Last week my anxieties about pressure canning were revealed to me, my family and anyone reading Virgin Homesteader. But this week I have conquered my anxieties, and overcome my leakage problem…
After a couple days of prep to get to the point, I had taken my jars of carrots out only to find that I was missing lots of liquid. I reached out to Urban Homesteading, Canning, Cooking, Baking, and Gardening, (a private Facebook group that you can request to join), where I learned that I could solve my problem by doing things slowly, heating the canner slowly, and turning it down (slowly) after the weights start rocking to preserve the broth in my jars, and the water in the canner too. So, I separated the carrots from the broth, put it all in the refrigerator over the weekend, and this morning I started over.
Patience was the missing ingredient my friends. I spent more time on foreplay, allowing the pot to heat up gently. I eased it back down too, once the weights got to gently rocking and rolling, and then when the ingredients were at the perfect moment, I waited for the weights to completely stop moving before removing the pot from my glass stove top. Of course after that I still waited for the pressure valve to pop back down before opening the lid. I was relieved and happy to find that all of my jars remained full. After hearing that pleasant ping that tells me the top of each one is sealed, it’s a done deal.
