>> Is there a difference in jar shapes/sizes for standard mouth pints or different brands?

There are different shapes. Some have a square cross-section, some a round one, etc.

> Do you still use the same 3 inches of water if you do a double layer/tier/stack of jars? I'll use the bottom rack from the older canner to do 2 tiers.

Sorry, don't know about this one --- I only do BWB.

>> If using new jars, can I put them in the oven at 200-225 degrees until filling time, and if so, dry? I think I'd lose a lot of time if I had them partially filled with water (so they don't float) in the canner heating up, then having to empty the water from them 1 by 1 and fill them, then reinsert into the canner.

I do this. At about 200. I take 'em out six or eight at a time to fill. Works fine.

> When doing large batches, say enough for 16-20 pints, my stove space is somewhat limited, plus only 2 burners work. Do I have to juggle pots to bring the salsa up to a boil in smaller batches, or use a larger pot that can hold all the salsa, but have the pressure canner slightly offset on the other burner warming up the water? Or can I try heating some or all of the salsa in a tin roasting pan in the oven at say 225 degrees, then bring it out to fill the jars? And can I fill the jars and then put them in the oven to stay hot until all the jars are ready to go into the canner?

I think any of those ideas would work. My last stove was down two burners so I know how you feel! What I usually did was your second suggestion --- I wd start with the salsa on the best burner and the canner on the other one, warming up. Jars in the oven. As the jars were filled, I'd put 'em into the canner (though you could put 'em back i the oven) (it is OK if not ever jar stays at boiling ever second of the time. They should stay hot and you should work reasonably quickly). THEN when all were filled, I would remove the salsa pot, and put the canner on the good burner where it would take a minute or two to get up to boiling from the "pretty warm" it had been.

This moving of the full canner was interesting with a BWB --- shd be easier with your pressure canner having less water! And easier if the jars are staying hot in the oven instead.

SOmetimes I would take the salsa pot off the good burner sooner --- EITHER put it on a trivet, and scoop out of it not on the burner, leaving the lid on it whenever not actually scooping so it stayed hot, OR sometimes trade burners, so the canner could be on the good burner getting to boiling while the salsa was on the OK one staying pretty hot while I scooped it out.

Note another good trick that someone here suggested was that I put a big cutting board with a tea towel on it on top of one of the non-working burners so that it became a work space (for filling jars, or lining up unfilled jars, etc.) right near the canner.

OH, and remember your lids have to heated up too (NOT boiling). You can do this in a small pot of water in the oven too. (I have done it in the toaster oven.)

>> I'm trying to do a double batch of [Heirloom] Annie's Salsa--I may try it with the Ball's Hot Chipotle mix packet on all or half.

Mark, if you're using a mix, it may be a fine product, but ain't Annie's salsa!

Zabby

Mark,
It depends of the shape of the jar. The ball, Golden Harvest and the Kerr all are somewhat square. I can get only 9 of these in my canner but I also have Atlas strong shoulder Masons that are totally round and are 1/2 inch taller than the others mentioned and a fraction smaller in circumference. I can get 10 of these jars in my canner. It's frustrating when you have 8 jars around the bottom and all this room in the middle and only one jar will fit.

I have noticed the same thing here. It appears that the Golden Harvest jars are very slightly larger, probably due to older glass molds that have expanded due to many years of wear and tear. I think the Golden Harvest jars, even though made by Ball, are using machinery that was originally Ball, and are now used to make the Golden Harvest ones. I used to be able to place 7 quart regular mouth jars in my canner and put on the domed lid, but now, they are just too big for the snug fitting cover. Luckily, the threads are the same, but the outer diameters are a bit bigger. Also, they are not round sided, but tend to be more square with rounded corners. If you rotate the jars, they may fit a bit better if the flat sides are butted against each other. Tis is very difficult to do, as they canners are typically round, so you would not be able to move then=m closer together. Even if each jar was only 1/8 inch larger in diameter, it could affect the overall size of the circled group. I still have a few cases of Ball jars, and these fit well in my canner, but even if I use a couple of the GH jars in a Ball batch, the jars are just too tight in the canner.

Ken
You can't put the flat sides of the jars next to each other. They must be placed corner to corner or how else can you get them into the round kettle.

Mark,
Be sure you try the Hot Chipotle mix first. Add a little to a small amount of tomatoes/salsa.
I didn't like it. JMO, but I sure wouldn't want to ruin a whole batch.
But, hey, I'm a big "Annie's" Fan!! I like it the way it is. (grin)
Deanna

Shirley, Yes, I know, but I just tried to line up as many as I could so the rounded corners wouldnt touch each other, which would make them a larger circle. Obviously they are flat sided and these cant fit a round pot, but if you rotate them a little so each has some of its flat sides close to each other, the overall size can be a slight smaller. Even for that, the Golden Harvest quart jars were not going to fit into my canner, so I had to use only 6 jars with none in the middle.

Different brands of jars are different sizes. You still use 2-3 inches of water in the pressure canner, even with 2 layers. The only difference would be with fish or seafood, and the directions should tell you how much water to use, in that case. It is best to use a rack between layers, but if you don't have one, then be sure to stagger the jars, not put one directly on top of the other. I know you said you had a rack to use, though.
The salsa needs to be boiling temp. when you put into the jars. Really, we should fill one jar, seal with the lid, then sit it into the canner to keep it hot while filling the rest of the jars.
You can put the empty jars in the oven, with some water in the bottom of a pan and some water in the jars ( so they don't fall over) until you fill them. I keep mine in the dishwasher.

Thanks for all replies! Long post with specific methods & ingredients below!

OK, what I did was stick 13 jars on a cookie sheet in the oven at around 200-225. Then, I had the canner heating up and 3 jars in it with some water so they don't float. When simmering, I took the 3 out of the canner and dumped the water into a bowl for the lids--I already microwaved some water for 4 minutes then added the lids & added to it the water from the 3 jars to keep the lids hot.

Then I filled the 3 jars, put lids & bands on, and put them into the simmering canner. Then took 2-3 more at a time from the oven and repeated until all were filled and in the canner.

I understood what Ken was saying about the flat sides against each other, as well as Shirley's reply--if flat sides touched, they wouldn't curve. But I realized he meant all the flat sides facing each other, as opposed to the corners facing each other or mixed directions. I tried many different ways, thinking it was like a jigsaw puzzle and only 1 way to fit 10, but obviously newer jars only can fit 9, which is a little stupid for fairly new canners! Don't know who to blame--the canner mfr or the jar mfr. How many current pint jars fit in a Mirro brand?

Zabby, Annie's Salsa was the thing I made more than anything else this year--I think 41 pints + leftovers (as opposed to 4 quarts of spaghetti sauce as an example, though still have a gallon of tomato puree frozen to use for something.) I used to go thru maybe 1-2 jars of Chi-Chi's salsa per YEAR, but Annie's is so good that I go through a pint per SITTING!

I know it's subject to modification, like with the # of jalapenos, ratio of onions to peppers, etc. I have made maybe 5 batches and all came out great and I wouldn't say any 2 were identical! Some I used different types of peppers to get different heat levels, and some I used just the paste and no sauce. All turned out great.

This last batch had (for a double batch) about 5 cups mix of Red Bull & Ailsa Craig white onions, about 3 cups total of an Orange Bell, a red-ripe Big Bertha huge sweet bell, 2-3 red-ripe Joe E. Parker NuMex peppers, 1 red Big Jim NuMex, 1-2 brown Eclipse NuMex, 4 red Jumbo Jals, 3 red Primavera lo-heat jals, and 2 Yellow Peru hot peppers. For the black pepper, I doubled it for the double batch, less about a teaspoon, then ground up a dried jalapeno & a dried Boldog Hungarian Spice pepper in a cheap coffee bean grinder from ebay.

For a double batch, I doubled the cumin. Half cup canning salt instead of 2/3c. I used 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar and a half cup sugar--I started with a quarter but then figured after the vinegar & chipotle I added another quarter almost. For the paste & sauce, I used 30oz of paste but no sauce, but 24oz of diced tomatoes & it's juices from 1. I only had about 1/4 cup of cilantro left after chopping just the leaves, probably could have used more if I had more, though I can't stand the smell or taste of it alone.

I think I realize now that my yield is always less than I expect (even after draining the heirloom tomatoes many times before measuring) because I start heating the salsa mixture before I have the jars and canner ready. I used almost a gallon of chopped tomatoes, plus added 1 drained can of diced tomatoes and 1 16oz can of diced tomatoes with the juice. I think the heating breaks down the diced tomatoes and the water evaporates, thus leaving less.

I must be cooking it too long... I ended up with twelve full pints instead of 16, and maybe less than a half cup left in the pot--though the ingredients add up to over 8.5 quarts I think. Next time I'll reverse the procedure and heat the mix up after the canner & jars are ready. I had extra jars ready that I didn't need.

As for the Ball Hot Chipotle seasoning, it smelled great when I opened up the packet, but I think a packet only makes like 4 pints or so, so it probably got diluted in a double batch, though it did taste great before I poured it into the jars, but can't say if that was from the Ball seasoning or my pepper assortment & fresh ground chile powder.

Mark

Sorry I was busy typing my last post out & didn't know Ken & Linda Lou replied.

I used about 3'' of water. When the canner had 9 pints, the water was pretty high on the jars.

For the top layer, I used the bottom rack from my 17qt Presto that Hilde bought, she didn't pick it up yet!

Don't have a dishwasher. Matter of fact, I barely have a dish washer...

Mark

Mark,

Sounds like a successful adventure!

That was a smart idea using the heated water from a few jars to keep the lids warm. I think I'll try it.

And of course Annie's Salsa is modifiable. I was teasing at the thought of using a (gasp) mix instead of actual ingredients. But I know you are a man who grows and appreciates The Real Thing and of course there's nothing wrong with trying a packaged mix for some of the spices for a batch or two....

BTW, I have been able to fill jars much faster since I acquired an 8-cup plastic measuring bowl thing (the size of a small mixing bowl but shaped like a large measuring cup and graduated up the side and with a pour spout). I can scoop out nearly 2 quarts of salsa, etc. with it and fill 4 pint jars lickety-split, then I wipe, put on four caps, then four rings.

We sure go through a lot more salsa since I started making Annie's, too!

Z

Golden Harvest jars are half liter and liter not pint and quart. Half liter equals 16.9 ounces, a pint is only 16.

Yup, just verified that. The GH jars are 1 liter and .5 liter, which is just a slight over the pint and quarts we usually see. Going metric in the US, still is slow to get into everything..

The 1 liter jars being slightly larger than 1 quart, does this affect the processing times? I am especially wondering about pressure canner times, where food safety may be an issue.

That fraction of difference will not matter one iota in safety of the product when pressure canning or HWBing.