Freaking out about canning

[3angels]

I know this sounds crazy, but I've always been a little intimidated by canning, but my garden has just gone nuts this year, and my fridge can't handle any more jars, so I jumped in making 13 pints of pickles, multiple versions of peach butter, and blueberry butter. It was A LOT of work. I was super proud of myself until I went down the rabbit hole reading about botulism, and how even a tiny bit can kill you. Now I'm overwhelmed with the fact that I could kill my family with a freaking pb&j. Am I overthinking this?

I sanitized all my jars, put the jam/butters in straight from the pot, processed them in a water bath for 10 min and let cool at room temp with a 1/4" of headspace. All the lids popped down. The one thing I didn't do was leave the lid on the pot while they were processing (crap), but they were covered in 1-2" of boiling water. How concerned should I be?

 

[njc82]

@3angels Haha we canned a bunch of tomatoes last September while I was pregnant. Every time we used them my husband would try whatever we were making first. Apparently symptoms start in about 10 mins, so he said he’d sacrifice himself for us

It was mostly a joke though. Tomatoes are quite safe. I would just avoid green beans.

 

[3angels]

@njc82 Tomatoes were next on my list! How concerned should I be about jams and jellies?

 

[njc82]

@3angels I’m no expert but my husband is one of those weirdo’s that knows everything and according to him tomatoes and berry jams are among the safest, assuming you are using an acid like lemon or citric acid. tomatoes have a natural acidity.

And just never reuse the sealant lids. Once you’ve canned with them you should only reuse them for things like dry storage or keeping stuff temporarily in the fridge. Always buy new ones for canning. Also you could post on r/canning (sorry hard to do links on my phone)

 

[3angels]

@njc82 Thank you!!

 

[kevin_01]

@njc82 You can pickle green beans to safely preserve them. They’re really good!

 

[njc82]

@kevin_01 Yeah I just meant if OP isn’t feeling super confident

 

[therosary9]

@3angels You aren't overthinking it, but also you are a bit --

Home canning foods, if you followed tested recipes and use the required processes, is very safe! Home canning foods, if you don't use tested recipes and don't follow the required processes, is still mostly safe but comes with risks.

The best way to reduce risk is to use only tested recipes -- my favorites come from the Ball books, the National Center for Home Food Preservation website, and my local ag extension office. If you don't like how much sugar (or other ingredient) is in a tested recipe, try finding a different tested recipe, OR make what you want, but don't rely on canning to make it shelf stable. Instead, do it in a freezer or refrigerator version.

Yes, everyone's family used untested recipes and less than idea methods in the past, and yes, they all were fine. But also, some of them weren't. (As with home births, farm and field work, diy plumbing and electric, home medical remedies, etc. etc.)

Just like with basically EVERY other decision, you need to decide what feels like an okay level of risks for you and your family.

 

[sugahani]

@3angels Canning is so much work! Some recipes require added lemon juice to ensure they’re acidic enough for water-bath canning (rather than pressure canning which is a higher temperature than boiling to kill botulism spores). I don’t know if peach butter and blueberry butter require added lemon juice but if you followed reputable recipes you should be fine!

 

[sugahani]

Also, canning them without the lid is fine as long as they stayed in boiling water. It’s just more efficient to keep the lid on.

 

[3angels]

@sugahani Good to know about the lid, thank you! I actually did add two tablespoons of lemon juice to each. I read that it wasn't entirely necessary because they're high-acid foods, but in an abundance of caution...

 

[sara23]

@3angels Did you use a recipe approved for canning? Thats a good way to make sure you have the acidity and everything else inside right.

I was also worried about this along with the chemicals on the underside of the lids (BPA free still isn’t the best ). So we ended up freezing instead to preserve. Freeze Fresh is a great book to get started with freezing. We have two upright deep freezers in our basement so we had the room for it. A trick I learned is to just core and freeze whole tomatoes until I want to use them. The skin comes off super easily once they thaw.

 

[3angels]

@sara23 Interesting! I used recipes I found online. I had the Ball canning book, but the recipes had an INSANE amount of sugar. For peach butter it said 4.5lbs of peaches and 4 cups of granted sugar (!!). I used about 5lbs of peaches, one cup of brown sugar, a little vanilla, and a touch of local honey. For the blueberries it was the same, almost equal parts sugar and fruit. I used local honey and about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, based on recipes I found online. Added 2 tblsp of lemon juice to both.

 

[sara23]

@3angels I googled it and google says that sugar isn’t needed for the safety of canning so you’re probably fine with the recipe change for the sugar!

Last year we made a roasted peach jam to freeze. And I didn’t use any sugar it’s divine. I love preserving.

 

[submariner]

@3angels Jams and jellies tend to be extremely safe. Same with pickles and other high acid foods. As long as it pops, looks normal, smells normal the risk is very, very low.

If you’re canning meats and low acid foods, that gets a little more complicated, and should be pressure canned not water bathed.

Source I can a lot, here’s some from last year

Also a note about sugar: it’s not needed for canning but once you open it, the more sugar the longer the shelf life and the higher the mold resistance. Sugar is an osmotic preservative, just like salt.

 

[3angels]

@submariner This is awesome info, thank you! That jar is BEAUTIFUL! You don't happen to have a favorite blueberry recipe you'd want to share, do you?

 

[submariner]

@3angels No problem- also a note about the lid- I forget mine all the time. If it’s covered with plenty of water it’s no problem, it just gets the kitchen real steamy and boils off a lot more than is necessary if you’re doing a bunch of batches

 

[z_alan_bridges]

@3angels I made freezer pickles instead bc I was so freaked out about canning! I wonder if you could freeze jam and jelly too?

 

[brendabree]

@3angels I definitely recommend checking out a good reference book. I love Putting Food By because it covers everything from pickling to jellies and jams to sauces, pressure canning and hot baths (what you did), pickling, freezer storage, dehydration... the works. It goes into all the how's and why's so you understand the methods better and it gives you a good foundation to experiment.

Generally you want to put the lid on the water bath pot while processing because it helps maintain a consistent temperature but as long as the water was maintained at least 1" over the cans and at a rolling boil the entire time, you should be fine. If you're worried about it you can always put everything in the freezer and just thaw each can when you're ready to use it.

 

[katrina2017]

@3angels I use approved recipes and still usually open cans and take a bite myself a day before I plan to feed it to my kids so I will hopefully know something is wrong before giving it to them lol. Probably won’t be practical forever but I’m a new canner so I am still anxious about it.