Canning Question

[23missb]

We made strawberry jam for the first time the other day (on Thursday the 19th). We've not canned before, and we used the old school "open kettle method" where you cook the food in a pot and pack it into hot jars and then seal. I'm reading now that this is outdated and the food must be processed after being packed into the jars either via water bath or pressure canner. I'm wondering if we can do this now or is it too late? Should we throw out our jam? I'm really not interested in getting food poisoning, but if we can still process at this point and our food will be safe, well then that's what I'd like to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ramseycountyextension/news/extended-to-you/2011/strawberry-season

This information may help you decide.

 

[clucksbc]

my vote is to just process now...
jam is ladened with sugar, and sugar does not go bad....
I really don't mean to sound grose, but I had a couple batches of jam last year that did not get water bath processed...and we ate and everyone was fine..

 

[flowerchic]

I'd also try this link: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html
I haven't tried to can anything yet, still a little apprehensive about the whole process

. I haven't canned
since I was 10. But this link has been helpful. Silly, I have the supplies, and garden goodies just to
nervous to do it, meanwhile I keep giving my food away so I doesn't go bad waiting for my family to eat it.
Nothing worse for a gardener to have to throw out food and for me to thin my seedlings..LOL...so now I seed
one seed versus two and hope for the best, so far so good..

.
Hope the link is helpful.

 

[23missb]

Thanks for the link. I did some more reading last night before bed and it is harder for the jam to go bad because of all the sugar, but we decided to just throw it all in the freezer to be on the safe side. We are going to look into getting a pressure canner and I'll be borrowing some books from the library before my next canning attempt.

 

[wyoDreamer]

People have been doing it the way you did for a long time.
In fact, I remember my mom sealing her jams with wax. When they came out with the "new and better way" of using the self-sealing lids, she did it the way you did. I don't ever remember her doing a water bath for jams.
We never had any go bad, we just refrigerated and ate the ones that didn't seal first.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My DH's grandmother makes jam all the time without water bathing it. She hot packs in sterile jars and boils the lids and they seal just fine. I've eaten her jam many times and have never been sick, or had any that didn't taste right.