Canning - Can I use a towel instead of a wire rack?

[noobiechickenlady]

I have several towel remnants that I use. Mostly square pieces with raveling edges, they are a little larger than my canners.

I put one of these down in the pot & flop the corners over the sides of the pot. They semi-float, so I start in the middle with my jars, placing the center jar in first. Then I spiral out to the edge with the remaining jars. As I put in the outer ring of jars, the corners drag down into the water.
Took me a couple of tries to get the towel to stay in the bottom while I was loading jars, but this method works every time, and I don't get the towel floating up between the jars when it starts boiling.

Does that make sense?

 

[sylvie]

I lost my wire rack about 15 years ago and have used nothing. I guess I've just been lucky with absolutely no jars breaking in all this time. I do use canning jars like Ball or Kerr and not recycled jars from mayo or the like. I do a ton of canning each year, too.

OK, watch, my next batch will have the first casualty.

 

[moolie]

BTW, there are a few jars that I have gotten by buying another product, and the screw lids fit the jars. For some reason a lot of manufacturers, whose jars USED to fit canning lids, have made them smaller or larger, but you cannot reuse, say, a spaghetti sauce or mayonnaise glass jar anymore for your canning. Too bad.

(Total hijack, but most commercial jars aren't thick enough for home canning--they can't take the jostling and bubbling without chipping or breaking. Most jar company canning cook books state this, but my Mom also told me this because she tried it a few times and decided it just wasn't worth ruining food.)

Never tried the towel thing but when I first started canning I didn't have a proper canner so I simply used a big stock pot and my rack was an old round pie cooling rack (no idea where it came from but it worked!) That little improvisation got me through 3 autumn canning seasons till I ponied up and got a black grannyware canner with its own rack.

 

[freemotion]

Classico spaghetti sauce is still packaged in Atlas Mason jars, but they are sometimes a strange size. But they do take the regular mouth lids. I have a few that someone saves for me.

 

[ducks4you]

Sorry I didn't say, but THAT's what I was referring to, the products sold in MASON jars. Thanks--that's nice to know about Classico.

 

[old fashioned]

I've reused the Mayo jars in the past also, but had more breaks-it's true they aren't as thick as regular canning jars AND they aren't made of heat tempered glass. It was too frustrating to have them break and waste all that food, time and trouble. So personally I'm kinda glad they changed the size just enough to not fit the lids and bands-was too much of a temptation when in a pinch for jars.
I've also reused other commercial jars and lids that have a thick rubber seal for things like jams and pickles (fresh pack dills) that only need a soft seal and not done in a canner. This way I save my canning jars and lids for hard seal things like fruits, veggies, broth, spaghetti sauce, etc. and have not had a problem with bad contents or jar breaks. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Lady Henevere]

Just finished my first batch of pomegranate jelly using a towel in the pot. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ducks4you]

Pomegranites are in the stores now--do you have a recipe for your pomegranite jelly to share? Please? Thanks!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

 

[Lady Henevere]

Pomegranites are in the stores now--do you have a recipe for your pomegranite jelly to share? Please? Thanks!

I used pomegranates from my tree, about 10 medium to large ones I think, but 12 would have been better since I was a little short on juice. Get the seeds/berries out of the pomegranates by scoring four sides with a sharp knife and splitting them apart while submerged in a large bowl full of water. The seeds will sink to the bottom and the white membrane will float so you can skim it out. (And splitting the pomegranates in the water makes it so the juice doesn't squirt and stain things.) Put the berries in a pot on the stove with about 1/2 c. of water and simmer until a lot of the berries have popped and released juice. Strain the pulp and seeds out through cheesecloth and squeeze the pulp to get four cups of juice. (I have heard you can skip all that an just buy pure pomegranate juice.)

From there I basically followed this recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pomegranate_jelly/ I only used about two tablespoons of lemon juice though. I must admit -- it's pretty good!