Canning Update

I finished canning this weekend. I've learned a few things:
1) it is easier to tell when pears are ripe than when peaches are ripe.
2) leaving only 1/2 inch head space will result in leakage of juice from the jars.
3) you really need a bottle lifter to get the bottles out of the water bath without scalding yourself.
4) start the water bath as soon as you start bottling fruit. Once you get the fruit in the bottle and the lid on, place it in the canner. This makes sure that the bottle and the syrup stay hot.
5) if you don't keep the syrup and bottle hot, the bottles will not seal, even if you do process them correctly.
6) if the bottles do not seal, you can re-process them. This requires opening the jars, throwing the lids away, pouring out the syrup, re-heating the syrup, re-filling the bottles, and processing them again for 35 minutes. It works!

Life is Good!