? about processing jam

[blurose]

I did a recipe of apicot jam the other day that called for only 50% of the normal amount of sugar. It didn't require or even suggest processing in the waterbath canner. Today I did a batch of no-sugar strawberry jam and it called for being processed in the canner for 10 minutes. However, my question is concerning the fact that while I was filling my other jars, and before I could start the processing of the jars, the first jars I filled sealed the lids with a "pop." I processed them anyways, because I figured there wasn't sugar in them to keep them fresh without it, but was it really necessary to process an already sealed jar of jam. I mean, did it do any good is what I want to know? Does the processing method allow the already sealed jars to vent out anything its supposed to?

 

[blurose]

I forgot to say that I did NOT remove the already sealed lids before processing in the canner.

 

[coopy]

I know the books say to process them in a water bath. I did this one time and my jelly was runny. So I don't do it anymore. The way I do it is to turn the hot jars upside down and let them set for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then I flip them back over and they seal. Have done it that way for years with no problem.

 

[Dace]

Coopy, are you saying that you do not process them at all in any type of canner (pressure or hot water)?

 

[Nubsmum]

I have done them both ways(inversion and water bath) I have had jars go ahead and seal but I water bath them anyway. I think one of the reasons for the water bath is so that if you have any bacteria in your jar, it will be killed. Even though you can get them to seal by inversion. I am on the fence with this one but decided to water bath all my latest jam as I was using spenda and had not used it before. I guess it goes back to better safe than sorry but if something works for you-why not keep doing it? Recipes with lower sugar added may be more apt to spoil as real sugar helps in the preservation.

:rainbow-sun

 

[nccountrygirl]

I always water bath all my jams and jellies to kill any bacteria that might be in the jars.

 

[patandchickens]

The biggest reason for processing the jars isn't to get them to seal - it's to sterilize the airspace and whatever mold/bacteria spores float down onto your jam as you're pouring it in (or into your presterilized jars before you fill them). The abovementioned methods do not do anything about that sort of contamination.

Thus it is prolly smart to process them to reduce your rate of spoiled jars and improve safety. Of course it is a free country and you can do what you want, especially since this is pretty unlikely to avoid REALLY unpleasant surprises like botulism.

(The other, older way of removing contaminated airspace etc was to use liquid paraffin poured atop the jam, which killed spores reasonably well BUT the seal was never 100% reliable and between "reasonably" and "never 100% reliable seal" you got a certain nontrivial number of failures. Plus the mess often involved in trying to pry the wax off when you wanted to use the jam, lemme tell ya I have never *heard* of spoilage that is not overtly dectable *in jellies/jams/preserves in particular* (b/c their sugar content is too high for botulism), but I would not go so far as to assume it can't happen; and even if you just notice the spoilage and chuck the jar it's an annoying waste. Whereas 10 minutes in the boiling water bath is pretty easy and IME it is basically 100% effective as long as your seals are good.

If a jam gets runny from processing, chances are pretty high that either you processed it too long (your water should come back to a boil within just a few minutes of putting the jars in, don't process the jars any longer than instructed) or your pectin content was already pretty marginal (prolonged heating breaks down pectin).

JME,

Pat

 

[Tutter]

Kind of like the paraffin method.

 

[blurose]

I personally don't like the paraffin method. But to be fair, I've only used it once. It was a dismal failure, and it was totally my own fault. I didn't know to put a "thin" layer of melted wax over the top of the jam, let it harden and then do another "thin" layer. I did one big fat layer and the jars that didn't mold underneath the wax were a bear to try to get the wax off the jam to actually eat it, and the first few servings of jam always had wax shavings in them. Also, I just don't like messing with trying to melt the wax without setting it afire on the stove. I just feel safer using the canner to process my jams and jellies.

 

[patandchickens]

I grew up with paraffined jars of strawberry preserves as my main source of lunchtime sugar. Those sort of slightly spherical, curved-inward-toward-the-top style of jelly jar that holds the paraffin more securely (fewer seal failures) but make it rather exciting to get the paraffin OFF when you want to open a new jar. You have to crack it into two or more pieces with a knife, then lever each piece out. Of course, when you press down with the knife to crack the wax layer and it suddenly gives way, the strawberry preserves can do exciting tidal or ballistic things as well.

Plus there were still seal failures, sometimes. Mom's dogma at the time was 'scrape the moldy bit off and eat the rest' but this is no longer recommended, as apparently some toxins can dissolve throughout the jam <shrug>

Also, having spilled boiling Campbells' cream of mushroom soup on my bare feet and legs during grad school, and still having scars from it twenty years later if you know where to look, I am not super keen on waving pots of melted paraffin around the kitchen. "Know thyself" and all

Still, it does kinda more or less work, although IMO not as *well* as waterbath processing.

Pat