canning advice please! :) I made a jack daniel's spicy pinepple grilling glaze>>

M

michelle

Well-known member
for the farmer's market. I've canned them (using self-sealing lids), but as I was looking at them on the counter today I wondered if they should be in the fridge? For the liquid ingredients, there was 2 cups water, 2 cups pineapple juice, a can of crushed pineapple (plus the juice), 2 cups brown sugar............do you think it is acidic/sweet enough to stay out of the fridge?

thanks!

 
actually, with the self-sealing jars>>

you don't water process them. I spoke with the manufacturer (they're for commercial applications), & if the contents are hot when they're put in (it had just been boiling), & the jars are hot (they were sterlized previously, then i baked them in the oven, took them out just before filling) & the lids are hot (took them directly out of boiling water & placed on the jar)..................they seal on their own. i had been water processing, & apparently i was lucky the jars didn't explode on me!

 
I don't think this is adequate at all,

You basically have no acid and a lot of sweet. I don't understand "self sealing" jars. Are you talking about jars with 2 part lids and a rubbery substance against the glass?
Jars will seal on their own by the cooling process--creates a vacuum. But this has nothing to do with the safety of the contents. Why don't you want to process in a water bath. I think if you are selling these they need to be pretty much guaranteed to be processed correctly. Just my opinion.

 
the jars are one piece, a screw on lid that you would see on any condiment/mustard/relish jar in

the grocery store. There is a sealing compound around the inside of the lid, and a button in the middle of the lid that visibly gets sucked down once it has been sealed. According to the commercial manufacturer of the lids, this is all that is required. It was clearly NOT recommended to water process the bottles once the lids have been screwed on.

 
These jars are "legal" as you used them for jams, jellies, etc,(more)

and you are right not to water bath them
I would recommend that your customers refrigerate the jars, as soon as the lids "pop up".
These jars are a change from the old two piece lid jars and are sold commercially.

 
yes - i put 'refrigerate after opening' on the labels - re: this recipe, I tried buying pH strips

from a big pharmacy here, & they seemed puzzled that I thought they would have them. I know a pool/jacuzzi place would have them - does anyone have any other ideas?

thx

michelle

 
Get some of the pHydrion pH paper and . . .(Master Food Preserving talk)

test the sauce/glaze to make sure it is indeed acid enough to safely can this way. (pH a lower value number than 4.5, like 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, etc.). Pineapple is an acid fruit and it sounds as if your glaze *might* be acid enough to home preserve under the right conditions--but you will not be sure unless you have some way to test the glaze's acid content, and the easiest way is pH paper.

There is a self-sealing method with jars with 2 piece lids, but we (Master Food Preservers) do not recommend it as the results can be somewhat iffy. The times I had sucessfully used the above method was when making jam and the jars were hot, on a dry towel to insulate them from the cold counter top, the lids were hot, the contents were just boiled, and then I capped and sealed the jars, turned them upside down on the dry towel and let them cool. I no longer use this method as I live in a hot area and my household temperatures fluctuate too much and have had seal failures using it.

The procedure you describe sounds like the old-fashioned "open-kettle" canning method. This method is NOT recommeded any more for safety's sake.

I would recommend processing in a boiling water bath at least 5 minutes, if not longer, depending on the size of the jar, just to insure you pull a really good vacuum and that you do indeed kill off organizims that may cause failure to seal or sickness.

All you need is one customer to get sick and have it traced to your product and then you will be regretting the experience greatly. Check with your County Agricultural Extension office for more information, and get some pH paper!

 
thank you all for your input - i rushed over to one of the labs i use as an engineer & got a few

strips from them. It appears that the pH of the sauce is borderline; they were only out on my counter for about 8 hrs after processing; they're in the fridge now, & i'll keep them chilled tomorrow at the market.

So with a recipe like this, what should I do to avoid having to refrigerate them, or is that not going to be an option?

 
These are basically the same as the two part lids.When water processing

you don't screw them down very tightly. The water processing causes the contents to expand, and expel the air. When you remove them from the water bath you screw them down and then the vacuum is formed.
I think you need to water process them.

 
And yes, with jams and jellies with a high sugar content they will be perfectly

fine. I never water process my jams and jellies.

 
Hi michelle...

you need to add some acid to your product. Since you are making a bbq glaze, I would add some cider vinegar. That shouldn't alter the flavor too much, and it might actually improve it. The other thing about pineapple, there is an enzyme in it that will allow it to ferment if it is not brought up to a certain temperature that will break the enzyme down. I used to boil my pineapple bbq sauce for at least 10 minutes, before bottling it, then i processed it for 20 minutes. I know it was overkill, but I chose to err on the side of safety. I was never worried about any of my products going off. I don't know anything about the one-piece caps, so I cannot help you there. Check your email when you get home from the market.

 
I think food safe is very conservative and for good reason. . . More MFP talk. . .

a commercial producer has to be very careful as not the same people may be making the product from day to day. AND if you make someone sick, you are not going to be in business anymore. . .

We were taught in Master Food Preservers that an acid number of 4.6 or below is perfectly safe for home canning.

BUT I had a fellow MFP try to jump through the FDA hoops to sell a family hot chile relish and the FDA wanted a much lower pH on the product (much more acid product), something on the order of 4.0 or lower.

 
Yes, Durward has a point,as there would be BOTH acid to prevent bacterial growth AND

high sugar content to inhibit the availability of water to bacteria (salt works the same way), but to be on the safe side, why don't you add some more acid to bring the pH to 4.6, or 4.3?

AND watch out for vinegar as it is very volatile and if cooked too long will boil out of the food you wish to can, making for a less acid product. A little citric acid goes a long way. . .

 
Michelle,

could you post the glaze recipe--I'ma thinkin' I wanna make some to use (and maybe test and can!).

 
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