Canning Lids

[Beth]

Does anyone else do any canning? My huisband made some dill pickled last night, and when he took the jars out of the hot water bath, the lids were pushed up in the center, as in bent out, not the normal little curve. They went down and appeared to seal okay, but we're wondering what happened and if our pickles are okay. Our first thought was headspace; cheked that and it seems to be right per the recipe. Any thought would be appreciated.

[Teresa]

I do alot of canning and when you take the jars out of the bath, the seal only forms a little after. Often you hear a 'toc' sound within 5-30 minutes. As long as the seal is made they should be ok. One other thought - when you apply the seals and rings, the rings should only be fastened finger-tip tight, not really tight. Perhaps you had the rings on too tight, and the air had a harder time to get out, causing a buidup. I just read this over and I wonder if I am making sense? Please excuse my grammer and sentence structure (and spelling).
Teresa

[Deanna]

Teresa, I did a bit of reading (and have done a bit of canning myself), and the first thing that came to my mind was perhaps they had tightened the rings too tight, as well.

However, I think as long as the seals are good and tight now (make sure there is a little indentation on the lid) you should be okay. If they are still bulged up, you will need to re-process.

[Beth]

Thanks for the input. You were both right with the too tight answer. The folks who make the lids also said the lids were probably on too tight. I helped remove some of the rings, and they were very tight.

The other possibility was too much air in the jar from too much head space or trapped bubbles. They said to be sure, reprocess or refrigerate, because air trapped in the jar could support bacteria growth.

Think this is another of those gender-based tendencies (if a little tight is good,....)?Oh well, sometimes experience seems to be a better teacher than words of wisdom. We're still having fun, and the picante sauce is great. I'' post the recipe if anyone has excess tomatoes. Goes great with those margaritas we've all been talking about!

[Deanna]

Beth, what say I bring a pitcher of margs, we get someone else to bring the chips, and let's just have a party at YOUR place????

=^..^=

[tammy/MN]

i can make those baked pita chips or tortilla chips from another post! :0)

[Mamasue]

And I will bring the sour cream....low-fat of course! LOL http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Beth]

Sounds great! We may have to add a pitcher of the watermelon lemonade too. Anyone tried making watermelon margaritas? I saw a recipe last summer and think I may have to try to find it. I saw the post about the restaurant/bar that had over 100 kinds of margaritas. Sounds like a potential site for the convention/get-together discussed on the old board!