Wow, now I'll visit that site. Learn something new every day. Yes, Andie the Vinegar institute. LObbyists prolly. Here's how that works for those of you who are not familiar with agriculture and lobbies. Up until a few years ago, I had to keep track of all the perennial stock I produced, and under law I had to submit the dollar amount to the government. If it was over a certain amount, then I had to remit money based on my production. The money was used to advertise the product nationally to promote more sales. It wasn't optional........this was obligatory. Evidently that program did not achieve its goals and was dropped, but it rubbed me so wrong. I didn't give a flying rat about national advertisement of that product and resented being forced to support a program like that with my profits.

Should be fine for years. Most will darken a bit from natral oxidation, but because they are acidic and are home canned properly, they should be fine. I am not sure about just a 5 minute procesing however. What recipe was used? When I make sugarless jams, I like adding ascorbic acid to help keep oxidation at a minimum. Also, I like adding some extra acid in the form of malic, tarteric, and citric. This also helps to improve shelf life and taste. Once opened, they should keep in the fridge up to about a month.

"Have heard that unsold eggs in stores are sent back and reboxed with new dates. Not sure if this is still happening." Hmmm, this reminds me of a story a friend tells, of when he was putting himself through law school working in the butcher dept of a supermarket (back in the stone age when all supermarkets had real butcher depts). At the beginning of each day, the packaged ground meat that didn't sell the day before was re-opened and re-ground with the new day's meat. How's that for a recipe for cross-contamination??? I notice my supermarket has fairly recently begun to discount a lot of fresh meat/fish/poultry items that are really close to their "best by" dates. I wonder what they used to do with them? (That's a rhetorical question - I'm not sure I want to know.)

Hi! Sure I'll share! Thanks for the suggestion for another recipe, but I have an aversion to condensed or evaporated milk. I've felt this way since I was a child, and I can taste it in any thing it is a part of! Strange, huh? Anyway, here is the recipe, it came from a leaflet Diamond Walnuts put out for the holidays. It has a pure caramel taste, with notes of butter, vanilla and cream. Diamond Walnuts Heavenly Caramels 1 cup sugar 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup light corn syrup 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups walnuts -- chopped In a 2 quart glass measuring cup with handle, combine sugar, heavy cream, corn syrup and butter. Microwave at high 5 minutes. Stir well until sugar dissolves. Microwave at high 11 to 12 minutes or until mixture reaches 246F. Stir in vanilla and walnuts. Pour into buttered 8 inch square pan. Let stand until firm. Cut into squares and wrap individually in waxed paper. Makes 1 1/4 pounds You can of course, leave out the walnuts if you don't like nuts. One caveat: the cooking time is greatly dependant on the wattage of your microwave. I learned this when the microwave I had used for years pooped out and we bought a higher wattage model. What came out was a horrid black mess! The original recipe was written for a 600 - 650 watt microwave. If you are not sure of the wattage of your model, go slowly and carefully. Do the original 5 minute microwave, but test every few minutes with a candy thermometer or the firm ball test. Be sure to make notes on the time it takes to reach the done stage. Once you have completed the trial run successfully, this recipe is very simple! Another tip: Let the caramels cool for 5 minutes or so before pouring into the pan. If the mixture is poured too hot, it melts all the butter off the pan, and you'll have a dickens of a time getting it out!