Dawgluver
Chef Extraordinaire
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 25,038
The point I'm making is that processing the finished jam by canning it isn't deemed necessary over here and I was wondering why it was done in the States.
I wondered if it was anything to do with the climate as you have hotter summers than we do.
Perhaps it's a pressure thing as I know some of you live a what we would consider extreme heights - the highest house in Britain is at 1,519 feet above sea level which is peanuts compared with where PF lives, IIRC. Our highest mountain, Ben Nevis in Scotland is a mere 4,409 feet which is a pimple compared with mountains in the Americas.
I think, as Steve pointed out, that canning here is a relatively new thing. I don't think it has anything to do with elevations or climate. We have a government agency that wants to make sure people are safe, and the methods used err on the side of extreme caution, even though probably very few people ever died of leaky jam. The FDA also don't allow for much variation from the TNT Ball Blue Book or other canning bibles. Most of us old enough survived our grandmother's open kettles, paraffin wax, and turning jars upside down without boiling baths, though I wouldn't recommend it now.
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