I’m new to canning and absolutely love it, by I’m failing at getting the jars stuffed without smashing the fruit.
I just canned some peaches and the jars were stuffed full, but after processing there’s about a two inch gap at the bottom of the jars.
Any suggestions on how to avoid that in the future?
by ChiMama89
4 Comments
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Pack them tighter. Working as intended though, they are lighter than water.
You didn’t do anything wrong. As raw peaches are heated, the fruit pieces soften and conform to each other. So what started as a full jar of raw fruit ends up with cooked fruit floating on top and syrup below. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Best you can do is ensure there are no air bubbles and pack the fruit pieces reasonably tightly without actually smashing them. But even if you do everything perfectly, you’re still going to see this happen.
And that syrup is delicious!
Sometimes regular-mouth jars work better for holding fruit down. You could also try halves instead of slices.