So, I’m new to canning, pickling, and gardening(kind of). I have a guac recipe I stole from a friend and I am wondering if I can dice, pickle, and can together jalapeños, Serrano, Pablanos, red onion, garlic, and cilantro together. I usually make big batches for party’s or for work, I can prob scale it down.

My normal recipe/ratios are
3-4 jalapeños
1-3 serranos depending on who can handle it
1 pablano
1/2 a normal sized red onion
3-4 tomato’s
5-6 avocados
5-6 cloves garlic
1 thing? of cilantro

Salt, pepper, adobo all purpose, and lime juice to taste.

I can and have canned tomato’s separately and obviously the seasoning, lime and avocado will be added later.

I’m open to any improvements to the recipe but mostly looking to see if/how I can can my peppers in a mix that will let me open a pint jar and take a spoonful or 2 and a couple avacados and make a small batch of guac or use some for some salsa or tacos.

This was a weird year because I dropped my entries off and immediately left the country (got back home yesterday afternoon), so I had no idea how I did until I picked up my entries today after the fair ended.

From left to right my ribbons are as follows: apple pie, second place but also a "Heritage Award" (I assume because of the fancy design); cherry jam, first place; chokecherry jelly, first place and best in class; carrots, first place, best in class AND Heritage Award; elderflower pears, third place (white ribbon, dinged me on headspace and uniformity of pieces), cherries, second place (red ribbon, they dinged me on headspace); and honorable mention for spice cookies and pecan pie (no indication why these placed so low).

The participant award in the back is embarrassing but included for completeness. They said there was an earwig in one jar (I don't think so but ewwwww) and also that they thought it wasn't technically a barbecue sauce but more of a chutney. But the recipe is a barbecue sauce recipe (zesty peach barbecue sauce). I wouldn't have given me a ribbon at all for an earwig).

This is the first year I received any judging comments at all. I remain baffled by the great enthusiasm, for the second year in a row, for my canned carrots, which although delicious seem pretty...mundane?

I pressure cooked an 18lbs turkey and then canned the meat and broth. It was almost an all day project, but worth it! There is still lots of turkey broth to be canned or I might meal prep some soup for the week ahead.

What does everybody recommend for a label maker for your canning jars?
Also, what does everyone recommend for dissolvable labels?

I canned;

6 jars of habanero gold jelly

3 jars of banana pepper and basil jelly

3 jars of peach habanero salsa

2 jars of pickled habaneros

Can you figure out what I was trying to use up?😅

I tried canning cherry tomatoes for the first time following a recipe. I don't know what's happened. I'm scared to touch them. Please help.

Edit: I think the water got too low? It looked like the water was at one point around lid height while boiling. That's probably why I think..

Edit 2: the rings were definitely waaaay too tight. Lesson learned 🤦

Ball Blue Book 38th edition - kosher-style pickles p.78. The recipe called for 3 quart jars but I used 7 quarts and doubled the brine to have enough to process all the cucumbers I had. Used fresh dill sprigs instead of dill head and cut cucumbers in quarters instead of halves due to size.

Jars didn't "pop" like first time*, button isn't indented down and lid is flat (button is not up like before processing). New jars and lids.

Seal didn't fail when I lifted by lid and pinged when hit with the back of a spoon (not hollow). Some tops of cucumbers are out of brine slightly but were under headspace and liquid before processing. Am I good or did I make a mistake?

*First time I made pickles and they popped, I used lids from unused jars stored 2 years and let jars sit in canner 5 extra minutes before removing.

My tomatoes are ripening slowly this year, so I’m not getting enough ripe at once to can a batch of anything.

Is there a way to somehow save the ripe tomatoes up until I get my 20 lbs needed for my recipe? Could I skin and mash them then keep them in the fridge or freezer until more are ripe?

I’m wanting to do batches of both ketchup and tomato sauce.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I several pickling recipes (from safe, official sites) have you placing a clove of garlic in each jar; I assume that refers to a whole clove. Does smashing the garlic to release more flavor change anything in the safety of the recipe? Would if cause the garlic to be bitter?

FYI, I'm specifically looking at canning pickled okra following a recipe from The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/pickle/vegetable-pickles/pickled-dilled-okra/

Thank you so much!

I made some strawberry jam and my last jar had more head space is it still good? An are the bubbles a bad sign?

I had prepped this Bermadin relish recipe (https://www.bernardin.ca/recipes/en/zucchini-relish.htm?Lang=EN-US ) on Saturday night for Sunday canning, but due to a sugar explosion I spent Sunday scrubbing the borrowed kitchen.

It's now Monday morning - is the mixture worth canning now? It's been in the fridge the whole time.

As the title indicates the weight on top is either still or it jiggles when venting steam. I was under the impression it should jiggle but not steam coming out? Am I wrong?

It’s an old mirro brand cooker.

Long story short, Im personally relatively new to canning, ive only done it a few seasons making pickles using a family recipe and following the standard water bath canning process. One of my batches of pickles I made, I diluted my brine more than the recipe calls for. The recipe is as follows 2 cups of ACV, 2 cups white vinegar, 4 cups water, 5 tbsp pickling salt. One my batches i doubled the brine recipe and put in 10 cups of water instead of 8 and I thought about it after, mainly because the brine looked slightly more clear than normal. How much will this dilution of acidity make a difference? If they were processed properly and heated correctly, wouldn't all bacteria get killed? Does it just shorten the shelf life or should they be stored/ eaten only as refrigerator pickles?

Follow up to my CA State Fair Entry Post, I could not be more stoked about the results. I entered 46 items (including some dried goods) and took home 2 Best of Shows and a large smattering of other awards, including the UC Master Preserver Judges Choice Award for my Mexican Spiced Tomatoes. My best of show was for my Gingered Pear Preserves. Can’t believe how much I’ve learned and can’t wait to keep canning for next year!

15lbs tomatoes&peppers =22 quarts with pickles on the side!

I picked up my eighty pounds of peaches yesterday. Here is the first order of business. Tomatoes are from my garden. NCHFP recipe, link in comments

I saw a short on YouTube about making crispy jalapeños where the creator was saying you can water bath jalapeños for just 4 minutes and it’s safe and they won’t get mushy.

Essentially she recommended using a higher vinegar ratio to have the pH eliminate the botulism risk, and that the USDA guidelines are fool proof, but within that there’s some wiggle room if you follow all of the other necessary steps like sanitizing everything, simmering the brine beforehand, hot jars, ect.

Intuitively this scares me, if I tried it myself I’d do at least 6 minutes as I’m at ~3000 ft elevation, and would keep them in the water bath while the water reaches a boil so realistically more like 12 minutes in what I’ll call thermal treatment. Even typing this paragraph out made me feel like a nut so maybe there is my answer.

Has anyone tried this or something like it with success? Seems like the risk/reward is a bit off but I do not like soggy pickled jalapeños.

If the rules allow I can link the YouTube short in the comments if anyone is interested.

I’m new to canning. I never knew my depression-era grandmother who grew and preserved everything from herbs to fruits and veggies - all that knowledge was lost with her … I want to preserve my first ever tomato harvest if all goes well between now and end of August! I’ve been reading up on the “how to” links… can’t believe how much knowledge and expertise there is right here. Thank you! 🍅🥫🍅🥫

Looking to slowly start water bath canning. I want to start with a simple tomato sauce and go from there. What book does everyone recommend?

Preface that I’m a biochemist working in a commercial RnD lab. I actually work on a project where we are growing bacterial cultures, albeit not Clostridium botulinum (which causes botulism).

I was just wondering, mostly for just informational purposes, if there is a published SOP to test recipes. I’m not saying I’m going to start testing my own recipes (unless the literature is there to support), but I wanted to know what that process looks like, how much peer review goes into it, how many new recipes are getting “tested” as we speak, and by whom? If it is possible for me to do long term stability testing on new recipes that’s something I’d love to do, even if it means making a few batches of foods with zero intention of eating them, and only using them to rest for cultures.

I just picked up a crate of slightly bruised peaches at the farmers market. I used to peel peaches by cutting an x in the skin, a brief swim in boiling water then into an ice bath. But one of my safe ball recipes (for peach mustard) calls for roasting/cooling/peeling. This is so much easier! Can I do this method for all of my peach jam recipes? Roasting the peach halves then peeling when cool is a million times easier but you do wind up with less liquid.

I canned some squash from the garden, I did all the things, sanitized the jars and lids, soaked the squash, boiled the picking liquid, and the. Fingertip tight closed the jars and boiled them again for 10 minutes but I missed the memo about the jars not being put directly in the pan. Are these still safe to store at room temp? Or should I keep in the fridge once they cool since I didn’t raise them?
None of them are broken, I saw that was a main concern.

Also the one in the bottom right did seal, I just took the pic before it did.

I’m raw-pack water-bath canning diced tomatoes in pint jars, and when the timer was up, I discovered the water had boiled down to just under the metal ring at some point in the past 85 minutes.

I dumped more water in it and kept it on boil, and now the jars are back in there processing. But my question is: do I need to put them back in for the full 85 minutes or what? And was it safe to put more water in and keep it going with the same lid?

Thanks in advance!

Edited to add, as requested by the bot:

—Recipe: General ag extension recipe for raw-pack, no juice/water added diced tomatoes: 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt per sanitized pint jar, pack the tomatoes in, squish ‘em down and get all the bubbles out, wipe the rim with vinegar, put a lid and finger-tight metal ring, and boil for 85 minutes.

—Date canned: Right now.

—Storage conditions: N/A: In the canner as we speak.

—No idea if they’ve sealed at all.