For the homemaker who preserves her family’s food for the winter knowing canning problems and solutions is an important part of canning. Whether you use a hot water bath, or pressure canner, the problems and solutions are often the same.
Jars don’t seal. Jars break. The liquid leaks out of your jars while canning. Jars unseal after they have been canned and shelved.
I’m not THE expert on canning, but I’ve been canning for over 10 years and thought I would share a few common solutions below. The one thing I don’t do is oven canning, I’ve just recently heard of it and am really on the fence as to whether or not it’s really safe.
The canning problems and solutions I’m referring to are for the hot water bath method of canning and pressure canning only.
Common Canning Problems and Solutions:
Problem #1: Jars do not seal.
Solutions.
Always check the rim of your jar before filling. Even small chips can prevent a jar from sealing, and if the jar does seal, chances are it will unseal later. As well, make sure there is no food residue left on the rim from filling.
Never reuse canning lids. They should always be new when you put them on the jar. You can also put your lids into boiling hot water to soften the seal part of it before putting the lids on your jars.
Make sure you are canning your foods for the proper amount of time. If your food hasn’t been heated to a certain degrees it will not seal right.
Problem #2: Jars Break.
Solutions.
Sometimes I fill jars and put them into the fridge and can them the next day. Those jars are very cold, and if I were to put warm water in the canner and turn it on the water would heat up too fast and the jars could break because they are still cold. My rule of thumb is that I put water into the canner at a similar temperature as the jars are.
Pulling hot jars out of the canner into a cold room. This has only happened to me once, but I opened the canner and promptly pulled the jar out while a fan was blowing air from the AC right at it. The jar popped and everything fell back into the canner. What a mess!
Problem #3: Liquid Leaks out of the Jars.
Solution.
I have the most problems with fruit doing this. I fill the jars with fruit and water, can them and pull them out of the canner. Suddenly the liquid is just pouring right between the jar and the lid. And before it stops my jar has lost 1/3 of it’s liquid. The jars usually seal, but the fruit ends up mushy. The key here is making sure you do not over-can. Just like under-canning causes issues, over-canning can as well.
Problem #4: Jars unseal after they have been shelved.
Solutions.
The ph balance is wrong. Research ph balance if you are going to be canning high acid foods like tomatoes.
You canned something that cannot be canned. Um, yes. Been there done that. One summer mother and I and canned 20+ pint of our homemade mushroom sauce. A week later we started smelling something horrible in the pantry. Turns out milk and flour cannot be canned together. Even in a sealed jar the milk and flour started to ferment and the fermentation process created gas which unsealed the jars and let off an obnoxious odor.
I really hope my list of common canning problems and solutions can help you out! Canning is a wonderful way to save money and feed your family lovely foods during the winter (we even can meats!), so I wish you good luck and happy canning.
For proper food safety and canning visit: FoodSafety.Gov.
Thank you quite helpful! Have you ever had a brand new lid do like a little ‘nipple’ on the side of the lid, but is still sealed? I figured, if it’s sealed, it’s fine. Just keep an eye on the two in the pantry. They were both new jars, lids and rings. What is your opinion on this?
Thanks again,
Thelma
I’m not sure what you mean by a little nipple? Mostly likely they are fine, but keeping an eye on them would be a very good idea.
I jelly sealed and then the next day it popped unseal the next day. What can cause this
I’m not sure what you are referring to by “jelly sealed”
I made some relish and can’t find my life to can what do i do
lids but can jar it tomorrow
I’m not sure I understand your question. Sorry I’m just now responding.
I canned apple pie filling for the first time fall 2016, everything sealed fine and now I went to pull one off the shelf and over 3/4 of them unsealed and had so much pressure in the jar it was blowing the lids off when I unscrewed them! What can I do to prevent this in the future? I’ve canned tomatoes and salsa with no issues!! SOS!!
Hmmm first off, what a bummer! We lost a batch of canned goods one year and I wanted to cry the entire time we dumped the once tasty, now smelly and rotten stuff out of the jars.
I’m wondering what the recipe was though. Was it a recipe intended for canning? Flour and milk will ferment if canned together and will blow the lids right off. That was our issue.
If you can show me the recipe I may be able to help…
We canned potatoes for the first time this summer. When I used them this week, they were extremely metallic tasting. I haven’t had this problem before. Any thoughts? Thanks
I am not sure! We’ve not canned potatoes in the past. Maybe a lack of salt though?
What would make the lids on our canned tomatoes distort while processing so that when we take theme out they looked a little bent in spots. some of the lids did not seal even on the ones that were not distorted. New jars and lids were used. How long do you have the lids in hot water before you place on the jars. Do you boil them (the lids)? How long to you process? Bring back to a boil and then time?
I don’t boil the lids, rather just soak them in hot water. I’ve never heard of the lids warping though. That is interesting.
I canned beef stew for the first time and half of the liquid boiled out (grrrrr) I know what I did wrong but is that batch still safe to eat? Or safe to be on the shelf? Everything sealed .. Would love your thoughts on this … Thanks!!
I’ve canned meat in the past and lost a bit of liquid. I ended up just tossing any meat that was out of the broth, and used the rest.
We are having to go salt free for health reasons. When recipes like salsa, veggies, etc. call for salt and I do not put it in, does this change the canning time?
I wouldn’t think so. I’ve accidentally forgotten to add salt in the past and aside from the food tasting rather bland, there wasn’t any issues.
I recently canned green beans and lost water in the jars. Can I still use them? Some of the beans are not covered. Thanks
I’d honestly put those jars in the fridge and use quickly. Losing water from the jars is a result of “overboiling” My presto canners often caused overboiling because the “jigglers” (weights) let the pressure out pretty easy and as a result, my canners had to be kept at a higher heat to keep the pressure up.
Now I have All American canners and they are a bit scary in that they don’t let ANY pressure out so I have to stay right with them. But once they get to pressure, I can turn the heat almost all the way down and they stay at pressure without excess boiling.