Pressure Canning Question

[Broke Down Ranch]

SO today I did some spinach. My pressure canner is about 50 yrs old and not sure but I think the rubber seal may be the original....lol. Anyway, had a couple of false starts because the seal wouldn't hold. It finally did hold for the time required to do spinach. Got finished, all the pressure was released....then I was surprised to see almost half of the water from inside the jars was now OUTSIDE of the jars and part of the water I had put in to do the processing. Why did all the water come out of the jars? They all sealed just fine but the top half of my spinach has no liquid while it floats on top of what's left of the water I put in....

 

[robbobbin]

I've had this happen with tomatoes/salsa types. I'm also wondering why???

 

[bid]

Just a guess, but could be the pressure difference. Bringing it up, seal fails and the pressure goes back down. You mentioned this happened several times Broke Down Ranch. Maybe it boiled off some of the liquid in the jars.

 

[patandchickens]

I've not used a pressure canner but with water bath canning, the two main reasons for having part of your contents 'high and dry' are:

-- there were air bubbles trapped in there that you didn't see when you packed the produce/liquid in there and put the lid on (remedy: be *real thorough* about fishing around in there with a plastic knife or wooden chopstick to try to liberate any lurking air bubbles, before topping up and putting lid on)

-- you left excessive headspace (doublecheck recipe and use a ruler next time), leaving too much air inside the jar which expands and forces some of the boiling *liquid* out of the jar too.

IME you can perfectly well eat those jars as long as the seal is good and the contents don't smell/look funny, but I'd use them first as the stuff sticking out 'above the waterline' will continue to discolor and toughen over time.

I have no idea whether there's any additional possibilities unique to pressure canners.

Good luck, better luck next time ,

Pat

 

[shangri-lafarms]

I pressure can, and this has happened to me, as long as the jars seal it's okay. you probably just had too many air bubbles, or this can happen if jars are packed too tightly they boil over.