10/22/10

0 Canning 101: Sealed or Not Sealed?


I love these new lids from Ball.

Can you tell if this jar is sealed?


Notice the little "bubble" in the middle.




How about this one?

If you answered, "Yes," you are correct.

Well, partially correct.





If the "bubble" in the middle is concave (down), does not come up when pressed, take off the ring/band.  Gently try to lift the lid off with your fingertips.  If you cannot lift the lid, the jar has a good vacuum seal.

What to do with an unsealed jar?  You have two choices:

1.  Within 24 hours, use it immediately or put in the fridge to use within a few days. (This is what I prefer to do).

2.  Reprocess the product:  remove the lid, reheat the food and/or liquid as recommended by the recipe.
Pack food into clean, hot, jars.  Place a new heated lid on the jar and adjust the band.  Reprocess the product using the canning method and full length of processing time recommended by the recipe.

If the jar did not seal because of damage to the jar (usually chips along the rim), dispose of the contents and use the jar for NONcanning purposes, or put the jar in your glass recycle.

Happy Canning!

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