Another canning question

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Hello everyone - On Monday I was having trouble with my peaches lids not popping. Well they all popped but one, which I put in the frige to use up this week. My husband told me yesterday he was looking in the frige and heard the jar pop! That was on Thursday. My question is, has it sat around too long to just be stored with the others? Is it good long-term? Shall I eat it up this weekend? Help!

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), September 10, 1999

Answers

Citygirl,

The lids "popping" has nothing to do with whether the food is safe or not - it simply occured because of a temperature change. It doesn't take much heat to soften the rubber seal and cause a "seal". You did not process the peaches (if I remember, you said 10 minutes?) long enough to bring the contents to a high enough temp to be safe. You MUST get a modern Ball Blue Book or equivalent - come on girl, it only costs around $5 and you need the information! Good luck and kudos to you for learning a new skill!

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), September 10, 1999.


Joy of Cooking has an excellent section on canning, with specific instructions for canning nearly anything you want.

-- Prometheus (fire@for.man), September 10, 1999.

Does this mean I should throw it all away. I don't want to take any chances. I just followed the recipe of a friend who has been doing them this way for years. I really don't plan to get into this big time unless I have to (like next year possibly). I just thought I'd try the darn peaches!

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), September 10, 1999.

Don't throw your peaches away. Use new lids and put the jars back in the canner for as long as you need to get a proper seal.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), September 10, 1999.

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