Although I am an experienced canner, I am no stranger to failure. My penchant for experimentation gets me into trouble sometimes, other times it has delightful results. Yesterday was one of the times that things didn’t go according to hopes.
The first batch of canned Northern Spy Apples was successful, but for the packaging that was mistakenly left inside the canning lid during the canning session. The resulting canned apples were delicious, almost perfect, but there was some concern that they were shelf safe, so into the refrigerator they went. The first jar was opened and tasted wonderful!
Yesterday another 26 Northern Spy apples were peeled, cored, and diced. That was a big job. Then one teaspoon of sugar was added to each canning jar, the apples ladled into the jars, topped up with the water they had boiled in. Rims were checked, lids were placed on the jars, and the rings were screwed on the to the new very light “finger tight” that I had seen in a video. My usual finger tight is much tighter than this, so this was the first time I tried this new method of finger tightening in the pressure canner. The jars were pressure canned at 10 psi for 8 minutes.
The jars were removed from the canner when the pressure had fallen to zero. There was a surprise in store. The liquid in the jars had leaked out, about half of it from each jar. The jars were sticky, so the sugar must have dissolved so that it was a sugar syrup that escaped from the jars. All of the jars were sealed.
I am suspicious that the leaking liquid was a result of the lightly finger tightened rings. I will try this again sometime, but jars headed for the pressure canner will be finger tightened more securely. The lightly finger tightened rings are fine for the steam canner, but not for the pressure canner.
I had a half a jar of these apples for breakfast, with fresh-baked biscuits. Oh my they were good! Not very sweet, but not tart either. An apple a day is what they say!
I tired myself out yesterday, preparing all those apples for canning. Today is a day to take it easy, paying bills, putting away canning equipment, reading, and anything else that takes my fancy. And I think I’ll just have myself another one of the biscuits!
Worldly
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7°C
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Dew point: 4.8°C
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Wind: ENE 7 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
1850 – 1919
Maggie, do you and A eat all this food yourself? You might consider selling apple pies, juice etc. to a local bakery/food shop. But you probably have thought of that already.
SP! We do eat it ourselves! We cook everything from scratch, and most of what I can and freeze is ingredients. I have thought about baking but get bogged down with all the rules and regulations, takes the joy out of it, and since I have no choice but to cook and bake every single thing I put in my mouth, I don’t want to overwhelm myself. Right now cooking and baking everything from scratch is tiring at times, but not daunting.
Mind you, I suspect that the three dozen jars of canned tomatoes are going to last long past our winter needs, but luckily it is in jars and will last at peak for years, as long as it is stored properly.
SP, I live with a person who eats two lunches, two suppers, and a late night full meal. He eats easily four times what I do, probably five times what I do, in a day. If it was just me, this food would last years instead of months, 🙂
I also suspect the light finger tightening to be your culprit. I’m thinking the rubber seals on the lids would have too much give and the pressure of the syrup boiling forced the syrup out. I think maybe you’re lucky the jars sealed. You may find the seals very sugary over time.
But at least they’re tasty!
Teri, yes I think that is what happened. I too suspect the seals, so we I will be checking on them with great frequency! And oh my they are tasty! Northern Spy apples are my favourite!
Today I ate my first apple from a grocery store after finishing up all the ones we were given or gleaned. The store bought apple was mushy and tasteless. Next year I will make sure we get a lot more. The only problem is is storing them.
Mmm … biscuits … I might just make up a batch for supper tonight. So far planning a meatball stew; our local paper’s cooking columnist shares some wonderful recipes and I try quite a few, this being one. -Kate
Birdie, sounds like the store was selling last year’s apples! Lucky you, apples gifted and gleaned, wonderful! Storage is the issue, canning means no electricity used, but freezing is way easier, and faster.
Kate, biscuits! I love them, had them with some berry jam this morning. They would be pretty good with a stew! My recipes comes from my Granny, who used the Five Roses Flour Cookbook of her day, 30s and 40s.
Lol! American childhood memories clashing with Canadian adult discussions. You say Five Roses, my childhood memory went “Whiskey!” Four Roses is a whiskey in the US. Hey, I only missed by one rose! 😀
Funny Teri! One rose of separation. I didn’t know Four Roses was a whiskey, 🙂