by Karen Ward
Jars with Cloudy Liquid
Cloudy liquid occurs from using water with lots of minerals, salt containing additives, or ground spices. Remedy these problems by using soft water, pure salt (like canning and pickling salt), and whole spices.
If you used the right kind of water, salt, and spices and your jar's liquid is still cloudy, you probably have spoiled food. Dispose of it without tasting it.
Dark Spots on Your Jar's Lid
Occasionally, naturally occurring compounds (like acids and salts) in some food cause a brown or black deposit, along with some corrosion, on the inside of the lid. This deposit is harmless and doesn't spoil your food. You can go ahead and eat the food, and, because you dispose of the lids anyway, the spots won't matter in the future.
Jelly with the Wrong Consistency
Although you can still safely eat a batch of jelly that didn't set up or is too stiff, you obviously want to avoid the same problems in the future.
If your jelly is soft, runny, or syrupy
The proportions of sugar, acid, and juice may not be correct. Accurately measure your ingredients.
Work with smaller amounts of juice, no more than 4 to 6 cups at one time. Working with larger amounts of juice won't allow the juice to heat fast enough to reach its gel point, which can result in runny jelly.
Store your sealed jars in a cool, dark place with a temperature between 50 and 70 degrees. Jelly may break down (become runny) in less-than-ideal storage conditions.
Stiff jelly, on the other hand, results from using too little sugar or cooking the jelly too long before it reaches the gel point. When your recipe doesn't call for adding pectin, your proportion guideline for sugar and juice (for most fruit) is 3/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of fruit juice.
Cloudy Jelly or Jelly with Bubbles
There's no solution for fixing cloudy jelly, but rest assured, it's safe to use. Poor straining is the most common cause of cloudy jelly. In the future, carefully strain your fruit through a damp jelly bag (or cheesecloth). This keeps pulp out of the juice. Don't squeeze the jelly bag; let it drain slowly by gravity.
Another likely cause is overcooking. Overcooking fruit breaks down fruit pulp, and broken pulp is small enough to pass through your strainer. Be sure to cook your fruit just until it's tender.
And finally, don't allow your jelly to cool before filling your jars.
Although cloudy jelly isn't anything to worry about, moving bubbles (bubbles that actually move through the product) in jelly indicates spoilage. This occurs when living microorganisms in the jar break the vacuum seal during storage. Discard your food without tasting it. Review the step-by-step instructions for preparing your food, readying and filling your jars, and processing your food. (Note: It's not uncommon to see a few small air bubbles lodged in a thick jam or butter. It's the moving bubbles you need to be concerned about.)
Moldy Jelly
Mold on your jelly indicates an improper or a broken seal. Don't use or taste the jelly — just throw it out (see Chapter 9 for disposing of spoiled food). To avoid this problem in the future, always clean your jar rims, allow the proper headspace, and process your jars for the correct amount of time.
Jelly with Very Little Fruit Flavor
Jelly with weak flavor results from using fruit that's not ripe or fruit that's been stored too long after being picked. You can't add flavor to your jelly, but the next time, use tree-ripened fruit; store your sealed jars in a cool, dark, dry location; and consume your jelly within one year.
Glasslike Particles in Your Jelly
As long as your jar didn't break, you can safely use your jelly. What you're seeing isn't actually glass but undissolved sugar. Slow cooking evaporates liquid and allows particles to form in the jelly. Quickly heat the jelly to its gel point; then ladle, don't pour, your jelly from the pot into the jars. Pouring transfers any undissolved sugar crystals from the inside edge of the pot into your jars.
Hollow, Shriveled, Discolored, or Slippery Pickles
Occasionally, pickling cucumbers develop hollow interiors as they grow or if they wait too long between harvesting and pickling. You can't fix hollow pickles, but you can identify them because they float when they're put in a sink of water. (Don't throw out the hollow pickles; use them for making relish.)
If your pickles are shriveled, too much salt, sugar, or vinegar was added at once to the cucumbers. Start with a weaker solution and gradually add the full amount of ingredients called for in your recipe.
Discolored pickles may be from using hard water with minerals in it. Use soft water for your brine solution as well as for the liquid for filling your jars. Reactive metals like brass, iron, copper, aluminum, or zinc in pots and utensils cause darkening as well. Use nonreactive equipment such as enamelware with no chips or cracks, glass, stainless steel, or stoneware. Finally, your pickles may have absorbed ground spices. Prevent this by using whole spices rather than ground ones. These problems don't indicate spoilage, but your pickle flavor may be altered slightly.
Mushy or slippery pickles indicate spoilage. Discard the pickles without tasting them. Prevent these problems by accurately measuring your salt, using a vinegar with 5 percent acidity, and completely covering your pickles with liquid during the brining process and in your filled jars.
Remove the scum from your brining solution daily, use a modern-day recipe, follow your recipe to the letter, and use a heating period long enough to destroy any microorganisms.
White Sediment at the Bottom of the Pickle Jar
Soft pickles in a jar with white sediment indicate spoilage. Don't taste these; simply discard them. But, if the pickles are firm, they're safe to eat. The sediment is a harmless lactic acid or yeast that develops in the jar and settles to the bottom.
Food That Floats in the Jar
Fruit weighs less than the syrup you pack it in. If your fruit isn't packed snuggly, it'll float to the surface. Use ripe, firm fruit, and pack it tightly — but don't crush it. Fill your jars with a light to medium syrup. You can't sink floating fruit, but with practice, you can improve your packing skills.
Raw-packed vegetables shrink during processing. This doesn't indicate food spoilage. Reduce shrinkage by packing your vegetables tightly or blanching or precooking them prior to packing them in the jars. Floating food is still fine to eat, however.
Food with an Off Color
Fruit near the top of the jar may darken if it's not covered with liquid. This doesn't indicate food spoilage. Completely cover your fruit with liquid using the correct headspace for the fruit and the liquid. Too much headspace seals excess air in the jar. Trapped air bubbles change the liquid level in sealed jars when they're released during processing. Next time, leave the correct headspace and release any trapped air bubbles in the jar before sealing it.
If your fruit darkens after removing it from the jar, active enzymes may be to blame. You can still eat the fruit because it's in a sterile environment until you open the jar. But to avoid this problem in the future, make sure you process your filled jars for the required length of time stated in your recipe to inactivate these enzymes. Start counting your processing time when the water in your kettle reaches a full, rolling boil, with your jars covered by 1 to 2 inches of water.
You may notice your apples, pears, or peaches turning color during processing. Heat causes chemical changes in fruit that may alter the color of the food. Don't be surprised if these fruits turn pink, blue, red, or purple — there's no way to avoid it. So just sit back, admire the colors, and enjoy your food.
Fruits and vegetables turn dark when the natural chemical substances in food (such as acids, tannins, or sulfur compounds) react with minerals in the water. Food making direct contact with reactive utensils (utensils made from brass, copper, iron, aluminum, zinc, or chipped enamelware) experiences a color change. Prevent this by using soft water and nonreactive equipment, like stainless steel, glass, or enamelware with no chips or cracks.
Heating green vegetables breaks down chloroph
yll, the green coloring in plant materials. If your green vegetables lose their bright-green color, you can't do anything about it. You have to expose your canned food to heat to produce a safe vacuum seal.
Green vegetables can turn brown if they're overcooked before they're heated again during processing. Accurately monitor your precooking time.
Chapter 22: Ten (Plus) Sources for Canning and Preserving Supplies and Equipment
In This Chapter
Locating suppliers for canning and preserving gear
Discovering suppliers of seeds and spices for the home-canner
In this chapter are places where you can find anything and everything you need for canning and preserving without leaving the comfort of your home. The best part? When you shop by catalog or online, you never have to worry about finding a parking place or getting to the store before it closes!
Alltrista Consumer Products Co.
From the Alltrista Consumer Products Co., the canning jar company that makes Ball canning jars, you can find a great newsletter, canning basics, and plenty of recipes. Alltrista also sells containers for freezing that make great storage for dried foods as well.
14611 West Commerce Road
P.O. Box 529
Daleville, IN 47334
Phone: 800-240-3340
Web site: www.homecanning.com
HomeandBeyond.com
Home and Beyond offers all sorts of supplies for all sorts of food-preservation methods. You can find canning supplies (enter "canning" in the search box), food sealers, kitchen supplies, and much more. The product line is incredibly thorough and the prices are competitive.
61 Executive Avenue
Edison, NJ 08817
Phone: 866-961-3360
Web site: www.homeandbeyond.com
Cooking.com
Go to Cooking.com for all your kitchen needs. The site offers out-of-the-ordinary canning jars for special gift-giving, pressure canners, and just about anything you can think of for your food-preservation needs. To find what you need, type what you're looking for in the product search bar at the top of the page.
4086 Del Rey Avenue
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 800-663-8810 or 310-450-3270
Web site: www.cooking.com
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Whether you have a garden or are new to gardening, Baker Creek is a fantastic place to find the perfect seeds for your garden. One way to really make a bright and cheerful-looking jar of veggies is to can some of the brightly colored varieties the company offers. The customer service is impeccable and the catalog is gorgeous.
2278 Baker Creek Road
Mansfield, MO 65704
Phone: 417-924-8917
Web site: www.rareseeds.com
Your local extension office
Your local extension office is the place to go to have your canner's safety checked, find new recipes and techniques, and locate the best produce for canning in your area. So how do you find your local extension office? Through the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Office:
1400 Independence Avenue SW., Stop 2201
Washington, D.C. 20250-2201
Phone: 202-720-4423
Web site: www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension
KitchenKrafts.com
Get ready to be amazed! Kitchen Krafts is a specialty canning store with just about anything you can think of and plenty more than you'll want to have. Fast service and super-helpful customer service make this the place to browse for all the canning supplies you'll ever need. Order a free catalog and take your time making out your wish list.
Phone: 800-776-0575 Web site: www.kitchenkrafts.com
CanningUSA.com
A huge resource for canning preserving foods, CanningUSA.com is a store that teaches as well as sells everything for canning. If you are very visual, check out the video sections to see just how to can almost anything. CanningUSA's prices are often less expensive than many other canning supply stores, making this a must-have link. Don't let the name fool you, CanningUSA also offers a UK shopping site.
Web site: www.canningusa.com
Excalibur Products
Excalibur Products specializes in dehydrators. I (Amy) have used my Excalibur dehydrator for many years, all year around, and it's never failed me. The company offers units for home and commercial use, recipes and information for every need, and also a great newsletter for keeping updated with the newest techniques and tips for dehydrating.
6083 Power Inn Road
Sacramento, CA 95824
Phone: 800-875-4254
Web site: www.excaliburdehydrator.com/
Mountain Rose Herbs
Mountain Rose Herbs carries an extensive line of high-quality spices, herbs, and seasonings. The company offers pickling spices as well as every herb you can imagine for cooking and tea-making. Don't forget to sign up for its newsletter.
PO Box 50220
Eugene, OR 97405
Phone: 800-879-3337
Web site: www.mountainroseherbs.com
Pressure Cooker Outlet
Full of canning and preserving supplies, the Pressure Cooker Outlet is a one-stop shop for buying those hard-to-find pieces that make preserving food easy. Because the company carries all brands of canning jars, if you have a canning jar favorite, go here.
1035 Sylvatus Highway
Hillsville, VA 24343, USA
Phone: 800-251-8824
Web site: www.pressurecooker-outlet.com
Tupperware Corporation
Tupperware is well known for its line of plastic containers and other supplies for your home and kitchen. The Tupperware line includes rigid containers designed for the cold temperatures of your freezer. Choose from a wide variety of shapes and sizes. I (Amy) collect vintage Tupperware for my everyday kitchen use. It's that durable.
Phone: 800-366-3800 (or check your phone book for a local number)
Web site: www.tupperware.com
Appendix:
Metric Conversion Guide:
Note: The recipes in this book were not developed or tested using metric measures. There may be some variation in quality when converting to metric units.