Help with canning peaches

July 27, 2009 9:47 AM

I canned (cold packed) seven pints of fresh peaches yesterday. The lid rings weren't screwed on tightly enough while the jars were processed, so some of the syrup leaked out. The jars do seem to have sealed, however. What should I do about this?

Instead of the nice modest 1/2 inch headspace these jars were supposed to have, some of them lost up to half of their liquid and not all of the peaches are under the syrup level. Assuming the jars did seal properly, what other problems might I encounter from the low syrup levels? The Internet suggests exposed peaches might become discolored or get a weird flavor. Will this make them really unpleasant or unedible? Should I open the jars, add syrup, and reprocess or will the peaches just be a mushy mess by the end of that?

posted by thirteenkiller to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

Best answer: Our peaches from several years ago weren't all covered by the syrup and while they did discolour at the top, the flavour and texture was unchanged. Nevertheless, with levels as low as you describe, I recommend repacking and reprocessing your peaches.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:54 AM on July 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the input. I think I will reprocess.
posted by thirteenkiller at 10:55 AM on July 28, 2009