Forgot an ingredient, what can I do?

[redsquid81]

Good morning,
I am new to canning and made my first attempt to dill my cucumbers from my garden this week. The problem is, I forgot to toss in some fresh dill into a couple of jars before sealing and placing them in the boiling water bath. The jars were properly sanitized, sealed, and contain all of the other ingredients, including the brine. Can I re-open them, put the dill inside, seal, and put them back in the boiling water bath to salvage them without the risk of spoilage or contamination? I have not read anything in the Ball Blue Book concerning this situation. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Red

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!

You can open them back up, add the dill, and reprocess them. They should be safe from spoiling. I would not reuse the same lids but there should be no reason to discard anything else or rewash anything else. Well, rewash the rings. Not so much from sanitizing them but they may have some of the pickling solution on them and they may stick. But the jars and the ingredients should be good to go.

You may find that your pickles get overcooked though and will possibly be limp instead of crisp. They will taste fine from a flavor standpoint and be safe, they just probably won't be as crisp as you might like. You could maybe put the dill in them, stick them in the refrigerator, and eat them instead of reprocessing them. They will keep quite a while in the refrigerator. That's what I do with stuff that does not seal when I can it.

 

[redsquid81]

Thank you for your response Ridgerunner. Will repost the results.

 

[baymule]

Don't feel bad.....we ALL have oops!

If you never did nuthin' then you'd never git it wrong, but you'd never git it right neither.