I am so happy to report that my pressure canning problem is finally solved!
It only took me a couple of years.......... but apparently, I have not been tightening the bands enough. They really need to clarify what "finger tip tight" means. My "finger tip" tight is obviously not tight enough for pressure canning.
After doing lots of reading and researching, I still didn't find much answer. I redid and redid only to find one or two jars properly sealed after about 2 hours worth of effort.... I don't know how many times I repeated pressure canning the same jars (of course, changing the lids each time)..... until I finally decided to tighten the lids a little more than I usually do. I would say, "Hand tight" and not "finger tip tight." For me, that is.
Then, when I opened my pressure canner lid....... whoa!!!!! all seven of my quart jars sealed to perfection!
This is the kind of stuff that you really can't learn from books or internet. Unfortunately, my husband and I do not have grandparents or parents who were into this kind of stuff in their early years. And we have been learning everything from books, blogs, and internet.
At least, now we know.
I am happy to hear that you solved your problem! My mother and grandmother did a lot of canning. But neither of them used a pressure canner. Now I will know when I get one!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Robin. You are right. Even if we had mothers and grandmothers who canned, they probably wouldn't have had a pressure canner! It's pretty insane to follow everything that USDA suggests, but I guess it's better to be super safe than sorry, especially when we give out half of these things to people. I'm just glad that I don't have to waste more time and money! I'll look forward to your pressure canning adventure when you get one!
DeleteHow tight to twist the canning bands is one of the hardest things to get a feel for! My canning teacher showed me what's meant by "finger tip" tight but I prefer thinking "snug." It seems that pressure canning does require a tighter (or more snug) lid than using a bwb.
ReplyDeleteSnug - that's a great way to put it! I can now believe why they actually sell this tool to tighten the lids just right! My results using the BWB method were always good, so I guess the pressure canning is a bit different. It only took me a few years to figure this out - better than never.
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