Q and A: Using flour in canned pie fillings and moving home canned goods

Using flour in canned pie fillings

Is it safe to use flour for thickener in home canned fruit pie (apple) fillings? We have an allergy to corn issue, and can’t use the Clear Jel.

Jolene Teeters
Stanwood, Washington

Sorry, Jolene, but no. It isn’t considered safe to use flour as a thickener for gravies and pie fillings. You’ll have to can the apples in light syrup and then thicken when you go to use them to make your pies. — Jackie

Moving home canned goods

How did you move your canned goods? Did you put rings back on the lids? How did you keep jars from breaking?

J from Missouri

I went to the neighboring liquor store/bar and asked that they save empty boxes for me. They were more than happy to because they have to pay to get them hauled off in the trash. These are very heavy and have dividers to keep jars apart. (I’ll bet everyone who came to our house early on saw all those booze boxes and figured we were really big party people!) No, I didn’t put rings back on. I packed the jars that didn’t get packed in these boxes in newspapers to prevent them from knocking together. I only lost three jars in a 1,000 mile move. Not bad out of a huge pantry full. — Jackie