I canned some peaches in water according to my Presto canner directions (pressure, 6lbs, 8mins) yesterday. The sliced peaches were placed in the jars and covered with water with 1” headspace prior to going into the canner. They processed without incident, came out boiling and sealed promptly.
This morning when I checked them, the seals held, but the liquid (now cooled and not boiling) has reduced to below the level of the fruit. It has also become more syrupy (higher viscosity). I did several pints and they all came out like this.
Are these jars safe for the shelf? Do the peaches need to be covered with liquid once sealed?
If I have made a mistake, I would welcome advice to correct it for the future. I use canning to preserve food, not waste it. TIA for any help!
by Mother_Cat_Starii
1 Comment
Peaches are a high acid fruit and do not require pressure canning, even though there are instructions to do so with the pressure canning manual. You will get a much better result next time if you water bath can them and you aren’t saving a whole lot of time anyway by using the pressure canner since you have to count the time it takes to heat up, process and naturally cool down. It looks like quite a bit of siphoning happened so that can be a result of rushing the cooling down process. You’ve also repurposed commercial canning jars which is not advised (and especially for pressure canning) because the glass is not made the same as the glass from proper canning jars.
That said, if at least 50% of the contents are submerged with liquid, it should be okay. The tops that are exposed will discolour but that is just aesthetics.