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10:35 am
Councillor
Thu 7-Jan-10
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3:30 pm
Councillor
Wed 30-Dec-09
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I fully expect to end up with a load of unripe tomatoes, like last year. I'll have to give that a go 
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8:58 pm
1st Grader
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Mon 25-Jan-10
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Yesterday I made plum sauce from an old recipe I photocopied years ago. It talks about 'rubbing' through a sieve although I processed it through a blender and it was much easier! So assumed that when it mentioned putting the bottles in boiling water to sterilise I thought it another quaint custom........
I looked at this recipe (looks delish) as we'll probably have a lot of green tomatoes and noticed that it too mentioned putting them in a boiling water bath. Oops have I got it wrong and missed a vital step?? What's with the water bath/canning thing? Does it matter if I don't do it and if it does is it too late to do it now...? Help!
9:51 pm
Councillor
Thu 7-Jan-10
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it's to do with sterilising them I think. I skipped this step also. Not sure what effect it will have :s
Intolerance will not be tolerated.
10:19 pm
1st Grader
New members
Mon 25-Jan-10
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We'll have to share information on the result! I feel reassured that I'm not the only one to skip that step - thanks Rae!
10:30 pm
Supreme Being
Thu 24-Sep-09
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Now I am a bit concerned that you are not sterilising your jars. And I quote " to prevent contamination and lengthen the shelf life of homemade jams, preserves and sauces, it's important to sterilise storage jars or bottles." If you do not the food can spoil very quickly and you are risking not only wasting your time, but your health too. Take care!
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
1:09 pm
nope I am certain they are sterilising!
The recipe talks about after filling the jars, to water bath them. This lengthens the shelf life of things, like this tomato sauce, that have a reasonable amount of sugar and vinegar in them, but not definitely enough to preserve them long term. Without this step, the sauces are only guaranteed for around 4 months; wih for around a year or two.
Having said that, I don't bother with this step unless the product has NO sugar/vinegar in (such as passata) and my stuff has always lasted fine.
7:08 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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I have used the water bath sterilising method for processing from cold ie beans in salt water (just trying it out) but I usually just sterlise bottles by putting some water in them and sticking them in the microwave - which I know is not supposed to be the best way of doing it but haven't had a problem so far. If I have a lot of bottles to sterilise I place them in boiling water but can't see the point of using a water bath if you are adding hot food to a clean bottle.
7:26 am
but a water bath is not for sterilising; as I have understood it, it is for lengthening shelf life: not sure how or why!
1:04 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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I think it ensures that the air is driven out of the jars. Maybe I am getting confused with pressure cooking them
11:36 pm
1st Grader
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Mon 25-Jan-10
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Thank you everyone for giving me the benefit of your wisdom! I'm going to go with the path of least resistance and not bother as Shelley does.
The bottles have been sterilised in the oven and filled with the sauce which curiously is practically the same as the spiced plum chutney I've also made. So I'm hoping it will be ok - if not I'll know better for next year!!
10:27 am
Councillor
Thu 7-Jan-10
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I always sterilise my jars by washing in boiling water then putting in the oven to dry out, and haven't had any problems with things going off yet.
Intolerance will not be tolerated.
11:00 am
Graduate
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Fri 13-Aug-10
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I'm of the same opinion as shelley, that the water bath is to extend the shelf life of the preserve,.er conserves. (when I first moved out here and mentioned preserves and preservative to a French aqcuaintance she giggled nervously - seems this is the name for, er, condoms).
The hot water bath mentioned in Rae Mond's link is likely to be electric and have it's own timing process. Here in the shops at "cropping" time there are always pressure cookers next to the bottling supplies. The "canning" process can be done in the pressure cooker in small quantities but I haven't whipped up the courage to try yet.
When comparing English & French recipes and advice with those of the US, blimey, we lot are much more cavalier than the N Americans about sterilising etc. Maybe it's the fear of litigation which triggers their stricter Health & Safety rules, but if it's good enough for Delia and HFW it's good enough for me
8:20 pm
Have you come across the french idea of inversing the jars to complete the sterilisation process (once filled and lidded they inverse the jars until the contents are cold) This, I discovered in an article somewhere, is to stop any condensation forming on the lid and dripping into the cooling preserve - however surely it will just happen off the base instead??? Anyway, I decided that it was another step I would ignore, until told to do otherwise by the Dept Véterinaire et Hygiène or H+S in the uk.
Oh the thrill of the naugtiness of it!!
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