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gardengrl_gw

O.k., 'splain something to me!

gardengrl
17 years ago

Does it HAVE to be exactly within 24 hours to reprocess something that didn't seal if you place it in the refrigerator? For example, I made some cranapple spice relish on Wednesday night; one jar didn't seal, so I put it in the refrigerator when it was cool enough to handle. I'm going to make more today; can I take that leftover amount and dump it in with what I'm processing today? Does the 24 hour rule only apply to jars that didn't seal and were not placed in the 'frige?

O.k., here's another thing: Sometimes I'm a little impatient and I "check" to see if my jars have sealed before they are completely cooled off. I'll take one of my fingers and lightly touch the top of the lids as they are cooling to verify if they have sealed (it's often hard to tell just by sight). Once in a while, if I touch the top of a lid, it will "PING" (seal) just from my light touch. The jars are still cooling, but once in a while I have a jar that's taking its sweet time.

My question is: Do I "make" jars like that seal, or was it just a matter of time before it "pinged" on its own? In other words, did I force it to seal? I have a jar that did that the other night and it is still sealed, but I wonder if it was an "authentic" seal, or did I force it when I lightly touched the top. Is the food inside safe? Am I being paranoid?

I've been canning for a little while now, but still have an oddball question here and there! :-)

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