Is my self canned tomato sauce safe to eat?

[Lazy Gardener]

I always took that as the suggestion anyway. Ball has on its packaging 18 months strong now.

i think they're fine for years once sealed and not abused. i think it's just a marketing thing really. like the constant changes in amounts and packaging and then claiming "Now X% more!", etc. uh, who me cynical? heh...

I would take those statements with a 50# salt lick. Why wouldn't a manufacturer want you to pitch a box of lids that you bought a few years ago? If they can convince you that those lids aren't safe, because they are OLD, then... they'll have you running out to buy some new ones... just in case. I re-use my lids, and will on rare occasion have a seal fail in the processing. But, I have NEVER had a seal fail after it's gone into the pantry. My Walmart lids seal just as well as name brand lids, and there is not expiration date on them.

I often see folks recommend all sorts of practices that are not best practice. Such as: turn the jar upside down when it comes out of the canner. Tighten down the ring after it comes out of the canner. Leave the ring on the jar, after it comes out of the canner.

When I remove a jar, it sets on a towel till cool. Then... I remove the ring, and wash the top of the jar. Then, it goes into storage, and is stored out of sunlight. Best practice is to not stack them.

BTW, I suggest that all of you home canners: be sure you have all the lids AND CANNING SUPPLIES you will need this season... purchased and ready to go long before canning season actually arrives.

 

[Hinotori]

Yes I'm bad because I stack pints in stacks of 2 because my space is very limited. Tuna is stacked in it's boxes with cardboard between the 2 layers. I remove all rings and wipe though. Rings get zip tied (or string) in bunches and hung on a wide hook to store out of the way. Zip ties make for easy washing.

I had a couple packs of lids from around 2008 I found and used last year. Not one issue with them. Just check for dry rot.

I usually keep things for up to two years. Stuff tends to loose flavor over that long. Growing up we ate canned grapes and grape juice that was several years old. It all depended on when Mom remembered we had it.

 

[Britesea]

I was told that the danger with stacking your filled jars is that if a jar loses its seal for some reason, the second jar on top could press down and "reseal" it, but there would still be a chance that bacteria had entered the compromised jar. Once it had resealed though, you would not know this had happened.
Maybe it's true, maybe not. I choose to err on the cautious side and I don't stack them. Instead, I use something like this:

I found some that were tall enough for a pint jar to fit underneath with about 1/2"clearance.

 

[Hinotori]

I listen to every jar I open. Was taught that as a little kid. That goes for store canned and jarred goods as well.

First I always try to remove a lid with my thumb and nail. I've caught several jars over the years that way. I'm not happy with the Tattler lids because they are much more likely to fail that test on me.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Do those (racks) stand up well under the weight of full pints or quarts?

 

[Britesea]

so far they have, @Lazy Gardener

 

[flowerbug]

that is why we leave the rings on because we have to stack them, we also put flats of cardboard between the boxes so there is two layers of cardboard between the jars and the rings holding things on. we've not had more than one or two seal failures over the years (thousands of quarts) and i know one of those was from a jar that had a chip on the rim that wasn't caught.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

It just might make sense that: If the ring was loose, this would hold the weight of the jars in the next layer UP OFF the lid, thus, protecting the seal from the so called concern about faiure and re-sealing. The ring would be supported by the threads instead of bearing down on the lid. Just a thought.

 

[SS Project Manager]

I had plans last night to try some of our canned tomato sauce last night. However when we tasted it, there were some strange flavors like beef bouillon or Worcester sauce.
It didn’t taste sour or bitter, however it is likely to be 2 or 3 years old.
Any advice?
Thanks!!!!!!

Wow this is a pretty interesting topic! Even I learned a lot from this thread! Congrats on getting featured on our homepage!

 

[flowerbug]

It just might make sense that: If the ring was loose, this would hold the weight of the jars in the next layer UP OFF the lid, thus, protecting the seal from the so called concern about faiure and re-sealing. The ring would be supported by the threads instead of bearing down on the lid. Just a thought.

it's a nice try, but in our case the ring is on tight.