Part of the joy of growing your food is being able to preserve it for eating during the dormant season. But canning can be a challenge.

Fortunately, canning, like gardening, is a skill that you can develop. At first, you might encounter several common canning problems and wonder how to fix them. Over time, you’ll learn how to deal with challenges and have fewer issues and errors. That comes with practice and making the mistakes so that you learn how to avoid them in the first place – and by reading this guide.

When I first started canning, I made a bunch of mistakes. My jams didn’t set, soup leaked out of the top of the jars, and half of my lids didn’t seal. At times, I wonder if I was meant to can the food from my garden. My grandma, who spent years canning in her childhood, encouraged me to keep trying. As I kept at it, my mistakes lessened over the years.

I know how it feels to have a botched canning job, so I’m making things easier for you by rounding up the most common canning problems and how to solve them.

One of the most common canning problems is jars that don’t seal. Nicks in the jar rim, food residue, overflowing jars, and more can stop the lids from sealing properly.

The food isn’t lost forever if you find out quickly that the jars didn’t seal correctly. If it’s after 24 hours, you’ll need to discard the food due to the risk of spoilage and bacteria growth.

If the jar doesn’t seal, you can remove the lid and reprocess the contents within 24 hours. While the food is processing, use that time to determine what went wrong.

Examine the jar to see if there are any nicks in the rim. When you lift the lid, see if there any food particles leftover on the rim of the jar. Check to see if you left enough headspace between the food and the bottom of the lid. Food that comes out during the process can stop the top from sealing correctly.

I’ve messed up several batches of jams and jellies. Instead of coming out ready to smear on a sandwich, I end up with syrup. Runny jam can be recooked with additional sugar and pectin to make the right consistency.

Runny jams and jellies are usually because you cooked them wrong. You might not have used enough pectin or sugar. Remember to boil the jams and jellies for a specific time after you add the pectin and sugar to help set the jam.

Before we talk about how to fix the runny jam, let’s look at how to prevent it from happening in the future.

Already have jars of runny jam? Don’t worry; you can fix it! Wait 24 hours to give the jam time to set up. Sometimes, pectin can take a while to set. Then, if it still hasn’t set, you’ll want to measure out how much jam to recook. You shouldn’t remake more than 8 cups at a time.

Losing fluid during processing isn’t a sign of spoilage, and you don’t need to open your jars to replace the liquids. If you lost half of the fluid in your jar, then you should refrigerate the jars and use the contents within two to three days.

Several issues cause this common canning problem, such as:

Since a multitude of issues can cause the loss of liquid, determine what caused your problem this time. Then, follow these tips to stop it from happening again.

Sometimes, you might notice the food at the top of the jar is darker. That doesn’t mean the food is spoiled. Darkened food is an unappealing sight but not dangerous for you to consume.

Darkened food is caused, usually, by air. You might have left too much air in the jar, resulting in oxidation. If you didn’t use enough liquids or syrup, that leaves too much air as well. Another cause of darkening food is that you didn’t process the food long enough to destroy the enzymes.

Preventing darkening food in the jars is one of the easiest canning problems to fix. Here is what you need to do.

Another canning problem that you might experience is cloudy liquid, which might mean that the food is spoiled. It depends on the reason why you have cloudy liquid in the jar.

The cloudy liquid can be caused by spoilage, but it’s caused by the fillers in table salt or the minerals in your water. Also, the starch in vegetables can create a cloudy look to the liquids in your jar.

Luckily, it’s not complicated to prevent cloudy liquid in the jars. Always make sure that you select vegetables that are at the right stage of maturity. Over-mature vegetables are more likely to cause opaque liquids.

A few other steps to prevent cloudy liquids in your jars include:

Do you have floating fruits in your jars? Overprocessing fruits and tomatoes can destroy the natural pectins in the fruit. Another reason that fruit might float is that the fruit is lighter than the sugar syrups or it was improperly packed.

If you notice floating fruit, it’s an easy fix. The most important thing is that you follow directions for processing times to avoid overprocessing the fruits because they’re delicate.

Also, make sure that you use firm, ripe fruit. Heat the fruit before packing. Unlike vegetables, you shouldn’t raw pack fruits. Use a light or medium syrup, and be cautious when you pack the fruit to avoid crushing them.

The last of the most common canning problems many people face is spoiled jars of food. It feels horrible to find jars of food that you spent time canning full of rotten food. I’ve had it happen, and it leaves you wondering if canning is worth all of the time and effort.

The spoiled food means that you made a mistake somewhere along the line. Pinpointing that mistake is vital. The most common reasons for food spoilage are:

First, always check over your equipment each year for damage. Make sure to test the dial gauges for accuracy. Follow researched-based recommendations for canning food, and follow directions for canners and timing of processes. Always check the jar and lids for defects.

Make sure that you always can low acid vegetables and meats in a pressure canner for safety. A pressure canner will kill off any botulism spores. Fruits and pickles can be canned in boiling water, and that includes jams and jellies.

Canning is a skill that you work on perfecting, just like gardening. Making mistakes is part of improving that skill, so don’t lose hope when you make one of the most common canning problems. Learn how to fix and prevent these mistakes so your canned goods will last for years in the pantry.

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