I make my jam in sterile jars and use a freezer jam recipe. I then seal using a hot water bath for 15 minutes. I know you don't need to seal it but I always do. Something about it makes me feel safer especially if you gift it and they don't freeze it immediately. My question is can I leave it in the pantry on the shelf since I did seal it. The jam was only "cooked" during the hot water bath.
Can freezer jam not be frozen if sealed
freezingjam
Related Solutions
If your jam has at least 1:1 ratio (1 kg of sugar per kg of fruit) or more, you do not have to can it. Then it is so overwhelmingly sweet that bacteria cannot live in it.
If the jam has less sugar (1:2 are popular, 1:3 are found sometimes), then you have to either can it, or keep it in the fridge and consume it within a few days, similar to any other cooked food. Else, you are colonizing bacteria in your jam, and at some point, some of them will happen to be pathogenic and cause some unpleasant disease in whoever eats the jam.
Canning is a process in which the jam is closed against any new bacteria (that's why you have to close the jar hermetically) and then heated enough that most old bacteria are killed. After canning, you can keep the closed jars at room temperature without any new bacteria developing.
You just need to work out your forearms more. :)
If food gets on the rim of the jar it can greatly add to the friction after the lid is on. It actually makes the whole process unreliable- the food might prevent a seal from forming or it might harden and make the lid difficult to remove- either way make sure the rim of the jar is clean.
Canning jars create a vacuum when the heated air in the jar contracts. This vacuum is what holds the lid on tightly. You can alter the strength of the vacuum in two ways:
1- leave more air at the top of the jar (called headspace).
More air means that a smaller percentage of the air will be forced out and the seal will be weaker. Be careful that you don't make it too weak. If the seal fails the food will spoil.
Jam recipes meant for normal canning jars will include the recommended headspace. You should start there with your experiments.
2- Let the jam cool a little before applying the lid.
This will also result in less air being forced out and a weaker seal. This is something you can experiment with but it would be more finicky than #1. If you do try it, watch your jars closely for a while and put them in the fridge if the seal fails.
The canning process for jam in normal canning jars usually includes boiling the jars afterwards to ensure the jars seal properly. With those lids, sealing too strongly isn't a concern as the lids are disposable. Even with your jars, you want a very strong seal. If you are having trouble opening them perhaps you should try using a tool that will give you leverage but not damage the lid.
Best Answer
Only recipes from trusted sources should be used for shelf stable canning, as they are proven to produce a product with a sufficiently low pH to be safe when stored at room temperature.
The boiling water bath process is a way to create a vacuum seal, it is also a way to get the contents of the jar to near boiling for a certain amount of time, this will kill most microorganisms (any remaining will not be able to thrive in the low pH high sugar environment).
As you are not using a recipe specifically designed for a shelf stable product and you are not putting very hot jam/jelly into the jars prior to processing (you have no way of knowing how hot the center of the jam gets), your jam will not be shelf stable.