Freezing broth problem

[tamlynn]

We are so disappointed! A few months ago dh bought some gorgeous beef bones and we made about 2 gallons of beef broth. We put the broth in glass canning jars and froze them. We used a sheet of plastic with a canning ring as the lid. Plenty of headspace. We've used several of the jars since then with no problems, but yesterday I went to get one and all 6 of the remaing quart jars were severely cracked! What happened? Do I need to store my broth in plastic containers now?

Dh suspects it may be the frost-free freezer cycle? but I didn't think that would let the food thaw?

 

[tortoise]

I have not had that problem with my jars of broth.

Freeze some ice cubes and then flip the tray upside down. If your freezer is thawing, the ice cubes will fall out.

 

[Ldychef2k]

I recently lost the only two jars I had in the freezer, and it's not frost-free. I have no idea what happened, but it was awful.

 

[abifae]

i freeze them in one-cup yogurt containers or ice cube trays. once frozen solid i transfer to a freezer bag.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

wow! i've never had a problem and we've had the power go out a couple of times... i dunno.... maybe the jars were old??? maybe too hot when you put them into the freezer?

total bummer... sorry!

 

[freemotion]

I only freeze in wide mouth pints because the sides are straight. I wonder if that is why yours broke? Or maybe the jars had imperfections that weren't noticable? That happens in the canner....but all six?

 

[patandchickens]

I suppose it is not inconceivable that if the warmer air from the frost-free cycle were blowing directly AT the glass, it might possibly cause enough thermal strain to break it.

My first thought, though, would be that they simply got jostled accidentally, a bit too much the wrong way. Glass is not real robust in the freezer to begin with.

If it were me, I'd still use the broth, just strain it through a couple layers of fine cheesecloth to remove any glass bits.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Javamama]

I had a few crack and can't figure out why either, but I was going to do what Pat suggested and thaw them out and strain through cheesecloth or coffee strainers.
Now that I think about it I believe they were all narrow mouth quart jars.

Again, it's the lesser of 2 evils - freeze stuff in plastic or freeze it in glass that may break.

I might need to break down and get a pressure canner this year.

 

[Farmfresh]

I usually freeze in ice cube trays! After they are frozen I pop the cubes in a Ziplock freezer bag. That way you can easily at a tablespoon or so of stock to a recipe without a hassle or you can dump a whole bag of cubes to make a soup.

Works for me!

 

[freemotion]

I don't usually freeze stuff unless I have no time to can it, but if I do freeze it, I put the jars in the original box with cardboard dividers in between. Now that the jars come in boxes without dividers, I make dividers with scraps of cardboard, or cut down dividers from boxes from the liquor store. It can be hard to find one that fits, but worth its weight when you do find one.