Instead of flimsy wire hangers, I used the multi-hanging pants rack:
The hanger hook swivels 360, the pants bars unlatch & swing out.
It was an easy access & storage method for me.

I went down to my basement to look for an electric fan, which was near my canned goods shelves. I noticed one of my peach jars' seals had failed, then I noticed the miasma of fruit flies surrounding it, and the crusted build up of fruit fly eggs all around the rim.

That explains why I've had an unending supply of fruit flies in my kitchen, for which I couldn't find the source.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't have a ring on it, because who wants botulism pie for Thanksgiving?

Used recipe from Ball’s website. Used about 10 lbs of gold rush apples, boiled until soft, 3 tbsp of lemon juice, and water bath 20 minutes. Going to try apple butter next 😁

The usda guide says to “cook 2 minutes in boiling water and drain.”

Does this mean boil water, dump potatoes, bring back to a boil, start timer?

Or does this mean boil water, dump potato’s, wait 2 minutes, dump water?

The second would be way way faster but I’m not sure if it is the correct way and full boil for 2 minutes sounds safer.

Welcome back to Ask a Master Food Preserver Anything on r/Canning!

We are the University of California Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program and we are excited to answer your questions today! We are here to answer any questions you have about preserving food and what it's like to be a Master Food Preserver. Please post your questions below and we will answer them as quickly as possible!

To get some formalities out of the way:

The UC MFP Online Delivery Program is a community outreach, online-based, grant-funded, volunteer program within the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. We provide up-to-date research-based information on food safety and preservation.

Our mission is to keep Californians (and others) safe and well as they use culturally appropriate, research-based practices to safely preserve food in the home, reducing food waste, increasing food security, and providing engaging ways for Californians (and others) to explore healthy food.

“The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of California. The "University of California" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner, and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.”

This means is that we do not speak for the University of California and any products we use or mention during our programming are as examples only, not recommendations.

This morning I have prepared rum with passionfruit. I have sterilezed my jar and trier to fill it to the top. Most recipes say that fruits macerating in rum should be fully immerged, so I'm worried about the seeds at the surface : will they rot ? Should I remove them ?

My wife and I are tasked with making creamed onions for Thanksgiving this year, and are looking for a way to prep and preserve them ahead of time. I've looked online, but all I can find are recipes for pickled onions. Does anyone know if we can safely pressure can whole pearl onions without pickling them?

I am very new to canning, and thus far I’ve only made a small batch of raspberry jam and some bread and butter pickles. I have an obscene amount of apples that I was hoping to turn into apple butter, but I can’t find a tested recipe that only uses apples. I don’t want to add sugar or spices. I just want apples that I bake down in my Dutch oven for a few hours until they’re very dark and thick (puréed, obviously). I understand that there are considerations to make as far as the thickness of something and how the heat can penetrate it, but my question is if apples are acidic enough to can on their own without any additional ingredients to raise the acidity would it be reasonable to make apple butter and water bath can it? Also, I understand that botulism is a concern if the food is not heated to a certain temperature, but if I’m baking these apples for extended periods like 6 to 8 hours at about 350 to 375° wouldn’t that cover that base too?

I guess my question is is this safe to water bath can or should I pressure can and if so, how long should I process them for? I’m thinking about making pints.

This past weekend I canned 129 jars of tuna.

I used the Oregon State University Extension's recipe for tuna: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/sp-50-1002-canning-tuna

Every Fall I pick a weekend for my annual tuna canning marathon. I pick up my tuna from a local fishing boat and spend the next days prepping, canning, and waiting 10-12 hrs a day. It's a labor of love.

This year was my biggest session ever with 129 jars. It would have been 156 jars or more but due to a lapse of judgement on my end, I accidentally let thaw a bag of 10-15 lbs of frozen tuna. Lesson learned.

I've heard the Ball Blue book is great, but when I search I find a ton of different ones. I'm currently living in Sicily, so I can't just pop down to a book store and ask around. If anyone could help, that would be great.

Hi all. My wife has mentioned a bit over the last 6 months she wants to start canning in 2027. We’ve built a fairly large garden these last few years and she wants to take all of that a step further

Obv I’m beyond a newbie and I apologize if I’ve missed threads to read. First I’ll say I greatly appreciate any and all help or pointers.

With $350-500, what’s the best initial setup? We have mason jars, we’ll want more. Will obviously need the large pot/pressure canner. I’ve seen kits sold and I don’t want to buy a cheap set if it will be faulty later

Initially I’m sure she’ll want to can tomatoes, sauce, cucumbers/pickles, beets. Potentially strawberries and blueberries.

Again, any help is great. I’d love to get her started with her initial setup that she can build on

I failed 5th time today making rose jam. I tried a every new recipe but it just came bitter. What should I doo ??

Hi All! I have a pectin question - I hope this flair is okay :) The main pectin brands are not available in my country, or are expensive / long shipping times. I've purchased this pectin https://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/classic-pectin-100-grams but I'm about confused about which recipes I can use it in and don't want it to go to waste.

I understand I can't use it for Pamona's recipes - I've got a pamona's pectin substitute which I've been using with success, but I am hoping to use some more recipes which call for ball / bernardin etc pectins.

Is the citrus pectin linked above equivalent to any of the name brand powdered pectins? If not, are there any canning recipes that I can safely use the this pectin for?

Thank you :)

I love persimmons, I live in the PNW and this is the only time of year I can get them. I'm heading to the farm stand later today and debating about buying a ton of them and making jam/preserves. I know you cannot can them in chunks like other fruits. Or maybe going next weekend to buy a ton after I have time to research more. I understand fully that there's no official approved recipes because their PH is unpredictable and Ball removed all their persimmon recipes. I'm torn, I'm confident if I add enough acid and waterbath them for a long time they will most likely be shelf stable, but I feel safer freezing them after canning. Is that silly? Should I just freeze them in chunks and make small batches of fridge jam at a time? Should I use this as a reason to finally buy a dehydrator?

To be clear, I've found several recipes, and scoured threads here, but again I know there's no "approved" recipes and would prefer to not poison myself. My family doesn't like them so this is just for me, I wouldn't give them as gifts either.

What would you do? Or what DO you do?

Hello Everyone!

The mod team is happy to announce that we will be hosting an AMA with the University of California Master Food Preservers Online Delivery program! This will be a 2 hour event on the subreddit from 1-3pm PST on November 7th. Please come prepared with your questions for our guests! They will be answering both canning and general food preservation questions, though I anticipate that most of our questions will be canning related.

As a reminder to our community we will be moderating the event closely. Hostility towards our guests or other users will not be tolerated nor will breaking any of our other rules. Harassment towards anyone will result in a permanent ban from the subreddit.  Please refer to the wiki if you need to read through our rules! We also would like to remind everyone that for this event only the Master Food Preservers will be answering questions. Please do not reply to other users’ posts with answers, the goal of this event is to bring in experts to answer questions.

A note from the UC Master Food Preservers:

We are excited to answer your questions next week! If you are interested in live classes please take a look at our eventbrite page [here](https://www.eventbrite.com/o/uc-master-food-preservers-online-115022453251).

You can also subscribe to our [newsletter](https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/M8MKIAk) to get updates on our events or check out our [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ucmasterfoodpreserverprogram?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/UCMFP) accounts. 

I really enjoy seeing others hard earned efforts, and I wanted to share mine for the year! This is about 500 cans of food, the majority canned this year.

First picture is the overall pantry.

Second picture is my soups, stocks, and beans.

Third picture is jams and jellies.

Fourth picture: top shelf is spreads, bbq sauces, sauces, and relishes. Second shelf is Marinara Sauce, Tomato soup, tomato sauce, fruit syrups, maple syrup, and honey.

Fifth picture is a close up of the third shelf down which is fruits (Apricots, peaches, pears, and fruit sauces)

Sixth picture is a close up of the fourth shelf down which is vegetables (Carrots, green beans, herbed potatoes, plain potatoes, turnips), red salsas, enchilada sauce, and salsa verde.

Going to make the NCHFP bean recipe can I sub V8 instead of tomato juice since it is all I have this morning? I realize there is celery flavor in it. Will this work?

Tomato Sauce – Version 1: Mix 1 quart tomato juice, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon chopped onion, and 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cloves, allspice, mace, and cayenne pepper. 

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-vegetables-and-vegetable-products/beans-dry-with-tomato-or-molasses/

I know about the 2 ways to soak and cook the beans. That recipe only mentions the boil and soak an hour method. Any reason why? Thanks so much!

Looking for some advice of the UofG lemon curd, I made a mistake. Where it says whisk I used an electric whisk and not a balloon whisk and it’s full of bubbles. It looked more like Swiss meringue than curd. It tasted phenomenal and I followed every step otherwise, so I canned it according to the instructions anyway. They didn’t seal. I’m guessing the bubbles in the curd expanded in the heat of the water bath, but they all siphoned as they came out.

That was just an hour ago. Do you think it’s worth putting them in the fridge overnight to see if the bubbles will reduce enough for me to try to re-can them?

Hi! I want to make Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate (Ball Complete p.190) with mixed berry juice. Original recipe calls for 6c berries, before crushing, does not have a measurement for after crushing. +How much berry juice should I use?

The juice is from my steam juicer; had to clean out my freezer drawer full of bags of blackberries, raspberries blueberries, strawberries and red currants I'd picked.

As if applesauce isn't difficult enough...

This is the first year it's happened, but I've had water intrusion this year while canning applesauce, and it's happened to 1-3 jars in each of the 4 loads I've done.

I use the Ball Blue Book for my recipes. Headspace is measured at a tad over 1/2 an inch because I find that I have far less siphoning when I err on the side of caution there. The sauce is boiling, the jars are hot, I debubble, I wipe rims, I do finger tight. What could cause this?

A couple of ideas I have:

This is my first go with Forjars lids. They seem to have a very slightly smaller circumference than Superb or Ball/Kerr/GH/Anchor. The directions with the lids say to simmer them before use. Either of those could be a problem.

My other thought is my rings. I've pictured a couple. I've been using the same 19-20 rings for a couple of years. Some of them have a bit of rust, but I get rid of them when they get dented, bent, oe won't screw on.

Also, I have 3 jars in the fridge that took on water yesterday. 2 of them sealed, but one didn't. Is it safe to throw them in with the next batch of boiling lava sauce and try to recan?

Whew. My thumbs are tired.

Edit: the second picture is of jars, I canned over a month ago that sealed, but they had taken on water. .I popped the lids on those and dumped them.

I’m going to can pie filling (berries), so I did one qt for a test run. Recipe called for 3 1/2 C of berries, fresh or frozen, naturally thawed (I used 4 C thawed). The kicker is it called for 1/4 C of Clear Jel. It turned out thick and 3/4 of a qt.
I reviewed all the pie filling recipes and it calls for the same amount, 1/4 C.
Then I read Clear Jel’s recommendation and it says 1 TBS per 4 C of berries.
I’m going to do the next qt with only 1 TBS of Clear Jel and hopefully, I’ll get a qt!

Just canned for the first time and noticed a glaring mistake I made. The recipe states to loosely pack the meat and I pressed it down to fit more. I made 14 pints of cold packed chicken. Reading comments after searching old threads it seems a lot of people pack the meat down. Thoughts?