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Post by princessferf on Mar 27, 2019 14:50:05 GMT
I make homemade apple sauce using apples from our trees. The sauce is made up of only the apples, nothing else. I use a water bath to can the sauce and store it in my pantry that is not exposed to sunlight or fluctuating temperatures. The pantry is not in the basement where moisture levels fluctuate.
How long is a canned jar good for? (assuming a proper seal, of course)
Online I'm seeing recommendations for only 12 - 18 months. But people I talk to suggest that it is years.
What do you say?
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Post by feather on Mar 27, 2019 15:01:13 GMT
The university extension office colorado state says that canning without sugar is just fine. (both sugar and salt in canning are optional)
They offer that lemon juice, citric acid, ascorbic acid may help with color retention and texture retention. (I don't know if this is required or not.)
If the apple sauce is well sealed (you know when you take off the lid, you hear the suction release and no food particles are on the top edge of the jar) and the sauce looks good (not dried out, molded, badly discolored), then it is fine (for me). I would eat my canned fruits for 5 years.
I ran across a source that said 2-3 years.
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Post by tenbusybees on Mar 27, 2019 15:01:15 GMT
I say as long as the seal is good, the contents look ok, and everything smells fine upon opening then it's good regardless of date. I personally think the dates are just suggestions as well as a limiting their liabilties. Eta: At Christmas my mom sent us home with some apple butters that she made/canned in 2014...tasted just like the ones I made last fall. As it should it's her recipe/method.
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Post by wally on Mar 27, 2019 16:56:39 GMT
Had to check mine, it was canned 8/17. Still sealed and sugar was added, I took the top. 1/2 inch off as it was darker than the rest. No oder and tasted fine. Was stored in dark pantry that we open only to get something in or out
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Mar 27, 2019 22:22:22 GMT
I don't know that there's a real time limit. I've always looked at it this way, if the jar is still sealed, what could have happened to the contents that might make it dangerous to eat? We've had jars unseal after a couple months, and those jars obviously weren't properly sealed to begin with, but if a jar has held its seal over the years, we don't worry about it.
I'm always reminded of the shipwreck somewhere in the Great Lakes when explorers were trying to find the Northwest Passage in the early 19th Century, and got iced in. The ice crushed the ship's hull, and the explorers trekked out with what they could carry. The ship was found when the lake went down some, and among it's cargo still there were quite a few canned goods. When opened and examined the contents were found to still be safe to eat, over 150 years after being canned.
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Post by MeandTK on Mar 28, 2019 2:04:38 GMT
I’m curious. Living down south we’ve never grown apples, thoigh I’ve recently planted some. Do apples have acid enough to water bath can them without adding more? Just showing my ignorance, but I honestly have no clue.
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Post by feather on Mar 28, 2019 2:25:05 GMT
I’m curious. Living down south we’ve never grown apples, thoigh I’ve recently planted some. Do apples have acid enough to water bath can them without adding more? Just showing my ignorance, but I honestly have no clue. It calls for 'pretreatment with an acid' so they don't discolor. So you don't add the acid to the jar, but rather soak them in an acid treatment before canning.
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Post by MeandTK on Mar 28, 2019 13:39:28 GMT
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Post by horseyrider on Mar 28, 2019 21:56:48 GMT
I'll often crush a vitamin C tablet and swish it in water, and use that as a dunk to keep apples, peaches, etc to keep from darkening. I was so stoked to can peaches from my own trees last year. I had them in little footie things to keep the Japanese beetles from devouring them. Nothing like finally whupping some bugs. And I'm in the camp that wants a good tight seal. I don't like to go back too far, but I don't even blink over five years or so.
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Mar 29, 2019 21:44:39 GMT
I just popped open a jar of spiced applesauce from 9/2013. Looks just fine and tastes grrrrreat! Me thinks I may have to make some applesauce cake very soon! ~Mari
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Post by ohiodreamer on Apr 8, 2019 14:46:20 GMT
If the seal is good it's fine. We still eat things I canned in 2010 and 2011. I do big batches of things, even stuff we don't eat often.....I make again when we are low. It's easier for me then doing small batches every year.
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