So I’ve never made apple jelly before, and I’m wondering if I need to water bath can these or if the seals are good? I made the jelly, sterilized jars and held them in the oven at 225F until I put the boiling jelly into the jars and put lids straight from boiling onto the jars. They all are “sealed” but I don’t know if I need to water bath them as well? Like if it’s maybe just a false seal… they’ve sat a couple days on the counter, I had full intentions of water bathing them right after processing them, but it just didn’t happen… so I guess I’m wondering if this batch is just going to be chicken food or if it’s still safe? …Help me?
Ps the dusty looking lids is due to the hard well water I think it’s high in calcium or something…they are clean.
by Alternative-Night918
4 Comments
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Jars should never go in the oven. They are not designed for oven heat.
Anything you can needs to either be water bath canned or pressure canned (a canning recipe will specify). This makes sure that all potential spoilers are killed and that the food will be shelf stable. That way you’re not risking anything going bad or anyone getting sick. At this point, the contents of the jars is considered unsafe.
Please take a look at tested recipes in our wiki for future canning projects. They will specify preparation process, ingredients, headspace, processing method, and processing time. Then you don’t have to worry if your food is safe!
Oven canning is considered an unsafe canning practice, and some people consider jellies over the 250ml size to be unsafe as well as the heat takes that much longer to penetrate the jelly.
Reprocessing in a water bath – with FRESH lids cleaned with soap and water, is an essential step. But going forward, following a tested recipe and being mindful of what size jars you’re using for the specific recipe will give you a much more safe result.
You have an assortment of different sized jars. Best practice is to follow a tested recipe and method which should list what size of jar to use for that specific canned item. The processing times will be tested on that size jar. Depending on altitude, it usually only takes 10 minutes to process in a water bath canner.