Have you ever tried canning? I did for the very first time. Now I am looking forward to putting all sorts of things in jars to preserve for future months. Nice, fresh, local organic food to be had any time of the year!
Yesterday I started talking about my first canning experience. If you missed it, you can see the post here. Today I will finish up, offering some tips about the canning process.
After this step, I was ready to fill the jars, Because the apple butter was piping hot (as it should be to makes sure there is no bacteria present), I warmed the jars up before filling them by running them under hot water. meanwhile, a stock pot of simmering water was on the stove, since I was using the hot water bath method to can.
The lids were gently placed on the jars and the rings tightened on top to fingertip tightness only. Then each filled and closed jar was placed in the hot water bath for 10 minutes while it simmered. The water was turned off, and an additional 5 minutes in the bath was needed. At this point, the jars were removed from the water (my husband helped) and placed on a cooling rack to finish sealing. It is important that the jars are left alone during this time to complete the canning process.
As each jar was removed from the water, you could hear it “pop.” This was the vacuum seal taking effect. Another way to test to see if the canning worked is to press gently down on the lid. If it doesn’t move at all, then you are go to go. If for some reason the seal didn’t take, you can cool your jar and then place it in the refrigerator to consume in the next few weeks.
I’m so proud to see my jars of apple butter lined up in the pantry!