The Air Bubble Mistake You Need To Avoid When Canning Food

Food canning is a great way to expand the shelf life of your fruits and vegetables. Sometimes, canned food will stay fresh for as long as five years. It allows you to save money by cutting down on food waste as well as packaging waste, and it offers a backup plan for economic hardships or extreme weather events. In fact, some foods are more nutritious when canned. However, none of this matters if you don't learn to do it correctly.

One common mistake is failing to alleviate air bubbles. "When air bubbles are not removed, the air trapped by the food will essentially add to the headspace," Ball Home Canning's Jessica Piper told Country Living. "Too much headspace can lead to seal failures." Headspace in this instance refers to the the gap between the lid and the product.

Ensuring your can is properly sealed not only protects your food's longevity but also prevents potential contamination. For best practice, there's a specific way you should rid your cans of bubbles.

Jessica Piper of Ball Home Canning explained to Country Living that you should remove air bubbles with wood or plastic tools rather than metal: "Using metal utensils to remove air bubbles can etch the glass which can lead to jar breakage over time." The process is simple; after inserting your tool, stir the product thoroughly until each of the bubbles is popped.

If you fail to remove the bubbles, it can result in leakage as air escapes and forces liquid out of the jar. The bubbles can also cause jam or jelly to rise into the headspace and out of the preservation liquid, leading to an unpleasant flavor in a section of your product. Because headspace must be specifically determined, allowing for overfill won't cut it. "If jars are overfilled, the contents may siphon or boil out during processing," Piper said. "When too much headspace is left, all the air may not vent from the jar during processing, preventing the formation of a vacuum seal." For the longest-lasting and tastiest product, you should always remove the bubbles and read about other mistakes to avoid when canning food.