Ok, so this is my first time ever making marmalade and canning. We have a Seville orange tree and they’re too potent to eat so I decided to give marmalade a whirl. Well, I made a batch and put one jar in the fridge with plans to store the others. I went to go put these away after a few days and I noticed that some of the tops are sealed down while others will pop — do I need to throw those away? Is there a way to check to see if they’re ok? Thanks is advance!!
by katelynhart
1 Comment
There are a few layers to your question.
First, what recipe and process did you follow? Missing more than one or two seals in a batch is often indicative of something wrong in the process. And to answer one of your questions, the default position is that if the jar is not sealed, it is not okay to leave on the shelf.
Generally, if you follow a tested canning process for any food and miss a seal, you have twenty-four hours to get it into the refrigerator. This is because the process kills off all pathogens inside the jar, and they don’t get in easily after that. If you didn’t follow such a process, then there’s no guarantee that everything was destroyed, so remaining pathogens could multiply and contaminate the food.
This said, marmalade is a high-acid and high-sugar product, which is a poor environment for bacterial growth. It’s not the worst thing in the world to leave an opened marmalade jar out of refrigeration for a little bit, but it does invite mold growth. Since it’s your first time and you encountered an issue, it’s better to stay on the side of caution. A few days out on the counter is kind of a lot.