First photo: cucumber pickles. Headspace is about 3/4 inch.

Second photo: First two cans are zucchini pickles; third is cucumber pickles. Left can has about 1 inch of headspace and the other two have about 3/4 inch. On the off chance it matters, the left two are reused jars with new lids.

I followed the recipe on the Ball website and water-bath processed for 20 minutes, which should be right for my elevation (1,600 ft) and left in the pot with lid and heat off for 5 minutes before removing the jars.

This is my first time canning pickles, so I'm probably a little paranoid about doing it right. I made strawberry jam a couple weeks ago and that went off without a hitch, other than some fruit float.

by ninjalibrarian

6 Comments

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  2. BoozeIsTherapyRight

    You’re fine. If you end up with lots of headspace it could be that you didn’t de-bubble thoroughly, so something to look at for next time. 

    As long as they sealed, you’re fine. If there’s too much headspace the food might not stay high quality as long as it would have with less headspace, but you don’t have so much space that it’s a safety issue.

    https://www.healthycanning.com/the-role-of-headspace-in-home-canning/

  3. Another vote of confidence here. I usually murk up a round or 2 of tomatoes every year headspace wise coming out of the canner before I get my rhythm back down. I’ve always just put those at the front of the line and have only lost a couple in about a decade.

  4. Deppfan16

    as long as there’s at least 50% liquid post-processing they are safe. quality may suffer however especially with stuff like pickles

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