A Canning Fiasco

Monday night, around 8pm, Andrew and I decided to make and can a large batch of loquat chutney. We quadrupled the recipe, so preparing the chutney took forever—those loquats are not easy to work with; they have several large seeds and a white membrane around them, all of which must be removed. You get approximately a quarter’s worth of fruit for all that effort.

Anyway, we made the chutney and set it on the stove to boil for an hour. We then washed and sterilized the jars and lids Andrew had bought after work. After an hour, the chutney was still very liquidy. At this point it was around 11pm. I was exhausted, and my hips were killing me from standing for so long. We decided the chutney would set as it cooled, and so began the process of filling and sealing and processing the jars.






In the morning, the chutney had not set. The jars were simply filled with a vinegary liquid. We wondered if we could simply empty the jars, boil the chutney for another hour, resterilize the jars, and just have another go at it. I was extremely vexed, and spent the day taking frequent breaks from work to Google things like “chutney liquid reboil canning” and “chutney botulism.” I read on a canning message board that you have to use a “tested” canning recipe, or you put yourself at risk of botulism. If I weren’t pregnant, I might dismiss that as overly cautious; but I am pregnant, and the thought of getting botulism poisoning was a bit alarming. I had no idea what to do.

Ultimately, we heeded the botulism warning. We emptied the jars, reboiled the chutney to get the right consistency, and just put it in a Tupperware container in the fridge. We will be eating a lot of chutney, but at least we won’t get botulism poisoning.

We now have 24 empty jars. The only bright side is that our canning was technically successful—the lids vacuumed on properly, and everything seemed firmly sealed. So at least we learned the mechanics from this little episode. In the next couple of weeks we’re going to try our hand at jam, using an approved recipe from an official canning cookbook. And we will not be starting that project right around my bedtime.