Making and preserving jams and sauces

[Astrid]

Wonder why I have no trouble when I don't turn over the jars? Would it be due to using hot jars and hot lids? I keep the lids in a saucepan of hot water whilst I am bottling.

[Trillian]

Yeah it's because you are doing it that way. I used to do it like that and never had a problem with it sealing either. I just changed to the upside down thing because it meant I didn't have to faff around with hot jars and hot liquid. I can have my jars all set up ready to go and then pour straight into it and seal.

[OceanPrincess]

Trill that's what I've been trying. Not the tapping thing but the clean dry sterile jars, pour in the liquid, seal and turn upside down. Two of them yesterday leaked when I turned them, I sealed them tighter (ow on my poor fingers) and turned them upside down again, they didn't leak but they didn't vacuum. One only had a small amount of jam so i figured maybe there wasn't enough heat to pull it down or something, but the other one was almost full and didn't pop down. I think the jars are just cheap and nasty, I got them from a $2 type shop. So I might check Big W next time I'm there, or gumtree in the mean time.

I wish I'd been saving jars... I will from now on, but my 3kgs of strawberries need to be used before I will have enough jars...

The jams will still be ok won't they? Unsealed? The ones I did yesterday, that didn't pop down? Just means I have to use them now and not keep them?

[Trillian]

They will be absolutely fine, but yeah you will need to use them now and not store for later. Keep them in the fridge too if you have room. I leave mine till they are 100% cooled down before turning back over too.

[JLeigh29]

DH is our jam maker - he uses the bread maker to make it. He got jars from a wholesaler. He had to buy 36, but they are huge and only $1 each. We also preserved olives, so we've made use of a few jars. No issues with sealing here either - we use cooled, hot water sterilised jars, hot jam and seal straight away. The jar is only ⅔ full and still seals fine without upending. Doesn't overly matter though as we eat it straight away and store in the fridge.

We've made various berry jams (with frozen berries), pineapple jam and our latest is orange and lemon marmalade.