Saving Home Canned Food in Jars that did not Seal (2024)

FAQs

Saving Home Canned Food in Jars that did not Seal? ›

Take the jar that did not seal during processing, remove the lid, and increase the headspace to 1 ½ inches. This will allow for food and/or liquid expansion when freezing. The canning lid may be reused when freezing. Foods in single unsealed jars can be stored in the refrigerator and consumed within a few days.

Presence of food particles on jar rim. Always wipe rim clean before putting on lids. Leaving too little headspace, letting pressure in pressure canner fluctuate, or lowering the pressure too suddenly. In all of these cases, food particles may be forced between the jar and lid, causing sealing failure.

In fact, the absence of the “pop” sound is the main complaint I hear from people about the Tattler Reusable Canning Jar Lids–those don't “pop.” They don't actually need to, and you will know the jar is sealed if you cannot remove the lid.

You can reuse glass canning jars, but don't be tempted to reuse canning lids, she advises. The gasket compound in used lids may fail to seal on jars, resulting in unsafe food. When jars are processed, the gasket on new lids softens and flows slightly to cover the jar-sealing surface.

Will canning jars seal without boiling? The simple answer is, yes. A jar will sometimes even seal itself, if you put hot food and a lid on it. There was a “new” jam and jelly processing method circulating, a number of years ago, wherein hot jars were filled with hot jam/jelly, and lids and rings were put on the jars.

Inversion Canning

Once secured, the jar is inverted (flipped upside down) and left to cool for several minutes before placed right side up. The thought behind the method is the hot food will sterilize the seal while creating a vacuum by allowing air to escape.

Rapid, forced cooling of a pressure canner can cause a rapid pressure and temperature change inside the canner, causing the liquid to "boil" out of the jars, leaving particles on the sealing rim and unsealing the jars.

The bubbling food may leave a deposit on the rim of the jar or the seal of the lid and prevent the jar from sealing properly. If too much headspace is allowed, the food at the top is likely to discolor.

Jars will often seal when the product siphons but there will be product stuck on the rim of the jar and under the lid. This can cause a false seal if the product on the jar rim molds and pushes the lid off the jar rim breaking the seal. Another cause of siphoning is erratic temperature fluctuations during processing.

How long to boil jars to seal? ›

Bring to a rolling boil, cover the canner and boil for 10 minutes if using 4-, 8- or 12-ounce jars or for 15 minutes if using 16-ounce jars. (Check individual preserve recipes for more specific processing times.) Let cool for 10 minutes before removing the jars from the pot.

Examine the jars for nicks, cracks and chips. Using jars from commercial foods is not a recommended practice. There are some jars that even say “Mason” on them but they are not a true pint or quart jar and do not have the flat rim for a lid to tightly seal.

If a jar does not seal and you did not follow safe processing methods, such as incorrect processing time, initial temperature (hot pack versus raw pack, initial temperature of the water in canner) was not observed, or the incorrect processing method was used, food can be re-canned within 2-hours.

Jars of high-acid foods that are inverted after being filled, instead of being safely processed in a water bath, will fail to seal properly. Inverting the jars is an old-fashioned and unsafe method that is, unfortunately, still recommended in many current home-canning cookbooks.

Check the water level. If the water does not cover the jars by 1 to 2 inches, add boiling water as needed. Bring to a rolling boil, cover the canner and boil for 10 minutes if using 4-, 8- or 12-ounce jars or for 15 minutes if using 16-ounce jars. (Check individual preserve recipes for more specific processing times.)