I made Ball's cranberry port jelly yesterday. I measured the headspace before the water bath at 1/4 inch and almost every jar looks completely full 24 hours later. There's also more siphoning than I expected showing on the rings, has anyone made this recipe before and had this happen?
A couple specific concerns:
Debubbling was a nightmare because the tool just pushed up the jelly almost over the edge with every move, is this true of most jams/jellies? (This is the first time I have canned either product)
The product was VERY thick going into the jars, I followed the recipe timing exactly but perhaps I over-reduced? Should jelly be a jelly-consistency prior to water bathing?
The yield was almost double what the recipe called for (4 x 1/2 pints) and I got 7 x 1/2 pints plus 1 x 1/4 pint. (This is following the exact recipe amounts and I double checked that the weights/volumes matched up)
I noticed as I was pressing the jelly through the strainer that there was a lot of liquid left, so I squeezed it through the mesh strainer a lot harder and maybe this is where I went wrong? Is it possible I strained too much, like there are strained solids in there that shouldn't be?
Are any of the above issues safety concerns? Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm mainly perplexed because I was SO careful about keeping 1/4 inch headspace but I suppose it's possible I over-corrected by filling too much. I'm definitely overthinking this one because it's intended for family xmas gifts.
Many thanks, as always, to this amazing community for any insights!
by 1ittle1auren
5 Comments
Hi u/1ittle1auren,
For accessibility, please reply to this comment with a transcription of the screenshot or alt text describing the image you’ve posted. We thank you for ensuring that the visually impaired can fully participate in our discussions!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Canning) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Did you check the headspace before or after debubbling? What debubbling tool do you use?
I’m only addressing your concern on yield in general as I have not made this specific recipe, so would be giving you poor advice on your first two concerns.
For Ball/Bernardin recipes measured by weight I always find my yield to be much higher than what the recipe says, as opposed to recipes measured by volume which are typically bang on the expected yield. The two I make most often are the strawberry jam and roasted salsa verde recipes. I get a range of 1.5-3x the recipe yield per batch. As for safety, I am not an accredited lab, but trust that after following the recipe exactly, the can is as safe as reasonably possible and am comfortable serving/eating it.
I’m curious on how the jelly tastes, and if it’s a recipe you’d recommend. For the cost and time that goes into canning, I don’t want to make stuff we can’t eat, and would appreciate any feedback you have on this one.
When I canned my cranberry sauce last month I found it odd that NCHFP called for 1/2” headspace rather than 1/4” like jams usually have. In my mind it is a jam not a sauce but the headspace suggests it acts more like applesauce. Maybe your recipe would have benefited from more headspace.
I’d double check that you didn’t mix up a measurement? If you have 1 or even 2 jars extra of jellies it happens but to nearly double it is extreme and not typical.
I’ve not had issues debubbling and stuff flowing over and I use a butter knife, one of the cheap debubbling tools or I have this cake tester thing that designed to help get cake out but also works great as a debubbler. You may want to not fill all the way, debubble, and top off.
I have had some jellies be nearly liquid when going in and some not quite jelly but very thick. So I wouldn’t worry to much about the consistency.
There are a couple recipes out there but that seem to have incorrect head space. Such as the apple pie filling one, that one people regularly have issues with and its suggest to increase the headspace. Personally I find recipes with a 1/4 inch headspace are prone to siphoning too.
Did you make sure to leave it in the canner for 5 minutes after the hard boiling processing time? If that step is skipped your almost guaranteed to have siphoning.
The good news is as long as the jar sealed they’re safe to store. You want to carefully wash them and use them first as they’ll be more prone to randomly breaking the seal.