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Canning Mishap

Submitted by themadgardener on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 12:58

Had a slight mishap the other day when one of the jars broke in the canner. I made the mistake of forgetting to put the rack in the canner before putting in the jars (so the jars were directly on the bottom of the canner). Just a case of too much heat being applied too quickly! Luckily there were no injuries and it was just tomato sauce, if it were something like maple syrup that takes several days to produce I would have been more upset!

There are multiple reasons why a jar make break.

  • Jar has hair line cracks, chips, or other imperfections.
  • The food or liquid and jar was too cold. This is one good reason to heat treat your jars (to sanitize them) right before you add items and why it is important to put food/liquids in the jar as quickly after cooking/processing as possible!
  • Forgetting to use a rack so that jars are not touching the bottom of the canner (that is where it will be the hottest the water helps with dissipating the heat). This is a bigger issue with canners that have thin walls verses those with thicker walls
  • Not using jars designed for canning.
  • Being in a hurry and dropping the jars into the canner.
  • Cooling the jars down too quickly (let them cool down on their own).
  • Not having enough space between the jars in the canner as they will expand when they heat up. The expansion is not large but if the jars are packed tightly together there is some risk.
  • Not having enough jars in the canner so they move around once the water starts boiling.
  • Allow enough head space in the jars - this is the space from the top of the food/liquid to the top of the jar. As the canner heats the jars and its contents the food/liquid needs room to expand! Also, it is important to have adequate head space so that the jars seal correctly!