I might be overthinking this, but here’s what went down: four days ago, I attempted my first water bath canned recipe ever. I made grape jam from an untested recipe off Serious Eats. (I hadn’t found this subreddit yet!) I boiled the canned jam for 10 minutes per the recipe.
It didn’t set, so I put it in the fridge to see whether that would help. It didn’t. It’s still in the fridge with the rings on finger tight. (Again, hadn’t found this sub yet — please be gentle.)
Now that I’ve found this sub and learned A TON in a short period of time, I’m worried about taking the cans out of the fridge and taking off the rings for future storage. Will pulling them out and removing the lids give me false seal issues since they’ve been in the cold for so long? I’m concerned about the temp change. I’d still like to share my grape syrup with my friends and neighbors if it’s safe. Is it safe?
Thank you!
ETA: This is the [recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-grape-jam), which I followed. I guess a better framing of my question is: will taking the cans out and removing the lids have a negative impact on the seal? It sounds like there are a couple votes for “call it fridge jam/syrup and remove all doubts.” Which is legit, and I appreciate the advice!
by no-fear-cavalier
4 Comments
As long as it was refrigerated promptly and has been kept refrigerated you’re safe until you grow mold whether sealed, false sealed, or unsealed.
Regarding safety, if you just made a simple grape jam, it’s very possible that it matches a reputable source like NCHFP or a pectin manufacturer. You would need to share the recipe in order for anybody to evaluate it. Here’s one example: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/grape_jam_without_pectin.html.
It’s not that clear to me if rapid temperature changes can weaken the seal, but you can always just tell people to keep it refrigerated. When did you refrigerate the jars?
Given that it’s an untested recipe, no one here can tell you that what you made is safe to store at room temperature. If you keep it in the fridge and gift it to people and tell them it’s fridge jam, you should be okay
If [this is the recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/concord-grape-jam-recipe-grape-jelly) you can compare it to a tested one but it looks good. The processing is correct (10 minutes, sit for 5)and if you followed it correctly, you’re okay.