Canning Do-Over??

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Mamakat

Assistant Cook
Joined
Aug 29, 2020
Messages
2
Location
Belfair
Hello!
I am new to canning. I canned for the first time last week. I made a peach chili sauce using peaches from my daughter's tree. Everything went well. I used the water bath method and all jars pinged and sealed well. I opened the first jar last night and, while it was delicious, found that it had not thickened as much as I would have liked and I wish I had put more jalapenos in the batch.

My question is this...once something has been canned, can I break the seals, make changes to the sauce (thicken and spice it up), re-sterilize the jars and re-can the same sauce using new lids? In other words, do I get a do-over on this batch? Or do I just have to make a new batch? I would prefer to fix this batch because I have so much.

I appreciate your input!
Kathy
 
Hi and welcome to Discuss Cooking [emoji2]

Canning safely is an exact science. It's not a good idea to make changes to a recipe until you understand thoroughly what can safely be changed and what can't.

With water-bath canning, you have to make sure the pH of the solution is less than 4.6. Adding a low-acid ingredient like jalapeños will increase the pH of the mixture and it might not be safe anymore. Also certain thickeners, like flour and cornstarch, are not safe for canning. I suggest you make adjustments as you open the jars.

Btw, did you use a safe, tested recipe? There are a lot of random people on the internet publishing recipes that may or may not be safe. I can give you a few safe sites if you want.
 
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