Thanks, Nancy. I have received a shipment with a heat pack only once, and it must have been one of those inside something else. It felt like rice or maybe buckwheat hulls in a little package. Since those get hot enough to burn skin, what do you put it in to keep it away from leaves? What the heck, it was 3 degrees (F) this morning. Maybe I'll wait until spring. Barbara Barbara

2 problems: 1) your pressure cooker clearly needs some care/repair so it will work and then a couple of practice runs to check it out. 2) no they are not safe as there is still air in the jars. At best they were sorta "steam canned" since the jars weren't covered with water and the only way a BWB works is if there is 1-2" of water over the tops of the jars. Third issues - there are no instructions for cold packing crushed tomatoes so we really need to know exactly what you did to the tomatoes and what liquid if any you added. If you are using your pressure canner manual for canning instructions, please don't. They are notorious for being out of date and inaccurate. Use the Ball BLue Book or other approved canning book for instructions or go to NCHFP online for current canning instructions and recipes. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Canning tomatoes

Christine That's the way my family has done it for years, the only difference that we do is the lids. We cook the tomatoes the same way and put them in the jar hot. But the lids and rings are put in boiling water in a small sauce pan, taken out and put on the jars with tongs(not as hard as it sounds) Screw them down tightly using a towel to protect your hands. We put them on a table covered by a towel to hold the heat and check after they have cooled(a few hours later). Press the tops if they don't pop they have sealed correctly. Take the rings off an use on the next batch(money saver). These will be good for years to come. I am 40years old and my grandmother taught us and she is 87 this year. Easiest and quickest way to can and tomatoes you will be proud to give to anyone.

Regarding pears in white wine --- I did some two years ago, half in red wine and half in white, according to a "recipe" suggested by Victrola (a gentleman in Montreal who was posting here regularly then --- apparently he's gotten very busy with athletic pursuits recently) and expanded on by Mrs. Bartholomew (a Toronto forum member who had time to post then before she had her baby). Mrs. B. suggested a Gewurtztraminer with vanilla, cinnamon, and star anise. I used a Vidal for my white wine, and not having any star anise I think I used cinnamon, vanilla, and a few allspice berries. The red I spiced much as Victrola suggests. Both came out just delicious. It's not a cold pack as described here (though the key is that you can cook the WINE etc. for a lot longer FIRST till it thickens, then just heat the pears in it and cook them briefly); like Victrola suggested, I used a firm, Flemish Beauty pear. I don't know if there's any reason you could not pack the pears cold and pour hot syrup over them, though, is there? Anyway, sounds like you did something wonderful already. But I thought I'd post this because it's such fun to read Victrola's "recipes." One thing I noticed was that I was surprised at how mildly spiced the syrup & pears were when I opened the jars. The flavour was definitely less than when it was first made (I remember drinking the leftover wine syrup --- it had been a bad day, LOL --- and it was much spicier than the eventual pears were.) So if I did them again I would go even heavier on the spices without fear of overdoing it. Z Canning poached pears: a Victrola Adventure Since Zabby recently suggested, tongue in cheek, that I've been hoarding my recipes, here is something I made today. Okay, so it's not quite a "recipe" but I don't think it lacks for details (other than measurements, but I don't measure things, so don't ask for 'em!). Today at the market, my favourite vendors had some beautiful firm Flemish Beauty pears. This is one of my favourite variety of pears; I find they have a distinctive and pleasant vanilla note. I think there were about 8 pears. Their firmness meant that, although not ready for eating, they were perfect for cooking. I peeled them with my old-fashioned apple peeler device, which worked (for most of the length of most of the pears) because they were firm and fat. After peeling, I cut them vertically into wedges of eighths, and dipped them in lemon juice to keep them from browning. (Perhaps that was superfluous, since they were to be poached in red wine anyway?) I bought a litre of the Hungarian red wine Szeksardi Voros, which friends of mine, not knowing how to pronounce Hungarian, would call Sex and Divorce. As their English name implies, it's not a fancy wine, but it's fine (and cheap) for these purposes. I brought it to boil with some cloves, a cinnamon stick, a whole allspice, a few peppercorns, one whole cardamom, two slices of lemon, one slice of orange, sugar to taste, and the "pearings" (couldn't resist the pun... sorry... pear parings, in English). I boiled this until greatly reduced. Then I fished out the solids, added the pears, boiled for about two minutes, stirring gingerly. Once again, I must praise the firmness of these pears. They didn't go to mushiness. I removed them from the heat, fished out the pears, packed the slices into jars (500ml and 250ml jars... pints and half-pints, if you prefer), and covered with the reduced wine syrup. Whoops, I had reduced it too much, and there wasn't enough to cover all the pears, so I boiled up some sugar and water (1:4 ratio) very quickly to cover the pears. Silly me, I now realise, after the fact! I had meant to top them up with brandy before sealing, not more syrup! After 20 minutes processing in BWB, I pulled out two beautiful 500ml jars and three lovely 250ml jars. And to my great pleasure, one of them did not seal, so I had no reason not to sample my wares: yum yum. I can't wait to have the occasion to bring these out for a dinner party or give them as host/hostess gifts. One last time, let me emphasise the firmness of the pears! I couldn't imagine this turning out well with Bartlett pears (which I love for eating out of hand), for example. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: MrsBartholomew 6a Canada (My Page) on Mon, Sep 20, 04 at 16:11 I love poached pears in red wine. I often make them for dessert when we have guests. Once I did them in white wine instead, just for a change - it was a Gewurtztraminer, and the seasonings were just a vanilla pod, a couple of star anise, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, it was beautiful. I serve one pear with about a half-cup of syrup and a dollop of whipped cream, and the syrup always gets eaten up! I've never tried canning them but maybe I should. It was the firmness I was afraid would be lost, but I didn't think of buying a harder pear. Good thinking.