Answering some questions

Lots of people asked questions on yesterday's post, Testing a Theory. Unfortunately I haven't been able to answer any of them because once in a while Blogger glitches and doesn't let me reply to any questions. Go figure.

So I thought what I would do is go down the list of comments, and make replies as needed. If more people ask question in response to this post, I'll add them at the bottom of this post and answer as best I can. Sorry about that, but I can't control Blogger glitches.

Questions in the order they were asked:

Q: When will you do a longevity inspection? Also do you pop the lid into its original shape with the dimple out?

A:  With disposable lids, they either seal or they don't. I've rarely had a jar unseal after storing it in the pantry, and I've canned thousands upon thousands of jars of food over the last 30 years. If the dimple is out, the lid didn't seal. If the lid didn't seal once out of the canner, then simply refrigerate it and use it up in a few days. If the lid unsealed after a period of time in storage, then don't risk using it. The food should be discarded in a place animals can't get to it.

It's surprisingly hard to photograph the "dimple" in the center of a canning lid, but I tried. The jar on the left is processed and sealed; notice the "insie" (inverted) dimple in the center. The jar on the right hasn't been processed yet; notice the "outsie" dimple.

Q: I have always water bathed my salsa and was curious as to why you used the pressure canner?

A. Never ever ever water-bath salsa. Salsa contains endless low-acid components such as bell peppers, onions, etc. The rule of thumb while canning is to process the food in accordance with the ingredient requiring the longest processing time. If you consult your canning book (I always recommend having a canning reference book on hand), they will ALWAYS recommend pressure-canning anything with low-acid ingredients such as peppers or onions.

Q: Can you please explain how you get your lids off the first time canner jar with out making a crease or a "lift" on the outside of the lid? I have tried many various ways and it seems like there is always an imperfection.

A: Yeah, it's kinda tricky. I used to use the bottle-cap feature on our can opener for prying lids off canning jars:

Then a few years ago I ordered a dedicated lid opener from Tattler (the red one). I liked it so well I later ordered a couple extras (the blue one).

However when I compared the two, I found they were different.

The red lifter – the one I ordered earlier – had a metal lip for prying up the lid.

The later version is blunt plastic.

I presume the reason this was modified is because Tattler got too many complaints that the metal lip was piercing the rubber gasket in the process of prying open a jar. I've never done that with the red opener, but only because I'm very careful.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying, use a blunt lifter of some sort on the disposable lids and gently work it until the seal breaks (other readers provided some excellent ideas in their replies to the last post). You might have to rotate the jar and pry at the lid from different positions before the seal breaks. But don't just use a sharp object (like the bottle opener feature) and bend the lid to open it. This way your disposable lids will likely be in fine shape to use again.

Q: I never thought of canning a store bought item (duh!) so thank you again and I will try it. Would water bath be good or does pressure canned do better for an already processed food product.

A: For things we often use, I like buying in bulk (usually from a restaurant supply store) and re-canning them into smaller and more manageable sizes. The usual things I re-can are mustard, pizza sauce, and of course salsa. I've also re-canned ketchup and barbecue sauce. The mustard can be canned in a water-bath since it's high-acid (30 minutes at a rolling boil). Same with ketchup, barbecue sauce, and pizza sauce IF it is nothing but tomatoes and spices. Salsa should be done in a pressure canner, 30 minutes for pints at 10 lbs. pressure (adjusted for your elevation).

If anyone has any more questions, just pose them in the comments and I'll answer them on this post.

Testing a theory

Last May, I posted a piece about reusing disposable canning lids, based on something I saw on SurvivalBlog.

Ever since then, I've been removing disposable lids from jars with extra care, washing them, and tucking them away.

Today I decided to re-can some salsa I had purchased in bulk last summer, and used this opportunity to test the theory of how easily disposable lids are reusable. Maybe "easily" isn't the right word; "reliable" might be a better description.

At any rate, I pulled out the used lids I had available...

...and boiled some water.

I turned off the heat under the pot, dropped the lids in the hot water, and let them parboil.

While the gaskets were softening, I washed some jars.

I filled the jars with salsa...

...stacked them in the pressure canner...

...and brought the canner up to 12 lbs. pressure (adjusted for our elevation) for 30 minutes.

When their time was up, I let the canner's pressure come back down to zero, and removed the jars to cool.

Every jar sealed. Every. Single. One.

It breaks my heart to think of all the disposable lids I've discarded over the years after one use, when all this time I could have been saving and reusing them.

Folks, don't do what I did. Remove your lids carefully (trying not to bend them or damage the gaskets) and save them for another use.

Canning -- well, re-canning -- salsa

I have no talent (or so my kids tell me) for making either pizza sauce or salsa. However our family enjoys both these sauces in appreciable quantities. So what's an avid canner to do?

My solution may not be for everyone, but it works for us: I buy large commercial quantities of these items, and re-can them into smaller packages.

Recently I purchased a case of salsa in #10 cans.

By nesting my two largest pots double-boiler style (so the salsa wouldn't burn at the bottom), I was able to fit three cans in at a time. I like to hot-pack the salsa, which means I need to heat it up to near-boiling before packing the jars.

I washed and saved the cans, of course. Large cans are always useful around here.

I always pressure-can my re-canned salsa. I'd rather play it safe than sorry. My canner holds 18 pints at a time, so that's how many jars I filled. I had some leftover salsa, which I canned in the next batch.

Scalding my Tattler lids and rings.

Into the canner.

My pressure canner is an All American, which has a metal-to-metal seal between the lid and the body. This means that about every five uses or so, I need to lubricate the metal on the lid by applying a thin coat of petroleum jelly. This keeps the metal lid from "sticking" to the body of the canner after processing something. I keep the tub of Vaseline inside the canner when I store it away so I never have to go searching for it.

I re-canned the salsa at 12 lbs. pressure (adjusted for our higher elevation) for 25 minutes for the pints.

While the first batch processed, I heated the other three cans of salsa and packed the jars.

This left me with six clean empty large cans, which I stashed in the barn for the time being.

First batch, out of the canner.

While the second batch processed, I washed the large pots and other accouterments. Sheesh, it seems my stove has been FULL of large pots lately, since I've been canning so much.

I ended up with four extra pints above what the canner would hold during the second batch. I toyed with just putting them in the fridge for immediate use, but I was afraid that much salsa would go bad before it could be eaten. In the end I processed a third batch in the pressure canner -- four lonely pints in a canner that holds 18.

The case of salsa cost me about $42 at a wholesale grocery. I got 40 pints canned up out of that case, so that comes to a hair over $1/pint (not counting the cost of the propane to re-can everything). What does a pint of salsa go for these days? Did I save money doing this?

Canning and re-canning

More canning stuff.

Our daughter's elderly piano teacher was given a box of peaches off someone's tree. The peaches were small and sour and not really good for eating. She asked if I wanted them, and I said heck yes. Peach purree added to fresh-made yogurt is unsurpassed. I took the box home and made them into purree.

I have no particular skill (or so my kids tell me) in making either salsa or pizza sauce, something we use in appreciable quantities. So what I do is buy giganto-sized quantities of both, then re-can them in smaller jars.

Here's four gallons each of salsa and pizza sauce, as well as the box of peaches:


This is the output after everything was canned and re-canned:


Ooooh, and looky what we just found at a thrift store! A food dehydrator! This is nearly identical to the model we used to own, and which we foolishly gave away (during a massive purging of possessions) before we moved to Idaho. I've been looking for one ever since. This dehydrator set us back a grand total of six bucks. Gotta love thrift stores...