Canning Help

[watsonlane]

I canned some tomatoes in November and in December....they were beautiful until this weekend when I wanted to use them to make soup. They molded!!!!!!!! The lids were sealed, all looked great, but had mold!!!! What the heck happened? Where did I go wrong?

 

[freemotion]

My guess is that they were not heated enough, if they were sealed. The heat should have killed any mold spores. Throw them all out! Even any from the batch that don't look moldy. I'd toss 'em all, to be safe.

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, some mold toxins can penetrate throughout the food, I'd pitch it, sorry to say. (If you are feeling adventurous and only feeding yourself, you could scoop out the top third or so of the jar and discard, and make sure the remainder is boiled *real well for a long time* and then season heavily to mask any off taste... but honestly I do not know as that's worth the risk of getting sick, unless you really NEED that food)

If the seals are truly intact (you can pick the jars up with your fingernails hung ont he edges of the lid, with the ring removed) then I agree with free, they probably did not get processed long enough. Make sure you use the proper processing time for the size jar you use and for the altitude of your geographical location, have the food SIMMERING HOT when it goes into the jars (unless you are following a well-tested recipe that specifically calls for cold packing), and don't START timing until AFTER the canner has returned to a rolling boil.

Better luck next time,

Pat

 

[watsonlane]

Thanks...i'm sure i got in to big of a hurry. it was my first time by myself and i had 4 boxes to put up.

 

[journey11]

Maybe not acidic enough? Some tomatoes, particularly heirlooms can be sweeter and I always add just a little extra lemon juice to them (on top of what is called for already). That, or maybe they were not processed long enough...

 

[me&thegals]

You're talking about inside the jar, right?

And, actually, I think it's the heirlooms that tend to be more acidic and hybrids that have been bred to be less and less acidic through the years. Regardless, I add 1 T of lemon juice to every jar I can.

Better luck next year!