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klein5366

pressure canning help boiling juice out

klein5366
11 years ago

i'm new to canning and pressure canning, we cut our corn and filled our jars added hot water and salt, boiled our lids, put them in the pressure caner brought the pressure up to 10 lb for 55 minutes and some of our water boiled out of the jars, leaving the corn above the liquid level in the jars is this ok or what am i doing wrong? i live at sea level, i'm using a presto cooker, the book calls for 55 minutes at 10 lb steam. we put about 2 inches of water in the cooker so what am i doing wrong ?

Comments (2)

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    11 years ago

    I'm no expert, but 2" of water sounds like not enough. But that shouldn't cause the juice to escape IMHO. Did you let the pressure come down naturally or did you vent it?

    If you let air in the P-cooker before it cools by venting the juice will boil out of the jars.

    The experts will give you a better answer.

  • digdirt2
    11 years ago

    Several contributing factors but first I strongly recommend you review the link below for proper use of a pressure canner. And I hope it was a canner you were using, not a pressure cooker.

    Loss of liquid in jars during pressure canning is caused by either a) absorption of the liquid by the foods and/or b) what is called siphoning (liquid getting sucked out of the jars).

    You used raw pack for your corn rather than hot pack and raw pack will always absorb some of the liquid. Plus you likely over-filled the jars with corn and not enough liquid. The corn needs to be very loosely packed so it freely moves around in the liquid.

    Siphoning is caused by too rapid and/or too frequent heat adjustments during processing. Fluctuating heat causes fluctuating pressures in the canner and must be avoided but that takes practice. It is far better to let the pressure run too high than it is to play with the heat source trying to get it perfect.

    Further siphoning happens if you do not follow proper cool down procedures. When gauge reaches 0 you remove the counter-wight off the vent tube, wait 10 mins and then remove the lid, wait a few more min. until the liquid in the jars stops actively boiling, then remove the jars.

    And that brings up the issues of if you are using a gauge model canner or a weight model canner and the issues associated with both. Since you said 10 lbs instead of 11 lbs. I assume it is a weighted canner not a gauge one as they require 11 lbs. to compensate for the fact that the gauges are inaccurate. You need to buy the 3 piece wight set for your Presto canner and use weights, not gauges.

    And yes you do need more than 2 inches of water in the canner especially for such a long processing time. 3 quarts is the minimum recommendation.

    As this point based on the info you have provided there is no way to tell if your corn is properly processed and safe or not. I would recommend freezing this batch for safety sake.

    Pressure canning is not something to just jump into at the deep end. It takes homework and practice to do it correctly and to get safely processed food. You will find many discussions here on 'loss liquid', 'siphoning', 'Presto weight set', 'gauge testing' etc. but the source linked below covers most of the basics.

    Dave

    PS: you do not boil the lids as that can destroy the sealing compound, they are only heated to a light simmer.

    Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - How to use a pressure canner