I had that same experience last year and I kept thinking I was missing something important in my normal processes because it was at the beginning of the canning time. It was those cheap no name (Walmart/Target brand) lids. Threw the rest away. Some sealed but not all which is my usual experience. Only use the Ball lids now.
If there were a way to tell that the Tattler lids had sealed after canning I might consider them. Always listen for the seal to break when opening them but would also like to tell right after canning, after they’ve cooled too.
I only only ever used Ball till now. I’m going to use the Tattler lids for open jars and partially filled jars etc. I don’t like not having the pop when open lids. You can get a good seal with Tattler, but I don’t trust giving them away. People might not check it correctly.Plus I might not get them back! So today I bought extra ball lids.
I have had ball fail. If you buy the jars with lids on, the seal is somewhat compromised being on the jar for months and months. I wish they packed lids, not on the jars! I have had these lids fail. Two last year.
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Yeah, we used to buy those cheaper jars with the lids and rings already on them, and I think those were the ones that wouldn’t seal sometimes. I believe we got them at Dollar General or someplace similar. Out of idk, a couple hundred jars canned , we’ve only had maybe a handful not seal, so it’s not like it happens a lot. Sometimes if you fill the jars up too much before they go into the canner, that can cause some issues with sealing.
What I meant just to be clear, they failed, all sealed originally. I never had one not seal. I have had the seal go bad though, I guess, athough the lid went down, it was a bad seal. I thought they were good!
Some pics of the Maxine pears we picked from the orchard and canned this week. Think she picked about 11lb and we canned 4.5qt. Beautiful white, firm fruit
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Beeeeautiful.
I’ll PM my address so you can send me some. Those look fantastic!
Sure, I’ll send a couple jars along with some of the crabapples I just found!
Boy, the great offers you get on this forum!
Yesterday, since peach season is over for us, I had some extra time. Here’s nine quarts of salsa I canned.
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Looks great. Do you put any peach in yours? I have seen such salsa, but I’m not a fan of fruit in it.
Not me. I don’t see how fruit could improve it, but everyone’s tastes are different.
We got our recipe about 25 years ago from a friend who got it from her grandmother, etc.
The salsa is really addictive. It’s hot enough to make you sweat and little, but not so hot to burn your mouth so you can’t taste anything. The closest thing I’ve found to it is from a restaurant here called On the Border.
Their in house salsa is almost as good, but their canned salsa is pretty mediocre.
Believe it or not I just had some of our homemade salsa with some OTB tortilla chips. There aren’t any OTB restaurants up here, but they were everywhere back in Texas. Not really any real Tex Mex food up here period. I grew up on the stuff, went to El Chico just about once a week back in my younger days. Always got chicken fajitas.
I also like salsa hot, and chunky. Ours is just not hot enough, I’d classify it as mild. And we put about 2 dozen Jalapeño’s and a few Serrano’s in it, too. Guess we should add some more next time. My wife can’t tolerate much heat, so I guess this batch is fine with her.
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That can be fixed easily with chili powders. I like to add green jalapeno powder to up the heat. Of course I could turn it into molten lava with Carolina Reaper. I have to see if it’s even usable! Right now I just have dried half peppers, I didn’t grind yet.I’m starting to store dried peppers whole or cut in half. You don’t have to dry them completely, and they retain more flavor. You can finish drying when needed and grind to powder.
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Looks good, what are those items in the top picture on the right? Are they apples, too? Those whole pickles look good as well. Is all this stuff you’ve grown yoursef?
I don’t think I’ve seen so much canned food in a frig. Most our stuff is down in the cellar, although it’s not been that cool in it this summer. But it should be OK. Do you have a cellar?
On the top right is marinated sweet pepper - baked skinless pepper in oil, vinegar, basil, garlic marinade.
I wish I have a cellar - my house is built on top of the filled steep hill. When they filled it, they brought huge rocks(I mean huge, some like 5X4X3 feet), so there is no way to dig down. Most of my beds are raised due to luck of good soil. But I really want to keep my preserves cool, the cooler it is the less risk. So we designated one bedroom to be “pantry/greenhouse” room. It is the room I start my vegetables in late winter and also a place for designated freezer and fridge.
Yes, I grow all the veggies myself, some (mushrooms, wild blueberries) I pick in the woods(not this year though, it is terribly dry summer, have no much hope for fall as well.) I am far away of assumption that it is cheaper to grow your own food, when you add all the cost, it may be same or a bit more expensive than to buy it on farmers market. But it is sure much more fun to do it yourself.
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OK, sounds convenient to have a room to keep all the food in. I would like to have something like that, but we live in a small house, and room for us is at a premium.
Thankfully we have the cellar down by the old house, which isn’t like a typical one, it is mostly above ground. But it is very well insulated, and keeps our food somewhat cool in the summer, and a bit warmer than the outside air in the winter. During the cold months, it is about 20° warmer in the cellar than outside. But, if it gets below, say 15° outside, we turn on the heat lamp to keep things from freezing.
The back side of the cellar is like a shed, where they’ve kept firewood for years. We recently filled it up with some wood for the wood stove we’re going to put in the old house. We need a back up stove in case we lose power; the place we live in is all electric, including the stove.
I’ll post some pics of the cellar/woodshed soon. Mrs Dood was down there last week cleaning it out some, so we’ll have more room. It’s filling up with stuff, and we needed to make more space.
Yes, I agree it can be cheaper and less work in just buying the food than with growing and storing it, but there is a satisfaction of doing it yourself. Plus, you know exactly what you’re getting and what goes into those jars. But, we also stock up on canned products from the store, so we’re not averse to that.
I do use carrots from the store to make my eggplant and pepper preserves as I have root knot nematodes and growing root crop is a challenge. But this year somehow I was able to grow my own carrots in amount enough to serve my needs. May be weather was cooperating. I want to see you cellar. My neighbor has 200 yeas old barn with stone cellar they do not mind me to use as they do not use it. It has entrance from outside and conveniently located on the border of my property. I was considering using it for storage, but after short inspection decided not to do it. The building was neglected for many decades, beams are prolapsed, there is some termite damage, it has no door and is a home for rodents. To use it I will have to put thousands in just making it safe, otherwise it is just question of time when it will collapse. I am lucky I have spare bedroom - my kids have grown up and left to their own adventures already.