Why does he rip the lids off the jars? The lid is moving: the five main mistakes of home canning. Violation of cooking technology

There are not as many of them as it might seem at first glance. Below are the top most common mistakes that lead to culinary fiasco among autoclave owners.

1. Sudden release of pressure in the autoclave

Sometimes impatience or inattention plays a bad joke on people. After cooking canned food in an autoclave, they thoughtlessly open the pressure release valve. The pressure in the apparatus drops sharply and the cans “detonate” one after another. The fact is that the difference in pressure in the autoclave and inside the jar becomes too great, the lid cannot stand it and falls off.

Despite the fact that the instructions for any autoclave say that it is strictly forbidden to suddenly release the pressure, people repeat this mistake over and over again. This is strictly PROHIBITED. It is necessary to wait until the autoclave has completely cooled down, and only then, having released the slight residual pressure, open the autoclave.

2. Violation of temperature and time regime

Often the cause of lids falling off jars is failure to comply with the cooking time and temperature. Sudden changes in temperature in the tank lead to pressure surges. The pressure (it is different in the autoclave and in the jar) tends to equalize, as a result, the lids fly off and the jars become deformed.

Equally important is the holding time. When canning, most harmful bacteria die, but if the required temperature is not maintained for the required time, then especially tenacious bacteria will survive. They are responsible for breaking lids and spoiling food in jars.

It is important to know: the most favorable conditions for most bacteria are 15-40°C. At higher temperatures they die. However, if this temperature is not maintained long enough, some species may survive. The most dangerous and tenacious type of bacteria is the botulinus bacterium. Its poison is very harmful and toxic.

3. Poor quality lids

The most common reason, but no less common. If the lid was of poor quality, then it will not last long on the jar. There are cases when the lids have insufficiently strong stiffening ribs or the rubber seal is damaged. It is better not to use such instances.

As for the question of which lids are better, screw or regular tin, there is no consensus. In our opinion, there is not much difference, the main thing is to do everything correctly, use the products in accordance with GOST and seam them with a good seaming machine. Then the lids will remain in place, and the food in the jars will not spoil.

We have listed only 3 reasons; in reality, of course, there are many more. But these are the reasons that deserve attention, as they are the most frequent and unpleasant. The most important thing when using an autoclave is to follow the precautions written in the instructions; follow the recipe exactly; use high-quality related equipment.

So, the reasons for the caps falling off are considered. Now let's look at some tips to prevent this misfortune.

Pressure cassettes in an autoclave

Such an attribute in an autoclave as a pressure cassette carries 2 big advantages at once. Firstly, it securely presses the lid to the jar, preventing it from flying off. Secondly, the cassette also secures the can itself. And this is important, given that there is considerable pressure and high temperature inside the autoclave.

Use cassettes, friends, they definitely won’t make things worse.

Water level in the autoclave

Everything is simple here - the water should completely hide the cans of food, but at the same time its level should not reach the top by 3-4 centimeters. This is done to ensure a smooth increase in pressure, since the remaining air is more easily compressed than liquid. This saves the jars and autoclave from damage and unnecessary stress. Fully immersing the cans in the liquid results in more uniform heating and increased pressure.

Filling food jars

There is nothing complicated here either. We don't fill the jars to capacity. We place the products tightly enough, but leave a small gap of 2-3 cm to the lid. The rule is simple, but if you don’t follow it, the lids will certainly come off.

The fact is that when heated, the products in the jar expand, and this air space is a kind of airbag that prevents the jars from swelling and other troubles.

It is important to know: it is better to first bring foods that are too cold to room temperature to avoid sudden changes in pressure and temperature.

Proper preparation of lids

The correct technology for rolling lids is no less important. Before the lid process, it is recommended to keep it in boiling water for at least 30 seconds. This will help the polymer rings and seals soften. Thanks to this, sealing will be much higher.

Autoclave heating

Well, the last recommendation. More likely not even a recommendation, but just advice. You should not use excessively fast heating of the device, even if your tile allows it. In general, we would not recommend using power more than 1 kW. This will lead to sudden pressure changes in the device. But for cans this is completely undesirable. It is also not recommended to cool the autoclave quickly. If you have not only a lot of time, but also the same amount of patience, then it is better to let the tank cool naturally. Otherwise, during rapid cooling, the cans will “detonate”, unable to withstand the temperature difference.

There comes a time when lids and glass jars disappear from store shelves. And housewives’ kitchens are filled with slender rows of cucumbers, tomatoes, jam, milk mushrooms and other pickled mushrooms rolled under glass. This time is called Homework Time.

Since this year housewives are especially focused on filling their home cellars to capacity, Sibnet.ru decided to recall several of the most common home canning mistakes.

"Undercooked" microbes

In principle, all errors in fruit and vegetable canning appear within 10-15 days, which are allotted for “aging” the jars after twisting.

To prevent your canned food from being eaten by hordes of microbes, and to prevent you from getting botulism, the jars and lids for them must first be thoroughly washed and sterilized. Moreover, warming up for at least 15-20 minutes is considered correct.

With poor sterilization, bacteria begin to consume the contents of canned food. And the botulism bacteria will then “feed” on you too - because they produce a strong poison that is very resistant to heat. And deadly to humans.

Therefore, products should be properly prepared for twisting - cleaned and disinfected. It is better not to use stale harvest with traces of decay for home canning.

By the way, vinegar and citric acid (as well as alcohol and vodka) are used in canning precisely because the acidic environment prevents the development of botulism bacteria. Vinegar is poured in after filling the jar with brine, before rolling. After rolling, the cans are turned over and placed on the floor under a fur coat (or down jacket) until they cool naturally.

Kitchen terrorism

Very often, a jar explodes right in the hands of a hasty housewife. To prevent a cold jar from cracking while pouring hot marinade into it, place a knife with a wide blade under it. The knife is placed so that the jar does not completely touch the surface of the table, but is sort of at an angle. The marinade itself must be poured strictly in the center, in small portions, gradually filling the jar.

It is better to pour the jam into jars when it has already cooled down. And the confiture is warm. But the best cans are those made using hot filling: this is when a hot product is poured into warm, sterilized jars, immediately rolled up and placed “under a fur coat” upside down.

If the banks “puffed up” the owner

If, after a couple of days after twisting, you still find that the jars are “swollen” and their contents have become cloudy, it’s time to uncork them. Otherwise, the gases, which are the result of the vital activity of bacteria trapped under the lid, will definitely tear off this very lid.

Of course, eating the contents of such canned food is dangerous. But don't throw it away? Of course, you can try to re-roll the product - remove the cucumbers from the jar with your hands, rinse them under running water, and sterilize the jar. And after that, pour them with fresh marinade and roll them up again. But it is not at all a fact that the contents of the jar in this case will not become cloudy again.

Hint: the product can be boiled and used to prepare jelly or compotes. And cucumbers can be put, for example, in a pickle pot. But also, of course, only after a long boil. Otherwise, you risk poisoning the whole family.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are finished!

The most common mistake is incorrectly selected lids for canning. Polyethylene lids are used only if the housewife will store canned food in the cold (for example, in the refrigerator or cellar).

Canned food with metal screw caps and jars closed using a machine are used if the product must be stored at room temperature. At the same time, for additional “contraception”, vegetable oil is poured on top into jars with mushrooms, for example.

In any case, the jars are washed with detergent and then sterilized by steam. To do this, use a special circle with holes for the neck of the jar, which is placed on a pan of boiling water. However, you can sterilize jars simply by putting them in the oven. Screw caps are simply placed in boiling water for one and a half to two minutes.

Rotting temperature

Canned food should never be stored in a warm place, near heating or heating devices. And in general, in the light: very often, as a result of exposure to direct sunlight, the taste and nutritional qualities of the product fundamentally change. And, alas, not for the better.

It is better to store canned fruits and vegetables in a dry, dark place at a temperature of 10-15°C. And jam - not lower than 15°C. At a lower temperature it quickly becomes sugary.

Five secrets of canning

- To prevent the skin of the ranetka or apple in the compote from bursting, they should be pricked with a pin before lowering them into the jar. They do the same with tomatoes.
- It is important to use the “correct” cucumbers for pickling and pickling. It is known that there are varieties for salads, and others for pickling. The right cucumbers for pickling usually have pronounced pimples, are small in size, most often “prickly”, with black specks.

The ideal cucumber for harvesting usually has a crack in the middle when cut lengthwise.

If you want the cucumbers to be crispy, soak them in cold water for a day before preserving.

Tip: add 5-6 tablespoons of vodka, 3 tablespoons of salt and the same amount of sugar, as well as spices to taste, to a three-liter jar of cucumbers, and try what happens.

With the onset of autumn cold weather, the dacha season is considered over. The beds were dug up “for winter”, and the last jar of jam or vegetable salad was placed in the basement. Now we can sum up the results of the summer work on preparing vegetables, both fresh and canned. How nice it is to look at the even rows of jars with a wide variety of preparations! And, of course, any housewife must have among the many different twists. But then it turns out that some of them have become cloudy, and even the lids have been torn off from heavily fermented jars. Why is this happening? Why do jars of cucumbers explode? There may be several reasons. Let's look at each of them in detail.

The first jar of cucumbers - insufficient heat treatment

Was sterilization carried out correctly? Some housewives reduce the time or replace this method of heat treatment with others. It is important to follow the recipe exactly without making significant changes, especially if after your own “improvisation” you have more than once noticed unpleasant surprises in the form of cloudy jars. It’s even better to play it safe by slightly increasing the time for hot processing of products.

The second reason why jars of cucumbers explode is poor preparation of the containers.

Cleanliness of the dishes is of great importance. This is especially important when canning by repeatedly pouring boiling marinade. With this method, for reliability, you can increase the warm-up time. Also pay attention to the integrity of the necks of the jars. After all, when screwing the lids on, air can enter through the small punctured holes, causing fermentation.

The third reason why jars of cucumbers explode is insufficient purity of the ingredients.

Perhaps all the ingredients were not washed thoroughly enough. Or on some of the cucumbers there were By the way, you need to wash not only the fruits, but all the seasonings used: fresh horseradish leaves, dill umbrellas, garlic, hot pepper, etc.

The fourth reason why jars of cucumbers explode is failure to comply with proportions.

Did you follow the recipe correctly? For preservation, the quantity of the main components through which cucumbers are preserved is of particular importance - vinegar, essence, citric acid. Under no circumstances should you pick them by eye when marinating. By doing this, you run the risk of getting something different to your taste or promoting fermentation in jars.

What to do with the contents if a jar of cucumbers explodes?

Although the taste of this pickling is somewhat reminiscent of barrel pickling and even has an attractive crunch, it is still not worth eating. If you find even slightly cloudy jars or thick white sediment that has fallen to the bottom, open the glass containers and throw away their contents. You don’t want to get food poisoning, much less risk the health of your loved ones?

And with the onset of the new summer season and the collection of fresh vegetables, begin work on preparing canned food, while carefully studying the possible causes of the problem described above. Then you will no longer find unpleasant surprises in the form of exploded cans.

This is called "bombing".

The fact is that such banks are not completely sterilized. There are living microorganisms and air left in them.
Microorganisms begin to develop and the jars begin to swell (if they are metal). In glass cases, it usually tears out the lids.
To prevent this from happening, jars should be thoroughly sterilized. Then pack the contents tightly, trying to fill the jar completely. After this, immediately roll up the sterilized tin lid, which should be constantly in boiling water and taken from there.
Then, for reliability, it is recommended to place all the rolled up jars in a large container with water and sterilize there. The lids should not be hidden by water.
But basically, it is enough to just roll up the lids and place the jars upside down. They will cool down, cans that are not rolled up securely will immediately show that they are not rolled up correctly, air will come out of them or liquid (brine) will leak out. Some banks may immediately become cloudy - this is already a defect.

It all depends on sterilization, correct and high-quality sealing. Well, naturally, and from properly prepared contents.

What, absolutely all banks explode? No matter what vegetables/fruits are canned?

Surely not. You are probably talking about jars of cucumbers - one of the most capricious, but everyone’s favorite salted/pickled vegetables. However, from my own experience I can say that jars explode when the canning technology is broken. Possible reasons are improperly prepared vegetables/fruits, insufficient amount of salt, lack of vinegar/citric acid/aspirin, poor sealing of the lid, temperature violation during cooling, improper pasteurization or lack thereof.

It’s hard to say why exactly your banks explode. Watch them, analyze your mistakes, and each time you will do better.

★★★★★★★★★★

Why do canning jars later explode?

Canning vegetables is not an easy task, requiring considerable labor and time, as well as strict adherence to all cooking technology.

The main cause of canned jars exploding is the fermentation process under the lid, which occurs when bacteria enters the jar. Bacteria can enter if the jars are poorly sterilized or if the vegetables were not completely washed.

To avoid this situation, you must follow the following recommendations:

1) Before canning, thoroughly rinse all vegetables, herbs, bay leaves and anything else you will add to the jar.

2) For high-quality sterilization of jars, two methods can be used:
- pour boiling water into the jar so that the jar does not burst, put a metal tablespoon inside. Also boil the lids for 5-10 minutes.

Place the jars and lids in an oven preheated to no more than 100 degrees for 10 minutes, then open the oven and let the jars cool gradually. Only after they have cooled can you take them out and put them on a clean towel, otherwise the jars may burst.

As a rule, cans of cucumbers explode much more often than those of tomatoes. The reason is that ripened and overripe cucumbers have an internal cavity, which, in turn, is filled with air. During conservation, air may remain in the cavity and cause the growth of bacteria, which will subsequently lead to an explosion.
Therefore, for preservation, choose only young, elastic cucumbers.

Also, storing cans in a warm place can lead to an explosion. Therefore, choose only a cool room for storage.

If a jar of cucumbers or tomatoes does explode, don’t worry! Drain all the brine, sterilize the jar with a new lid, boil the brine, fill it up to the neck and roll up the jar.

Why do homemade cans sometimes explode later?

I used to sterilize jars too, but now I don’t do this for canning vegetables. Just a waste of time. In fact, we put non-sterile vegetables in sterile jars. What's the point of sterilization? I just wash the jars thoroughly and put vegetables in them. Then pour boiling water over it and leave it covered for five minutes. Then I drain the water from the jar into a saucepan, add salt, sugar, and citric acid. I boil it, pour it into the jars to the top for five minutes and close it. Then I drain it again and boil it again and pour it in. After that, I close it, put it on the lid and cover it with a blanket. This way the contents are sterile. They don’t open even if I don’t add salt. I found cucumbers on the cabinet that I made six years ago. They are standing.
I also simply put salads in clean jars, but I make sure to sterilize them in a saucepan with water. I place jars filled with salads so that they are filled almost to the throat with water from the moment the water boils in the pan, measure 40 minutes and then close the lid tightly and also set to cool.
I only sterilize jars for cooking.
Sometimes it happens that after some time one of the cans begins to leak. This is usually associated with the lids; apparently it was initially defective or knocked during transportation. By the way, I always close only with new lids.

Analyze which cans are opened, label all cans with labels describing what you did and how. One year is enough for you to understand what is being revealed and why.

Alexander Gushchin

I can’t vouch for the taste, but it will be hot :)

Content

According to statistics, jars of canned cucumbers explode much more often than jars of tomatoes. This is explained by a feature in the structure of cucumber fruits. To avoid such problems with twists for the winter, it is necessary to carefully prepare the ingredients and the container itself for creating canned food.

Why turn jars over when canning?

Even novice housewives, after placing vegetables and the necessary spices in jars, filling them with water and rolling them up, turn the vessels over. Some do this by adopting the experience of mothers and grandmothers, others read about this need in canning recipes. Many people have no idea why such an action should be performed. Turning over cans after seaming is explained by the following reasons:

• Checking the tightness. By placing a container of vegetables or berries upside down, you can see if liquid is leaking under the lid. This is very important because well-sealed food will not spoil or bacteria will penetrate into it.
• Sterilize the top parts of the jar. Turning the vessel with hot liquid inside will help warm up and disinfect not only the bottom, but also the neck of the jar.

Why are banks wrapped?

In the technologies for preparing canned cucumbers it is written that after turning over, the jars need to be wrapped. There are several opinions on the question of why to do this:

• Replacement of sterilization of preservation. The vessel takes longer to cool down and is treated with heat for more time. This means that a more intensive disinfection process is obtained.
• The products turn out tastier. It is believed that with such simmering, the cucumbers will infuse, become better saturated with the marinade and acquire a richer and piquant taste.
• Secure banks. Another explanation is that slow cooling preserves the integrity of the glass. It may crack if, after sterilization and pouring boiling water, you immediately place the vessel on a cold surface.

Why do jars of cucumbers become cloudy and explode?

When pickling or pickling cucumbers, every housewife fears that the jars will explode, their contents will become cloudy, and an unpleasant odor will arise. Such incidents happen often. The reason why jars of canned cucumbers explode can be due to various conditions, which are based on the carelessness of the cook or poor-quality containers where the preserves were placed. To avoid misfortunes and not have to redo everything, you need to carefully follow the recipe and take precautions when selecting containers.

Air getting into cucumber twists

Before planting cucumbers, you need to select them. Small, strong and fresh fruits without cavities inside are suitable for preparations. This is an important rule, since large cucumbers tend to accumulate air and bacteria. Microorganisms, once preserved along with vegetables, continue their activity, emitting gases. The volumes of gaseous substances and air that are released from the cucumber cavities grow, gradually filling the jar. As a result, the vessel explodes. To prevent this from happening, experienced housewives recommend soaking cucumbers for several hours.

Violation of cooking technology

When rolling cucumbers for storage under iron lids, the sequence and technology for preparing canned food must not be violated. It is important to thoroughly rinse the cucumbers and all the seasonings needed for pickling. Otherwise, along with contaminants, microbes will get into the jar, which can cause jars of cucumbers to explode in a few minutes. The leaves of the necessary plants, dill umbrellas and garlic should be thoroughly washed.

Poor preparation of canning jars

A common reason why jars of pickled cucumbers explode is poor preparation of the container. This factor can affect the safety of homemade preparations in 2 cases:

• In case of improper sterilization. Sterilize the jars over steam and the lids in boiling water for as long as indicated in the recipe. There is no need to shorten this period, it is better to increase it a little, since insufficient treatment can leave many microorganisms alive. After steaming the jars, you must immediately add the ingredients into them. This needs to be done as quickly as possible. You should roll up the lids that have just been removed from boiling water.
• If the container is not clean enough. Be sure to keep the jars clean and intact. A lot of dirt accumulates on the neck and must be completely removed. The upper part must be intact, otherwise air may enter during rolling, which causes fermentation.

Violation of the recipe

The reason why jars of cucumbers explode may be the neglect of the proportions described in the recipe. Substances that are necessary to preserve cucumbers in winter must be added strictly following the recipe. Otherwise, you risk getting an unexpected taste or starting the fermentation process. Add vinegar, salt, sugar and citric acid in the amount prescribed by the recipe, and not at your own discretion, so as not to harm homemade preparations and do not re-twist.

What varieties of cucumbers are suitable for canning?

To get high-quality cucumber pickles without the possible explosion of jars, you need to choose the right varieties for preservation. There are selection criteria:

• Vegetable size. Choose cucumbers about 10-12 cm in size. Such fruits are convenient to place in jars; they look very appetizing.
• Peel thickness. Cucumbers with thick skin come out crispier when rolled. It’s easy to identify a suitable fruit: try to pierce it with your fingernail. If this is difficult, then the skin has a suitable density.
• Color of the thorns. Fruits with black thorns are suitable for pickling, marinating and creating lightly salted cucumbers. These varieties pass brine well and are very tasty. Vegetables with white spines are best left for making salads.
• The color of the skin of the fruit should be dark. It indicates the appropriate variety and degree of maturity of the vegetable. Light and yellow shades are signs of overripe cucumbers, which may have cavities inside with air, which can provoke fermentation. Excessively ripe fruits have large seeds, which are not very pleasant to eat in canned form.