the list of sites in the community info and there’s not one on the Ball website, but this site says it came from Ball. Do you think it’s safe? A lot of recipes in my Ball Blue Book are not on their website either?

Directions say to remove cores before cooking down plum tomatoes. But Why if they are going through the strainer or mill anyways to remove skin and seeds? I do follow the safe tested directions, just wondering why on what I think is an extra step. Thanks!

I have been canning for years and always use safe tested recipes. A salsa might sit canned for months, then when I open it I do not use all of it, so I put it in the fridge. How long do we think it is safe to keep said salsa in the fridge for? I have always gone by smell and taste, but am curious what others think.

Hi everyone,

I am going to give canning a whirl. My MIL is going to teach me but I have ZERO supplies. Going to start with water bathing some easy stuff. Please give me your tried and true product recs... from XL pots, lid and jar types, any other things I might need along the way. Not really concerned about price, but want good quality. Other tips you might have are welcome. TIA!!!

Hello! I wasn’t sure where to ask this question so I landed here.

I made some maple brown sugar bourbon blackberries about a month ago. I did not can them! They were in a pasta sauce jar filled to the brim in the fridge. Unfortunately, my fridge died!! They sat unrefrigerated for 4 days before I could get a new fridge. Should I toss them?

I’ve included a link to the recipe, but I added in another 1/4c bourbon than that or so. If this where I should ask this question, please point me to where I should. Thank you!!

https://lifecurrentsblog.com/maple-brown-sugar-bourbon-blackberries/#recipe

I just canned salsa. All lids are sealed. I followed Mrs.wages packet recipe. The other salsas I canned did not have bubbles at the top, for some reason these do. Does anyone know why?

Hello all!

So I went to make some raspberry jam today.

My puree and everything was all ready and everything and then my power went out. And it's still out nine hours later.

I covered the puree or whatever and put it in the fridge immediately and haven't opened the fridge since to keep the cold in there. I am not sure how cold it is in there, but obviously 9 hours without power.

Am I still able to use the raspberries tomorrow to make the jam? I hadn't started heating yet and did not add the sugar either.