The Single Pint Jar That Failed to Seal - Reprocessing Ideas - Quarantine 2020

So you have processed all the pints of food. The next day, 12-24 hours later, you check the seals. One failed the push test and clicks. Now the choices are: 

One, you can refrigerate the jar and use it as soon as possible. 

Two, you can freeze the contents in a container. 

Three, you can re-process within 24 hours of the original canning time. 

If I wanted to freeze the sauce, I would not have canned the sauce. I am usually in major canning mode when this is most likely to happen so I do not want to meal-plan based on a failed seal. It is better to re-process and have it safely on the shelf. 

Therefore I will use my four-burner pot. It is actually an asparagus pot but is perfect for one-pint water bath canning. Merissa of Food In Jars touted this pot in relation to her small-batch canning book. I had forgotten I had it. But when the mischievous lid did not seal and I did not want to drag out my big 21-quart water bath canner to process it again, I remembered this beauty. It has a lovely metal rack/basket so the jar sits perfectly inside. As shown on the right of my stove:

I am blessed to have tools in my kitchen. They are invaluable, and sometimes they have much more than one use as is the case with this little mighty pot.

I had used the pot the day before as well to process a straggler pint that did not fit into the big canner. It worked like a charm. It was so much easier to re-process the pint jar with this smaller pot, using all approved methods, I redid it and it sealed. What a great "ping" to hear. 

Sometimes it is wonderful to find a way to do something efficiently, if you water bath can you will invariably have some seal failures. Consider this little pot for pints and you won't have to drag the big guns out for one jar. It is too small for the  2" headspace needed for a quart, but a pint or smaller works perfectly. 

I hope you are all well and that you are working on your pantry for the winter. This time of year brings out the squirrel in us all. 

~ Cookin Mum ~