I made salsa using my sister's recipe. She makes huge batches. She boils her jars for an hour in her roaster. I have an old stock pot for canning and I make small batches. I boiled mine for an hour. I saw the lids were stressed when it was done, but once cooled I could press them and they moved. What am I doing wrong?
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It sounds like your lids are old or the sealing compound was faulty. If they were new, call the company. If they were old, toss them. Hopefully you refrigerated the salsa asap.
You can puree and cook down the salsa and freeze it. It will not look pretty, but if you follow guidance for freezer salsa it should taste fine. Freeze in small portions because once defrosted it doesn't last long.
Post back with an update.
Hope all is not lost!There are a few reasons for this - 1. If the rim is not clean. 2. Make sure there is no food on or around the rim.
You are doing a canning bath to get your lids to seal. In cases like this it is best to prepare your jars and make sure the top of the jars is completely clean before adding your lid to the jar. When placing the canning lid on the jar make sure the rubber is on the lip of the jar. Screws down the ring and make sure it is as tight as you can get it. Add the jars to your pot and then add the water. If your jars did not seal the first time take them apart and clean the rims really good and try again.
I hope you were able to salvage your salsa because I know how much work goes into making this and it can so delicious!
I always write a date on my lid packages when I buy them so I can make a decision when I'm ready to can as to whether I should take a chance or buy new ones as it is difficult to 'eyeball' them and know for sure. I also buy from stores that have a large canning section so I know they have a big turnover of goods.
Just in case this ever happens again, I have this information from the USDA site about how to handle salsa that did not seal:
"In the event that some of your jars do not seal properly, you can reprocess them. To do so, remove the band and lid and empty your salsa into a saucepan. Reheat them by bringing them up to a boil, then ladle them into a clean, hot jar as before. Place a new, hot lid on the jar (make sure you wipe the rim off), hand-tighten the band, and process them again for the full fifteen minutes."
I have a recipe that I've used for several years and mine only calls for 15 minutes so I'm curious as to why you are boiling for 1 hour..
This is the site that I use and I thought maybe you might want to review your process just in case you happen to have skipped something in the making/fixing.
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