Sterilising Jars for (attempted) Chutney and Stuff

m*pp*t

Hi guys,

I've been away from home a while and my flatmate's supply of Ballymaloe relish is running low. So I've decided to try and make an attempt at a tomato relish/chutney. And maybe the Ballymaloe cucumber relish thing as well if things don't go too disastrously.

My problem is with sterilising jars. I have a few old jars kept and that but reading on the t'internet I'm just wondering: will a standard jam jar survive being in the oven to dry off after the boiling water bit? Do I need to buy new lids (cos the old ones would have had that pop seal on them which is obviousl broken now)? Can I just sterilise by putting in some water, bunging it in the microwave and putting it on high for a few minutes?
I know these questions might seem idiotic but I'm a bit confused after my little trawl through google.

I suppose if the worst comes to the worst I can just make it in small batches that won't have time to go off!

Thanks for any help.

P.S. the recipe I'm thinking of going with at the minute is as follows. If anyone has an alternative that sounds better that'd be great! (I don't think it's in Darina's big grey book, is it? I know the cucumber one is but I'm guessing she's kept the tomato one under wraps.)

Easy Tomato Relish

12 medium tomatoes
6 medium white onions
1 pint brown vinegar
1 lb sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp mustard
1/2 Tbsp curry powder
for thickening:
1 heaped Tbsp plain flour mixed to smooth paste with cold water

Use kitchen whizz to pulp up the tomatoes and onions and put in a large pot along with all other ingredients.
Simmer steadily with lid on for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in flour paste to thicken the relish.
Put back onto the heat and bring back up to the boil to cook the flour. This will only take 4-5 minutes.
Remove from heat and pour into sterilized jars or bottles and cap when cool.

The Sweeper

Jam jars, bought with jam in, jam eaten, jar washed out: those will usually indeed withstand the scalding and oven process.

For info: a lot of current chefs discuss short cuts in jar sterilisation. To some, a run through the dishwasher is ample (because of the high temps dishwashers run at), to others, a thorough wash and dry is just fine, given that if you're filling jars with something HOT, the heat of the substance is enough to kill anything in the jars.

Having bottled hot preserves before, I can definitely see merits in the second suggestion (boiling fruit jelly is a little like napalm tbh.)'

Always either buy new lids, or accept that you're sealing with plastic and a rubber band when cool. The old jar off your original dolmio sauce, for instance, should never be re-used.

m*pp*t

Okie doke. New lids from the supermarket tomorrow it is then! Thanks Sweeper.

Andrew33

The Sweeper wrote: »

Jam jars, bought with jam in, jam eaten, jar washed out: those will usually indeed withstand the scalding and oven process.

For info: a lot of current chefs discuss short cuts in jar sterilisation. To some, a run through the dishwasher is ample (because of the high temps dishwashers run at), to others, a thorough wash and dry is just fine, given that if you're filling jars with something HOT, the heat of the substance is enough to kill anything in the jars.

Having bottled hot preserves before, I can definitely see merits in the second suggestion (boiling fruit jelly is a little like napalm tbh.)'

Always either buy new lids, or accept that you're sealing with plastic and a rubber band when cool. The old jar off your original dolmio sauce, for instance, should never be re-used.

No,no and no. dishwasher does NOT get hot enough to kill germs, jars need to reach at least 70 degrees C for at least two mins to kill germs.

Put jars on a baking tray and pop in a pre heated oven (80C to be safe, jars will not break) for at least 2 mins, pour chutney or jam into jars while still hot and seal lids, cooling will create a vacuum which will improve the seal further.

F.A.

I totally agree. You can also place the jars into a big pot full of water, make sure they're entirely filled with and covered by water, and boil for about five minutes. Contrary to what was said, you CAN reuse the lids once you didn't use a fork or other brutal means to open the original jar, but they need to be boiled too (I usually pop them into the kettle, actually). I have done this for ages and never had a problem. Place both jars and lids on a thick layer of clean towels or kitchen towels.

Then, as described, fill the jars with the still hot chutney/relish. Before closing, make sure that the edges of the jars are ENTIRELY clean and dry! I cannot stress this enough, as any leftovers will compromise the vacuum and/or sterility. You can buy special funnels that cost next to nothing and make it a lot easier. Still, clean the edges with some kitchen towel, just to be safe. Then close the lids and turn the jars upside down - the heat will kill off any germs that might still have survived or resettled on the lids. Let it all cool down and check that the lids cannot be pressed down in the middle (if they can, there is no vacuum, i.e. the lid won't pop when you open it).

That's what my mother taught me for making jam, works a treat for me.

rubadub

Andrew33 wrote: »

No,no and no. dishwasher does NOT get hot enough to kill germs, jars need to reach at least 70 degrees C for at least two mins to kill germs.

Sterility is key on mushroom growing websites, most will boil water for 10mins at 100C to sterilize it. Of course if you are not working in a clean room (by that I mean 100% sterile, like a lab) then the moment your jars are in open air they are no longer sterile. Your kitchen has millions of contaminants in the air. You want to minimise exposure so work fast while everything is still hot, so if any airborne contams do get in they should be killed.

You will get lots of tips online, sterilizing food is very popular in the US, they call it canning. I have properly sterilized grains and have jars several years old which show no contamination. These were heated in a pressure cooker for 90mins.

cos the old ones would have had that pop seal on them which is obviousl broken now)

It is not broken, this is not a seal at all, it is a dimple in the metal which can pop up or down. If you fill jars with hot water or jam and put the cap on then as it cools it will form a vacuum and that cap will be pulled downwards again, like it was new.

I have reused lids, if they are scratched discard them as they can rust, some hold up to reheating more than others.

_blank_

I have re-used lids too, no issues, and I put them through the same sterilization process as the jars.

boodlesdoodles

I've been making chutneys for the last 4 or 5 years as Christmas presents and I use the dishwasher method for sterilising my jars. I've killed no one yet and its a perfectly acceptable method of doing it. I do them on the quick wash and don't open the dishwasher door until I'm about to put the chutney in.

ETA: I also get family to keep their jam and chutney jars for me that way they're assured some presents from me!

The Sweeper

Andrew33 wrote: »

No,no and no. dishwasher does NOT get hot enough to kill germs, jars need to reach at least 70 degrees C for at least two mins to kill germs.

Put jars on a baking tray and pop in a pre heated oven (80C to be safe, jars will not break) for at least 2 mins, pour chutney or jam into jars while still hot and seal lids, cooling will create a vacuum which will improve the seal further.

Apparently many dishwashers get past 70 degrees C on a hot cycle.

Anyway, let me explain more about my first response, so it doesn't just look like I've been flip for no good reason and am setting the OP up to poison himself.

I don't know why there is now an awful lot of conflicting information on sterilising for preserving, but there is. Various, reputable sources (The Good Food Guide, a couple of 'celebrity chefs', the Times food section, Good Housekeeping, for instance) reference both the dishwasher and the microwave as acceptable methods of sterilising. It could well be a number of things - perhaps our super-sterilised kitchens are cleaner places than they were 50 years ago, perhaps our food hygiene generally is better, or perhaps the original sterilisation recommendations were always more stringent than they really needed to be.

Or perhaps the internet and all the publications it sources are just wrong, which to be honest wouldn't be unusual.

This may be a similar argument to "You should never wash chicken", "You should never refreeze defrosted meat" and "Never reheat pork". There will be a bunch of people out there saying "I do it all the time and I'm fine", and another bunch saying "It'll kill you stone dead, don't do it."

I have bottled small amounts of hot sauce quickly in jars that I've put through the dishwasher to clean and dry, and then scalded with water from the kettle to heat the glass before pouring hot sauces into it. They've all kept, and I've never had contamination on anything I've bottled using that method - but it all usually gets used within the year.

The last major jam-making expedition I went through, I washed jars in the diswasher but then heated them in a low oven - but mainly because I wanted to have a lot of them hot at once, as opposed to any conscious effort at sterilising. I think that was two years ago, and the quince jelly I bottled is still going well, not contaminated - but in fairness the oven was involved that time.

A lot of the "never happened to me" stories from preserves could be because the nature of a jam or fruit jelly, or chutney or marmalade, is they're full of sugar and acid, two substances that add to the life of the product and help fight off contamination. Australia has a LOT of preserving resources, because it's a very popular pastime down here. People make jam, yes, but they also pickle and bottle vegetables, make their own cheese and bottle their own tomato sauces, all three being food that will be less forgiving of a less than stringent sterilisation process. The arguments about sterilisation on preserving websites and boards in Australia just go to reinforce the idea that, when preserving fell out of fashion (because it's just making a comeback now), the generally accepted method was outflanked by inventions like dishwashers and microwaves. Now there is no single, central body that sets out best practice.

One woman scalds her jars in hot, soapy water, then sits them in a solution of Milton Fluid for an hour, then puts them in the oven at about 130 degrees.

Another woman boils them for an hour on the stove top in an enormous jam kettle (but then they sit on the counter for ages waiting for her to use the same jam kettle to make her jam...)

Someone else uses the dishwasher, followed by the microwave.

Someone else uses the dishwasher, followed by a scald from the kettle.

Someone else washes by hand and puts in the oven.

All of the above methods are for acidic or sugar preserves, and every owner of each method is totally happy with their own method and cites no contamination in each method.

The tomato sauce bottlers and vegetable canners follow a more stringent routine, but theirs often involves a piece of equipment they've bought specifically for their processing and it can be hard to find a description of the home-kitchen process equivalent that'll achieve the same effect.

Lids - the reason I never re-use lids, is because I can never find a lid that, after hot washing and sterilising, doesn't have a smell of whatever was originally in the jar - ESPECIALLY lids from dolmio bottles or other acidic substances. I can get packets of jam jar lids for pennies per lid, so I don't bother struggling to clean the used ones.

Alun

The Sweeper wrote: »

Apparently many dishwashers get past 70 degrees C on a hot cycle.

Mine has an intensive cycle that goes up to 70 degrees, plus has an "Anti-bacterial" setting that does a 10-minute high temperature rinse at the end.

Andrew33

Alun wrote: »

Mine has an intensive cycle that goes up to 70 degrees, plus has an "Anti-bacterial" setting that does a 10-minute high temperature rinse at the end.

Well that is good, and its doing this by holding the temp above 70 for 10mins, a lot of dishwashers don't offer this but your common or garden oven does!