Rules:

Hello canners! I’m just getting into canning but have been making fruit preserves for a while.

Tonight, I cooked up five containers of lovely raspberries. Easy recipe where I make a simple syrup first, then cook the berries in the syrup with a little bit of lemon juice and zest.

I washed my berries, the pot and utensils beforehand but when the mixture was finished and I tasted it, it was saltier than ocean water. I double checked my sugar to make sure it was actually sugar and not salt. Sugar was fine.

Anyone ever have anything like this happen to them? I’m absolutely baffled and clueless. Obviously I’m bummed because it was a large batch and the berries are pricy.

I’d appreciate any feedback and thanks for reading.

This is my first time making lard because i got fat for free, i watched a million tutorials which i followed perfectly. I used a slow cooker on low and used a cheese cloth to make sure it was completely filtered. It’s been a few days and isn’t completely solid but from my understanding it was supposed to solidify and turn white after a few hours.

Im in California and it’s pretty warm still. Does anyone know why it looks like this?

I just bought the newest edition after hearing lots of good things about it in the past, especially from the foraging set. Now I'm hearing it's NOT safe. What has been people's experience?

I'm looking to make this Ball recipe for chocolate raspberry sauce: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=chocolate-raspberry-sauce

Is there any safety reason why I would need to use Ball's RealFruit Classic Pectin? Or will an identical amount of SureJell work?

Thanks!

I’m reading conflicting reports on canning pickled garlic. Quite a few recipes warn against it yet in another recipe, it calls for water bathing for 15 minutes. Anyone have any suggestions? TIA

I would love to start pressure canning. However, I am paranoid about doing things "the right way," and messing up food is not something I want to mess with. Given you have good equiptment and you follow the recipe, how safe is pressure canning? Is there any way to verfiy I did it right before eating the food? I get nervous about feeding my family canned food, when I have no idea what I'm doing.

Quick question that I can't seem to find the answer to with a simple search.

I've gotten really into canning this fall, always using the Ball book or a approved recipe, and I've already made a couple rounds of apple butter!

Yesterday I got the great idea to cold smoke my apples before processing them because I love a smokey flavor. I cold smoked them for a few hours and then did the first half of the Ball Apple butter recipe. I put everything through the food mill and then refrigerated it to finish today by heating and adding all the sugar and spices and what not.

My question is, does smoking the apples have any effect on canning them? Are they safe to can or should I make them freezer or refrigerator products? I know smoke adds flavor but I didn't know if it messes with the pH or is considered truly altering a recipe. Obviously I want my family to be safe if I share this delicious treat with them.

Apologies in advance if this has already been answered in any way, but like I said I couldn't really find anything online other than one smoked apple butter recipe that just said "put it in your fridge or can it if you want!" (With no offocial/approved instructions.)

Thanks in advance one and all!

The jar of organic salsa I just received in the mail from Amazon seems to still be tightly sealed, yet I can smell the salsa. This has never happened before in the years I've been buying this. Could there be a hidden leak/break somewhere? I'm nervous to eat it.

Does anyone have problems with jars breaking when you use a canner on your stove? I have been having breakage and I'm wondering if it's the induction stove top? I’m using a pressure canner with a weighted gauge that used to be my mother’s. I canned 6 quarts of tomatoes in it and two jars broke during processing. I tried to can chuck roast and 2 jars immediately broke when I put them into the canner. I had sterilized the jars, packed them, put hot lids and bands on, and put them in the canner that had a rack and about 2 inches of water. The burner was on and the water was heating up but not boiling yet. I feel like never canning again after losing the beef! The mess and the cost of materials is frustrating! Any thoughts on my catastrophe?

Hoping to buy some apples in bulk this weekend to make some apple pie filling. What type of apples are usually best? Is there also a recipe out there on how to make/cook the pie for when I want to use the apple pie filling? Thanks in advance.

I will use this ball recipe: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=apple-pie-filling-recipe

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could suggest to me what to make that turns out nicely with gala apples? I regularly make apple pie filling, applesauce, apple jam, apple butter, etc. with ball recipes but I always use granny smith. But gala apples are on sale currently and so I wanted to see what recipes they may work well in. I know safety wise it’s generally okay to change the apple type but I’m asking more about the final product quality which I’ve noticed can vary with the type of apple. Thank you!

I want to make the Ball cranapple butter but I’m not a huge fan of cranberry cocktail which it calls for. Does anybody know if I can use juice? It’s so low pH that I would assume it’s safer, if anything. I might also email the extension office but thought I’d take the pulse here.

I have the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (2020), Would the recipes be varied if I bought, say, the Ball Kitchen Preserving Book? Or are they the same book?

Any other books you may recommend?

Hi all! I’m a lifelong cook, but a new-ish canner and so have many questions - many of which have been answered by lurking here, so thank you for the info you all share!

Today’s query, which I haven’t been able to answer with searches, is about candied jalapeños. I’ve been buying the Buc-ees version for a few years now and I’m absolutely in love with them, even if it takes a road trip to get them (it’s a massive gas station chain in Texas, for those unfamiliar). This year I grew some jalapeños and I’d like to give it a shot myself. Has anyone tried both the Buc-ees version and the Ball recipe? How do they compare? Any significant differences?

The main things I like about the Buc-ees recipe are the sweet vs hot balance, and the thick syrupy sauce they come packed in. Would I get the same results with home canning? Some old posts and comments here in this sub were not very definitive about these qualities.

Alternatively, does anyone have a copycat recipe that I could make and keep in the fridge? I’d prefer a shelf stable canned recipe, but I’m really after that specific flavor profile so I’ll refrigerate results if need be. Thanks in advance for your help!

Can someone please explain to me why I can’t use canned tomatoes in my canned sauces? Certified San Marzano tomatoes are held to a very high standard. How is dumping a can of tomatoes into a pot and heating it immediately less sanitary than handling raw tomatoes, blanching them and then peeling them before adding to a pot? I am new to this so I just want to understand. Thanks so much!

I'm sick of limp pickles. Is it safe to use calcium chloride as directed even if not stated in the recipe? How about grape leaf?

Hi, I'm new to the canning process and I was reading about the adjustment to make depending on the altitude. I'm at 984 feet (300m) in altitude, it's below 1001 feet I know, but very at the limit, so should I add 5mn to my water bath and add the 5 psi just to be on the safe side? Thank you :)

The title is pretty straight forward lol I used a safe canning recipe,

Soaked the black beans for 24 hours, boiled them for 30 minutes, put them in half pints and processed at 11 pounds for 75 minutes.

After the boiling, there really wasn't a lot of liquid left with the beans, so I added some in the jars to cover them, removed all air bubbles.

But after processing, there's basically no liquid in my jars... Are they ok? Do I need to open them, put water back in and reprocess or are they a total loss?

I counted 205 jars on these shelves. Some items are carried over from 2023.

Top shelf. Tomato products like BBQ sauce, tomato basil soup, salsas, and sweet and sour sauce. Next shelf is jams, pie fillings, pickled peppers, green beans. Middle shelf is beef veg soups and broths Next shelf is beans and bottom shelf is cut up tomatoes. I also made a lot of spaghetti sauce and pesto that we freeze and some pickled items in our fridge. This is my 3rd year canning.

Looking to invest in the plastic lids. Ball sell some nice ones but I want to be sure they will fit my Kilner jars.

Hello all! I did a cold pack of apples yesterday and as this picture shows, the apples shrank and left a huge gap without liquid. They all sealed properly. Is it safe to store and eat? TIA!

Here's my question and the answer. another when canning?

I have a lot of lemon verbena this year, and I would like to make jelly from it. There are many tested recipes for mint jelly, such as this one from NCHFP: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jellies/mint-jelly-pectin/ and it seems like an easy substitution to swap out the mint for lemon verbena in this recipe.

Is it safe to substitute lemon verbena for mint in this recipe? I am aware that you can safely swap one dried herb for another, but does that hold true for fresh herbs?

If it is safe to substitute lemon verbena for mint in the jelly, is it also safe to substitute one fresh herb for another in any recipe? For example, I make this Ball tomato sauce every year: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=basil-garlic-tomato-sauce and it contains fresh basil. Could I substitute fresh oregano for some or all of the basil in this recipe?

Finally, does it matter if the recipe is a water bath canning recipe or a pressure canned recipe?

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Thank you for your email. You have used some great resources.

When a canning recipe calls for fresh herbs, it is ok to use them but substitutions are not recommended when canning.

Canning recipes are very specific to their ingredients as well as a lot of other different factors when canning recipes are written. Therefore, it is our recommendation to find a specific recipe for canning lemon verbena.

It is not recommended to can food for which there are no modern tested recommendations.

I am currently being overrun by okra. I picked 7lb from the garden this morning and want to pickle quite a bit of it. The NCHFP recipe for pickled okra includes dill seeds, but I don't really love dill all that much. Can I omit this and still be safe?

Pickled Dilled Okra - National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu)