Q and A: calf’s foot jelly, canning beet greens, and pickled okra

Calf’s foot jelly

Can you can calf’s foot jelly?

Sandi Aberle
Gillette, Wyoming

I would think so, by filling your jars to leave 1 inch of headspace, while the “jelly” is still hot, then processing the jars at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes (pints or half-pints). If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude. This is not a “tested” recipe, so it must be considered “experimental.” — Jackie

Canning beet greens

Why can’t you can beet greens raw?

Nancy Foster
Dallas City, Illinois

All greens wilt tremendously when processed. You’d end up with about a quarter jar of processed greens if you raw packed them. You can steam-wilt them if you don’t want to pre-boil them. — Jackie

Pickled okra

My question is that I love pickled okra and I buy it in the quart size but can’t eat it all before it goes bad. I would like to re-process it in 1/2 pint wide mouth jars so that it will be more manageable for me to eat. How would I go about that? I love your canning book. I looked thru it again and couldn’t find the answer: how long will it take for you to be able to know if your seals are going to fail. Just pulled out a bad jar of green beans from the very back of my pantry and wow they were really bad. The date was 2008. Canned some bacon last night and a jar fell while being lifted out of the canner and the ring popped off and the lid got damaged but the ball seal has remained sealed. What would you do? Also there is no index in your book, can I go online to get one or do you just not have one.

Michelle
Fresno, Ohio

You can find an index that is printable Here: www.backwoodshome.com/store/files/jc01-first_printing_2009-index.pdf

The new printing of the book includes an index.

Unfortunately when you re-process pickles of any kind they often get soft. You can try it by bringing the pickling liquid to boiling, pack the okra into your jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace, then filling the jars quickly with boiling liquid. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

If your seals are going to fail after canning it will happen between taking them out of the canner and when they are completely cool. Once in a while you’ll have a seal fail in storage for no apparent reason. It just happens. That’s why we always first look at the jar we’re going to use, check to see if the seal is good, open the jar, sniff and look at the contents, then heat it and sniff again. Just to be sure.

Regarding your bacon, I’d probably refrigerate that jar and use it relatively soon, just in case. The ring popping off so soon might cause seal failure later in storage. — Jackie