pastureisting chutney

joisey

Hi Ladies and Gents..

tried the search option, cant find a concrete answer, I know I have read it somewhere!

I was going to make tomato, green tom and red onion chutneys

I currently have old pickle jars with metal lids, jam jars with metal,

I have figured out how to sterilise, add the chutney hot etc...

do I need wax discs or is the metal lids ok? how full do the jars need to be?

then whats next, put the sealed jars in a pan of water to boil for how long???

Thanks!

floyd

Hi joisey,

If you put your chutney into the jars while it is still hot and your jars and lids are still warm/hot from sterilising then they dont need additional processing. Fill them up to above the 'shoulders' of the jar around 5mm from the lid but not so that it touches the lid when closed. The contents will shrink and settle causing the vacuum to form in the jar. When they are cool, if you can still press in the top of the lid it means they haven't sealed properly so you should use these first and store in the fridge. I haven't had any fail yet, its pretty easy once you get used to handling hot jars

You only need to do this type of processing or 'canning' as they call it in the US if you are preserving foods without the use of vinegar or sugar or both. Things such as passata, apple sauce etc all need pasteurizing to stop them going bad or encouraging botulism and other nasties to grow.

Edited to add, you dont need wax disks if your jar lids are metal lined with plastic (most commercial ones are). Vinegar will react with bare metal but not the coated stuff.

joisey

I am planning on giving for christmas gifts so I hope I dont have any failures!!

I was going to sterilise the jars and lids in the baby steam steriliser, so if I open once we get to the cooling cycle so they are very hot, with gloves )

the lids should still be hot too.

thriftlady_2

Chutney is a preserved by the large amounts of vinegar and sugar in it. As long as you pour it into sterile jars (I put them in a low oven for 10 mins) there is no need to preserve it any further. It should last unopened at least a year.

helyg

joisey wrote: »

I am planning on giving for christmas gifts so I hope I dont have any failures!!

I was going to sterilise the jars and lids in the baby steam steriliser, so if I open once we get to the cooling cycle so they are very hot, with gloves )

the lids should still be hot too.

Remember that the jars should be dry when you put the chutney in, I don't know about your steriliser but I know the one I had for my kids when they were babies used to leave the bottles wet from the steam.

I wash my jars in hot soapy water, then dry them in a low oven (about 150 degrees) for about 20 minutes.