After the processing, as I went to remove them from the canner, I noticed that the water level over the cans was only about 1/4" - 1/2". I did not notice this during the processing because the water was boiling at a pretty heavy roil.

As I removed the cans from the canner, several of them immediately made that popping sound (usually that comes later as they're cooling). The seals are intact/solid this morning.

Are these okay to keep on the shelf? Do I need to reprocess? (I don't want to fridge or freeze.) I'm just wondering about losing that 1/2" or more of water over the tops during boiling. I searched the forum but couldn't find an answer, either here or in the Ball book or on the NCHFP site.

Thanks!

And you should start with more water over the jars for that long a processing time. As the guidelines say "For process times over 30 minutes, the water level should be 2 inches above the jars."

But that is a minimum requirement. It is easy enough to submerge 1/2 pint jars under 3 or even 4 inches of water and then you don't have to worry. Otherwise, you should lift the lid and check the water level periodically during the processing.

That said, the choice to reprocess or not is ultimately yours to make. It all depends on how much you want assured safety for shelf storage. Many would be perfectly comfortable with your jars, others would not.

Dave

Ah. I missed that. I had only read to do 1" above if the jars are hot-packed and 2" above if the jars are raw-packed. I started out with only 1" because I cooked the paste for hours and hours so I figured I'd have to call that "hot pack"! LOL.

If I decide to reprocess and the lids are already sealed, can I just put the screw-tops back on and put the jars back in like they are now and start the BWB over? Or do I need to open them all and start with new lids?

Some would probably do as you suggest but consider this - Just sticking cold jars back into hot water doesn't get them up to full temperature for the full length of time. So the processing is a waste of time and energy. They are supposed to be already hot going in, right? So if you put them in cold instead not only do you risk breaking the jars from thermal shock but at least half your processing time would be used just getting the food in the jars hot again. The only way they would be truly processed is if you doubled the time.

So if you want to do it right that would mean you have to dump the jars back into a pot, reheat it all to boiling (cold pack isn't an option with tomato paste), refill the jars, use clean jars, new lids and and reprocess correctly for the correct time.

Your choice. I just figure that if I am going to spend the time and effort to do it all in the first place then I might as well do it right. :)

1" above if the jars are hot-packed and 2" above if the jars are raw-packed.

As mentioned above - that is the MINIMUM allowed. 2" is the recommended minimum for all things and nothing says you can't have more covering them. The guidelines also tell us to check the water level during processing.

Dave