Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: Spana on July 12, 2010, 11:34

Title: Ratatouille in jars
Post by: Spana on July 12, 2010, 11:34

Years ago i used to make a big batch of ratatouille  type stuff and store it in jars but cant quite remember what i did for sure:wub:
 It use to keep really well and was easier to use than frozen, lovely with a bit of french bread and fresh pasta.  A meal in less than  4minutes :happy:

I think I put the hot sauce into hot jars and put on the lids without screwing up tight.  Then stood the jars on a folded tea towel in a big saucepan with water  just over half way up the jars, brought the water slowly to the boil and simmered for 35minutes.  Then screwed the lids on tight.

Does that sound about right,  anyone :unsure:

Thanks

Title: Re: Ratatouille in jars
Post by: mumofstig on July 12, 2010, 13:17

I do water as high as I can without it entering the jars while boiling. other than that sounds fine to me.

I do this with any tom sauces I make as well. Passata (just tomatoes) is fine without the boiling but I found that once I put other veg into the sauce it didn't keep as well, unless processed in this way :)

Title: Re: Ratatouille in jars
Post by: Spana on July 12, 2010, 14:25

Thanks mum :)
I had concussion last year and  lost so much memory that sometimes i just need a bit of reassurance that i've got things right. :happy:

Title: Re: Ratatouille in jars
Post by: Trillium on July 12, 2010, 15:30

Cooking time depends on which veg are added to the mix. I believe it's celery that needs the longest cooking time so if you've added celery, then it's about 35 minutes for the lot in a pint jar, up to 60 for a quart. The reason is that celery and other veg are low acid and longer cooking time is needed to kill certain bacteria. Pickles need less boiling water time as the vinegar in them will kill off harmful bacteria.