Question
I have a question about my pressure canned sliced peaches. I cold-packed sliced peaches covering them with a light syrup. Following instructions I packed them with 1/2 inch headspace and poured the liquid to 1/2 inch headspace. However, the peaches floated up so that they were not covered by the liquid during processing. I did run a wooden spatula down the sides of the jars and seemed to get all air bubbles out of the jar. I processed in the pressure canner according to instructions at 10 PSI for 10 minutes. When I removed the jars the liquid was boiling and there seemed to be a lot of air bubbles around the fruit. The jars were already sealed when I took them out of the canner after waiting 10 minutes after the pressure seal dropped. The liquid is down considerably - looks to be about 1 1/2 to 2 inches and the peaches are floating. There are air bubbles and air pockets. The seal is fine. Are these peaches safe?
Answer(s)
This is a common defect in raw pack. Fruits and tomatoes suffer this same problem. What happened was the floating fruit helped some of the syrup to boil out during processing. Also, the air inside the fruit is being vacuumed out and the space is filled with syrup - further dropping the liquid level.
Providing the seal is fine the peaches have been safely processed. I would consume these first, since the fruit above the brine will lose quality quicker during storage.
Other Questions In This Topic
- Where should I put my food storage?
- I am trying to use flour that has been stores for about 30 years. It looks ok and tastes like flour but I have baked two loaves and they will not raise. they taste ok but how nutritional would they be?
- Can I get my pressure cooker tested? When and where? Thanks for a great service! jh
- Is it safe to bottle butter? I went to a class and they said it was "canning butter" yet we didn't process it.
- Information for Canning at High Altitudes.
- I have a question regarding commercially canned tomatoes. I have read on your website that the nutritional value of vegetables may not be maintained after the expiration date. I have heard somewhere that tomatoes are an exception, and there could be a problem with the tomatoes that would not be able to be detected, and that they should just be discarded at the expiration date for safety's sake. Is this true?
- This is a food storage question. I have called Iams and Purina re cat food storage. They could not tell me how long I could store their dry food product in an oxygen free envirenment. I would like to store the food in 6 gallon buckets to which an oxygen absorber has been added. I have several members in my ward who are interested in this answer. Do you have any experience with this?
- Can I use bay leaves or nails in my wheat to protect from insects?