Where did you get the recipe and what does it say about processing?

Melissa

Store bought pectin comes in one one size box, no matter what brand, except Pomona. A pressure cooker should NEVER be used to do ANY home canning! Not only does it not get to the proper temps and necessary higher pressure, but also has a very limited interior capacity. With 3 cups of vinegar and 8 cups sugar, you should be fine even if it was done as a boiling water bath (with lid on). You could add citric acid along with the vinegar, and that would require about a half teaspoon per quart. A pressure CANNER, like Presto 23 quart is just $72 right now on Amazon. See the recent links in these threads.

Melissa...that recipe is available on several boards on the net...including gardenweb. It says to pressure can at #11 for 15 minutes. I'm trying to figure out if it is necessary.

ksrogers.... I mis-spoke when I said pressure cooker (should have wrote "pressure canner" ...although they are pretty much the same thing. Thank you for the info. I have an old school Mirro Matic pressure canner, but the seal seems to be a bit worn out so I'm not going to chance it.

If the recipe says 11# for 15 minutes, then yes, you must follow the instructions and they are telling you the product needs to be processed at 240F for a specified amount of time. But if you made it on Saturday, I'm wondering why you waited to process...

My Mirro 22qt canner is 37 years old and still going strong. I couldn't blow my head off even on purpose with it, it has a pressure relief valve that would go first. If you are concerned about the valve, you can buy and insert a new one. Is it just the ring that concerns you - Sealing rings are replaceable and usually readily available. If the ring is worn out (hard, stiff or shiny, stretched), it wouldn't cause too much pressure, it would be the opposite - it wouldn't seal, reach the desired pressure.

And just to be clear, you may pressure cook food in a pressure canner, but you cannot can food safely in a pressure cooker.

Yes, Pressure cookers and canners are VERY different. The canner can handle higher pressures and more heat, as well as be much larger in physcal size. The Mirro may have a replacement gasket avaiable from the source below. Most pressure canners use gaskets other than the All American models which offer gasketless metal to metal seals. As previously mentioned, you can do a BWB canning on this, and it should be just fine. The amount of vinegar used as well as sugar are sufficient enough to increase acidity, as will tomatos help. For onions, you can also use dried chopped instead, and that will not affect or dilute the acid level.

Here is a link that might be useful: MIrro gaskets

>cooked up a batch of pepper and onion relish yesterday and was getting ready to pressure can it todayIt has always been my understanding from years of canning that the foods must be processed immediately. Hot out of the pot, hot into the jar, and then hot into the processor be that BWB or pressure canning. The food should never be allowed to return to room temperature between stages.

So even if you followed the recipe instructions, as is normally recommended, it is too late to safely process it now unless you start over from scratch.

imnewatthis, I agree with morz8, if the source says it must be pressure canned, I would not feel safe to BWB it.

Grandma, I agree that the product must be hot from pot to jar to canner, but I don't think that rule precludes refrigerating and then reheating thoroughly before canning. As long as normal food safety procedures are followed in between, I think most recipes can be safely canned the next day. I have taken a pot of Annie's salsa off the stove, refrigerated it overnight, and canned it the next day. This is standard for the French method of preserves, as the overnight rest allows the fruit to absorb syrup, which reduces floating when the preserves set. I believe canning can be delayed for most any recipe that uses a hot pack, though I would not do it for jams with added pectin. Linda Lou may know better than I do though.

At this point imnewatthis, I would freeze the relish and buy a new sealing ring for the next batch. Or, since it has only been 48 hours, if the relish was refrigerated immediately after cooking, I would feel ok with freezing it now, then pressure canning it when the sealing ring arrives. I would heat it to a full boil and boil for 5-10 minutes, making sure that the entire thing is boiling, since thick products tend to bubble before they're heated through.

Melissa

Thank you for all the replies folks. They are very helpful.

To answer some of the questions asked... I waited to can because I was unable to find the jiggler for the pressure canner and it took a day to locate one from a friend's grandmother. Also, I was hesitant to use the MirroMatic because of some apparent leakage that showed up around the pressure relief valve when I tested it (there was some visible bubbling that showed up as it started to pressurize). I had planned to refrigerate overnight and bring to a boil the next day prior to canning.

I decided to just trash this first attempt as it was not what I was looking for anyway. I will try a variation again soon. FYI - you need to add more jalapenos if you want it to be closer to the H&D's recipe (4-6 should suffice).

Thanks again!

I'm glad you resolved this in a way you're happy. I HATE to look for something missing - I store timer, tongs/jar lifter, weights, recipe notes, wide mouth jar funnel in my canner, covering with the lid (upside down so not resting on the gasket). Everything I need in one place container, container being the canner itself.

FYI - my pressure relief valve bubbles a bit, hisses a little as the canner is coming to pressure too - it's not a problem, it settles down and stops bubbling as pressure is reached. Replacements aren't expensive and I bought one to be on the 'safe' side....the new one does the same thing - bubbles a little first canner load, then is fine once processing has started.

Thanks for the info on the relief valve. I just started thinking about this poor little girl that was in one of my elementary school classes many years ago...her face was very scarred from having had a pressure cooker explode in her mother's kitchen. I may just run it through another test to be safe...while standing far away. :)

There are a lot of old stories and even more 3rd hand urban myths out there about pressure cooker explosions. Most resulted from improper care of or use by the person using them.

Unfortunately, those stories cause many today to refuse to even consider using one despite all the testing that has been done and the fact that there really is no comparison between the pressure cookers of 30 years ago and the ones made today. And yes, I also have one that is 35 years old and still in use today. ;)

When they are used and cared for properly the fears are ungrounded and the millions of us who have been using them for more years than we care to admit are proof of that. ;)

Dave

I've witnessed a pressure cooker explosion of sorts, too, though luckily nobody was hurt. A friend was trying to hasten the making of daal by using a pressure cooker and it ended up with a shooting volcano stream of lentil lava that hit the ceiling. Scared the bejeebers out of us but once we realized nobody was hurt we couldn't stop laughing for a while--seemed like a scene out of a movie.

I don't know if the friend was using the pressure cooker corectly or not --- I have never used one and was just an observer and chopper of onions.

imnewatthis, yeah, as others have said, if the recipe came with instructions to pressure can, then it's best to do that --- there's no way to just convert a pressure canner recipe to a BWB by guessing, say, how much extra lemon juice to add.

If you liked what you made I could suggest freezing it, but it sounds like you're going to hold out for something more zingy!

Keep us posted on your canning adventures.

I don't pressure can myself, as I said, but there are lots of wise, experienced folk here who can help you check out your canner, do any needed maintenance, and get into business --- or recommend a new one if you actually need it.

Always lovely to meet a new canner. Good luck!

Zabby