So proud of myself plus a question on canning.

[sune42]

So I decided I wanted to learn to can this year. I got Ball's Blue Book and have been reading it. I decided to start with something easy, apple butter. I bought a bunch of apples from the store and half pint jars. I have a bigish stockpot, but no canning rack. Eventually I will have to buy one but for now I got creative. I took the steamer that came with my rice cooker that I never use (the steamer part, I love my rice cooker) and unscrewed the handles. On the bottom of the steamer I hot glued around 8 beer bottle caps (hubby home brews so they were hanging around) in a circle. Now the steamer sits off the bottom of the pot and will hold 4 half pint jars! I am pretty darn proud of myself.

Now for the question. I misread the instructions, it says that the apple butter makes 3 pints, well I bought half pints. Can I make 6 half pints as long as I process for the same amount of time, 10 minutes? The Canning Gods won't smite me will they?

TIA
Amanda


Oh, anyone thing the boiling water will dislodge the hot glue? I don't think so but I figured I would get opinions.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Yes you can do it like that in half pints. The hot water will likely dislodge the glue though. Put your jar rings on the btoom of the pan to hold it up off the bottom.

 

[Countrywife]

Well, if I hot bath my jellies and jams I don't put the wax in. I only use the wax if I am not processing in the canner. So, why put the wax in? I would think in answer to the question, yes, the hot water will mess up the wax. You can indeed make smaller jars of anything, just check the book on processing time, but if anything, it would be less, not more, in my opinion.

 

[yotetrapper]

Yes thats fine. Most recipes you will find will list the output in pints or quarts. You can can them in any size jar, although quarts usually have a different time than pints do, longer. YOu'll be fine canning your apple butter in half pints, and canning for the time listed for pints.

Have you made your apple butter yet? Not hard to make, but not really an easy choice either, takes forever to cook it down, lol.

 

[sune42]

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Now why in the world didn't I think of that. Guess I like doing it the hard way.

 

[yotetrapper]

Did i miss something? I dont see anything about wax?

 

[sune42]

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Sorry, I am not sure what you are talking about with wax.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

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Now why in the world didn't I think of that. Guess I like doing it the hard way.

Yeesh i musta got trigger happy on that one...btoom=bottom

We all try to make things more difficult at times

Would you believe I had to edit for spelling......again!

 

[yotetrapper]

Think she must of misread you talking about hot glue and thinking about waxing jelly instead of processing it.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Quote:
Sorry, I am not sure what you are talking about with wax.

I think she means parafin wax that folks used to use to seal off their food into the jars. Must have confused it with the hot glue.