How to sterilize empty jars in a saucepan with water, with preparations step by step

Home canning is not just one of the ways to preserve crops for the winter, but also a great opportunity to show off your culinary talents: after all, every housewife tries and puts a piece of her soul into this process. It’s especially annoying when jars with blanks explode, deteriorate and become moldy. A great way to avoid such unpleasant consequences is to sterilize jars of preparations in a pan of water. This method effectively destroys most bacteria and microbes that cause spoilage of canned foods and can also harm your health.

Sterilization of jars with blanks is especially important for those who do not have a cold cellar or basement, and the preservation is stored in a closet at room temperature

Why do you need to sterilize glass jars?

Sterilization destroys microorganisms that accumulate on the walls of glass jars intended for storing canned food. This method is widely used in food production. The official name of sterilization is decontamination, that is, the removal of microorganisms and contaminants.

The main advantages of using the sterilization method are obvious:

• destruction of microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, viruses);
• extending the shelf life of the workpiece;
• preservation of food product.

Sterilizing jars in a pan of water began several decades ago. Despite the fact that today housewives have various technical devices for cooking and processing products, the method of sterilization in a pan still remains in demand.

Choosing a pan for sterilization

The complexity of organizing the process at home lies in the selection of a special pan for sterilization.

The container must meet the basic requirements:

• the width of the bottom should accommodate several glass jars with different neck sizes;
• the height of the pan should correspond to the height of the cans, since the cans are immersed in water “up to their shoulders”;
• The pan should be the same size as the burner on the stove so that the heat remains even throughout the boiling period.

In homemade recipes, the concept of “hanger-deep” is often used, which applies to the process of immersing a jar in water. The phrase “up to the shoulders” means that the water should reach the line where the glass jar begins to narrow towards the neck. The sterilization time is calculated from the moment the water boils in the pan. After boiling, turn down the heat on the stove, but maintain it at a level that ensures a gentle boil. It is necessary to sterilize jars in a saucepan with water every time the housewife plans to store the product for more than 7-14 days.

Many people choose other methods of processing jars, but the boiling process remains the most effective method of destroying harmful microorganisms.

How to sterilize workpieces? ⇑

4.1. Why are workpieces sterilized?

Very often, in recipes with canned vegetables (various stews, salads for the winter), jars already filled with the preparation are sterilized. But there are often recipes for preparations without sterilization. This saves time, but if you have little experience in homemade preparations, then it is better to play it safe and sterilize jars of vegetables, fruits or berries, even if the recipe says the opposite.

Remember: This guarantees the safety of such canned food for quite a long time, even if you made a mistake in the process (for example, you did not withstand the heat treatment time, did not add some of the preservative ingredients, etc.).

4.2. How to sterilize workpieces?

How to properly sterilize jars with blanks? Let's find out:

1. Fill sterile jars with the finished product, cover with lids (do not close, just place on top).

2. In a pan of suitable size, first place a towel on the bottom (this is necessary to prevent the jars from overheating and cracking). You can use a special stand for sterilization.

3. Then place the jars in the pan. Carefully fill the pan with the jars with water so that the jars are immersed in it up to their shoulders.

Important: Under no circumstances should you pour boiling water into cold jars or cold water into hot jars! A sudden change can cause them to burst. If you filled the jars with hot stock, then the water poured into the pan should be about the same. And vice versa.

4. It is necessary to boil jars with preparations for as long as indicated in a specific recipe. If the time for sterilization of workpieces is not indicated in the recipe, then follow the general rules:

Banks 0.5l-0.75l are sterilized for 10 minutes;

1 liter jars are sterilized for 15 minutes;

2 liter jars are sterilized for 20-25 minutes;

3 liter jars - 25-30 minutes.

Preparing jars

Before you start boiling, glass jars must be properly prepared.

This process can be divided into several stages:

1. Rejection of containers. Jars with chips, cracks, or jagged edges around the neck are not suitable for sterilization. Such specimens may burst during boiling.
2. Processing of cans. Containers are thoroughly washed using laundry soap, detergent or baking soda powder. The main condition for washing containers is complete rinsing to remove traces of detergent. Many housewives prefer to use baking soda powder, as it does not leave any traces of soap stains and washes away any dirt well.

3. Drying cans. The washed containers are wiped with a towel and left to dry completely on a clean cloth, upside down.

A simple way to treat glass containers with potassium permanganate

I’ll say right away that I don’t use this method, although it does exist. It is very simple and does not even need any separate description. But we will still devote a few words to him.

As always, rinse the container thoroughly.

Dilute manganese in hot or warm water. Pour into a clean container and swirl the liquid there for a few seconds to coat all the walls and, most importantly, the neck.

Then drain the pink liquid and place the container on a clean cloth so that excess drops of water drain off.

One portion can be used to process several glass containers.

Rules for sterilizing empty jars in a pan of water

At the first stage, you need to sterilize the jars in a saucepan with water empty. Compliance with the rules will ensure a successful result of the preparations.

Safety Basics:

• To avoid damage to glass containers, place a clean towel on the bottom of a wide pan. The fabric prevents the dishes from touching each other and prevents damage to both items.
• An important placement condition is to arrange the cans in such a way that they do not touch each other. If they stand close together, this can lead to cracks in both containers.
• When boiling, the jars are placed on the bottom of the pan, base down. For example, when processing with steam, they are placed bottom up, because the technologies of the sterilization processes have significant differences.
  Read also:  Useful tips on how to store cauliflower in the refrigerator
• It is not recommended to boil jars and lids at the same time due to the difference in the surface area being treated and the structure of the materials from which the items are made.

It is more convenient to sterilize dishes in a pan of water if all containers being processed have the same volume.

Three-liter jars are processed separately from liter jars for several reasons:

• It is more convenient to place identical dishes at the bottom of the pan for boiling;
• The boiling time for cans of the same volume does not differ; they stop boiling at the same time, unlike dishes of different sizes.

Sterilization time depends on the capacity of the dishes.

It is calculated in advance and timed on the kitchen timer:

How to warm up jars in a slow cooker

Since we have another wonderful assistant, we can use him for the task at hand. Now I’ll tell you how to do this.

• As always, let's start with washing the containers. This is a priority stage and we do not skip it in any way.
• After which we need to thoroughly wash the multicooker bowl in the same way. As a rule, foreign odors from food being prepared there may remain in it. And it is advisable to get rid of them so that the container does not pick up these odors during processing.
• Wash the grill included in the kit. It is intended for steaming dishes.
• Then pour 3 cups of water into the multicooker bowl and install the grill.
• Place as many containers, neck down, as will fit. In this case, we are not trying to close the lid; it is clear that this will not be possible.

• Set the “Steam cooking” program. If there is no such program, you can first turn on the “Soup” or “Baking” mode. And after the water boils, switch the program to the “Quenching” mode.
• After the water boils, treat half-liter containers with steam for about 7-10 minutes, liter containers for 15 minutes.
• Remove the containers and place them neck down on a clean towel.

Here is such a simple and fairly simple method.

Features of sterilization of jars for specific needs

It is not always necessary to sterilize jars in a pan of water. It depends on the type of workpiece.

Basic examples:

• Yogurt. Yogurt containers are treated with boiling water for 1 minute. It is enough to simply pour a stream of boiling water from a kettle or cup over the jars intended for fermentation.
• Berry or fruit jam. Jars intended for pouring hot jam are boiled for 5-10 minutes.
• Cucumbers, tomatoes. Containers for canned food that are prepared cold or hot are usually processed 2 times. Processing includes sterilization of empty cans and pasteurization of finished canned food.

  
  You can also sterilize jars in a saucepan with water with blanks.

• Salads. Vegetables can become a favorable environment for the development of microorganisms, so storage containers for canned vegetables must be processed. The boiling time may be reduced depending on the presence of preservatives in the salads.

The process of sterilizing jars with blanks in a saucepan

Pasteurization is a procedure that continues the processing of food products in order to destroy microorganisms. Pasteurization is carried out to destroy various bacteria in a liquid medium. Twice-processed canned food can be stored for several years without loss of taste. Pasteurization is carried out only with those products that are not covered with lids. A hermetically sealed jar with the workpiece cannot be boiled further, since a closed environment under the influence of high temperature favors the development and reproduction of bacteria.

When boiling again, cover the neck of the jar with lids, but never close it tightly.

Stew

Stew is canned stewed meat. It is prepared from various types of meat and poultry. The finished stew is softened meat, which breaks down into fibers when cut. After cooking, the stew is placed in sterilized glass jars and then processed a second time to destroy the bacteria inside the canned food. Pasteurization of stewed meat is carried out according to general rules. Jars prepared in advance are filled with meat, covered with lids and placed on the bottom of a wide pan, covered with a towel.

The jars are placed at some distance from each other so that their walls do not have points of contact. The stew is boiled for a long time. The boiling process prolongs the cooking time of meat and also helps reduce the risk of developing a favorable environment for microorganisms.

As a rule, the stew is laid out in containers from 500 ml to 1 liter, but no more:

• 1 liter jars. boil for 1 hour 45 minutes;
• 0.5 liter jars are boiled for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Mushrooms

Homemade mushroom preparations must be carefully processed, without neglecting the described instructions. Salted or pickled mushrooms are placed in sterilized jars and then boiled in a saucepan. Place a wooden grate or spread a clean towel on the bottom of a wide saucepan, then place the canned mushrooms and boil.

The boiling time depends on the varietal variety of mushrooms and the type of canned food:

• pickled mushrooms in 1 liter jars are boiled for 25 minutes;
• blanched mushrooms with a minimum salt content in 800 ml-1 liter jars are boiled for about 60 minutes;
• mushroom caviar in 1 liter jars is boiled for 1 hour;
• salted mushrooms in 1 liter jars are boiled for 30 minutes.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are often canned using the hot pour method. Many housewives believe that hot brine replaces the method of secondary pasteurization. This is not entirely true. Hot brine or marinade does not exclude the next stage of heat treatment of the jar. Pasteurization prolongs the overall cooking time, but at the same time increases the shelf life of cooked tomatoes.

When boiling tomato preparations, use the set timer:

• 1-liter jars are boiled for 10 minutes;
• 2-liter jars are boiled for 20 minutes;
• Boil 3-liter jars for 30 minutes.

Salad

A vegetable salad recipe involves mixing raw vegetables in certain proportions. Most often, onions, tomatoes, cabbage and carrots are used for vegetable salad. When mixed, these vegetables undergo a natural oxidation process, so sterilization of vegetable salads is mandatory. The jars are processed before laying out the salad. Then the vegetable salad is laid out on them, covered with the prepared lids and placed on the bottom of a wide pan for further boiling.

Jars of salad with a volume equal to 3 liters are boiled for 40 minutes. After this, the lids are immediately rolled up and the jars are removed to cool.

Vegetables

In addition to preparing salads, there are methods when vegetables are pre-fried, boiled or stewed.

Such canned food is sterilized again according to the general rules:

• the jars are placed on the bottom of the pan, covered with a towel;
• between the banks leave a space of 20-30 mm;
• water is poured so that it does not reach the neck of the jar 2-3 cm;
• Boiling lasts from 10 to 25 minutes, depending on the volume of the jar.

Nuances taking into account the type of workpiece

Recipes often call for additional boiling of jars of ingredients. Sterilize preservation at temperatures above 100 °C in an oven, air fryer or regular pan with hot water. Since there is no need to heat full containers so much when pasteurizing, you can also use a water bath, a slow cooker and a microwave. However, the shelf life of pasteurized food products is much shorter compared to the shelf life of sterilized products.

In order for canned food to please you with its taste, housewives need to know the basic rules. There are many subtleties in the culinary art, because each individual dish has its own technology.

Vegetables

For preparations, take ripe fresh vegetables without defects, signs of spoilage or damage. They are thoroughly cleaned of dirt, stems, leaves, and twigs. Remove rotten and damaged parts. Wash under running water at room temperature.

Vegetables can be blanched: steamed or in boiling water for 1-3 minutes, and then immediately immersed in cold liquid. In this way, most of the microbes are destroyed. Due to a sharp temperature change, microcracks are formed, due to which the brine or marinade penetrates better into the pulp of the fruit and prevents cracking of the skin. But this type of processing is not applied to overripe and soft vegetables.

Sterilization of finished products can be done in a microwave or any other convenient way. Processing time varies from 2 to 10 minutes.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, compotes from whole fruits can be canned without subsequent sterilization. Vegetables and fruits are placed in jars and poured with boiling water in 3-4 doses, leaving them in the hot liquid for 5 minutes each time. The first time they use water, the subsequent times use boiling marinades for cucumbers and tomatoes, regular boiling water for fruits, boiling syrup for compotes.

Mushrooms

Greens are placed at the bottom of the jar. The mushrooms with the remaining ingredients of the dish are boiled for about 15 minutes, after which they are allowed to cool slightly and poured into jars along with the marinade. Then they are sterilized in any convenient way from 10 minutes to an hour (the time depends on the size of the dishes).

Salads

When preparing products such as lecho or vegetable caviar, they resort to sautéing, frying or stewing. Then the salads are laid out, not reaching the top edge of 1.5 cm, and the products in the jars are sterilized. It will be most convenient to use large pots of water. The duration of the procedure is 15 minutes.

Sauces

The hot product is placed in a container pre-treated with boiling water. The sterilization time for one and a half liter jars is about 15 minutes. It is most convenient to use a microwave or oven. For larger containers it will take 25 to 40 minutes. Then the finished containers are sealed.

Jam

Because the jam is cooked over a fire for hours, it is sterile. It is poured boiling into jars, immediately rolled up, placed on the neck, and allowed to cool. Some recipes involve pasteurization: filled jars are placed in hot water at a temperature of at least 90 °C.

Stew

Microorganisms develop very actively in meat products, therefore, in order to destroy them and spores, cans of stewed meat are sterilized for many hours (at least 120 minutes). To do this, place them on a baking sheet (you can sprinkle it with salt) and turn on the oven at 200 degrees. The strict requirements of recipes should not be neglected.

Are jars for jam and compotes sterilized?

Fruit and berry preparations are susceptible to mold and fermentation if the containers in which they are stored are processed in violation of technological rules. Sour berries and fruits are especially susceptible to the spread of yeast-like microorganisms, even with the addition of large amounts of sugar, which acts as a preservative during storage.

For bottling compotes cooked according to traditional recipes, 2 stages of processing are provided:

• 3 liter jars are sterilized for 25 minutes before preparing the compote;
• 3 liter jars filled with compote, cover with lids and boil for 20 minutes.

Traditionally, jam is made from fruit or berry raw materials, to which the same amount of sugar is added. After preparation, the jam is poured into treated jars and then subjected to additional pasteurization.

Useful tips

The recommended water temperature in the pan before placing the cans of preserves is 30–70 °C. The hotter the product, the higher it should be. The pan must be covered with a lid. The countdown of sterilization time, which is carried out over intense heat, begins from the moment of boiling.

When sterilizing, you should strictly adhere to the temperature regime specified in the recipe. If this is not observed, bacteria will remain in the product, and an intensive process of their reproduction will soon begin. This will lead to damage to the workpiece.

When processing very hard vegetables, the water temperature should exceed 100 degrees; for this, 50 to 350 g of salt are added to the liquid.

Up to 65% of sugar from the total mass of the product is added to jam, and up to 60% to jam. If its content is lower, the preservation is subjected to additional pasteurization or sterilization. When the recipe calls for the use of vinegar, its strength must be at least 4%.

Do lids need to be sterilized?

The last step in preparing homemade canned food is seaming. Using a special seaming key or a seaming machine, the jars are closed with lids in compliance with all sealing rules. If the lids are rolled up correctly, the possibility of microorganisms entering the workpiece is completely eliminated. Another method used to seal home canned food is the use of twist-off lids. To use this type of cap, you do not need a seaming wrench.

The lids are pressed against the neck of the jar and, using physical force, are screwed along the threads marked on the surface of the neck of the jar.

To properly close homemade products, special, pre-treated lids are used. This applies to both tin lids with rubber bands and twist-off lids. Before boiling, the lids are checked for damage. Any crack, chip or violation of the integrity of the rubber band, which is located under the rim of the tin lids, is a reason to refuse to use the material. The lids are boiled separately from the jars for 5 minutes. The condition for their sterilization is complete immersion in water.

After boiling, the lids are carefully removed from the water with kitchen tongs and laid out on a clean towel until completely dry. When pasteurizing blanks, the lids are loosely placed on the neck of the jar. After seaming, the jars are turned upside down. This method helps to control the tightness of the seal. If the lid fits tightly to the neck of the jar, then the brine or marinade will not leak out. If the tightness is broken due to improper tightening, the workpiece will begin to leak after some time.

Method for processing glass containers in a home dishwasher

Nowadays, many homes now have such a wonderful helper as a dishwasher. And it can also be used to solve our task.

Of course, when washing, it reaches an approximate temperature of only 70 degrees, instead of 100 when we process the container by steaming or boiling water. But it has already been tested by many, and it is known for sure that the method works and you can safely use it.

Everything is done very simply.

Clean, washed containers are loaded into the machine, preferably neck down. Then the desired mode is set, in which the temperature should not be lower than 60 degrees and the machine turns on as usual.

At the same time, there is no need to load any cleaning products. If you remember, when washing cans, we used the product.

At the end of the cycle, remove the container and place it on a clean towel, again with the neck down. Leave in this position until you add processed products to it.

Common mistakes and their prevention

It happens that homemade preparations explode during storage, lids on canned vegetables swell, and mold appears in jars of jam or the fermentation process begins. This means that at the stage of preparing the dishes for storage, a violation occurred. A serious technological error in sterilization is boiling rolled products. Hermetically sealed jars are not subject to additional boiling, because this promotes the development of microorganisms and prevents the release of excess steam when the liquid is heated.

When sterilizing and subsequent pasteurization, it is necessary to follow some rules:

• To sterilize empty jars, pour warm water into the pan, then place the jars and add water to the narrowing line of the jar. Gradually heating the water simultaneously with heating the jars eliminates the possibility of cracks in the glass.
• For sterilization, place a wire rack or spread a cloth at the bottom of the pan. If this is not done, the jar may burst when boiling.
• The sterilization time is measured from the moment the water boils, and not from the moment the stove is turned on.

• Water should not gurgle when boiling - it can get into the workpiece, which will upset the recipe proportions.
• The fire on the stove is reduced immediately after boiling and maintained at medium level.
• The lids should not be placed too tightly on the neck of the jar. This is due to the fact that when the workpiece is heated, the liquid begins to expand, and excess steam escapes out through the left gap.
• When preparing compotes or vegetable preparations with marinades, you should not pour the preparation to the very edge of the jar. When boiling, the liquid will splash out of the jar, this will disrupt the processing of nearby canned food.
• After pasteurization, the jars are removed from the pan using special devices. In this case, removing the lid from the neck of the jar is completely excluded. Pasteurized blanks must be seamed immediately.
• To prevent temperature changes after pasteurization, it is recommended to cover jars with blanks with a blanket.
• The rules that apply when sterilizing dishes by boiling in a saucepan do not coincide with the rules for processing jars and lids in an oven, microwave or slow cooker.

Home canning is a good way to preserve food. Jars and lids that are used for sealing must be sterilized. One of the most effective and reliable methods of sterilization is boiling dishes in a pan of water.

Purpose of heat treatment

When canning vegetables and fruits, the jars are first sterilized or pasteurized to prevent damage to the products during storage. In both cases, the containers are treated at high temperatures, which kill harmful microorganisms. Without such a procedure, bacteria will begin to actively develop in the nutrient medium.

It is recommended to pasteurize cherries, sour apples, unripe apricots and other similar fruits when preparing jams, compotes, a number of vegetable salads, lecho, and marinades. These products contain enough acid, which kills bacteria, so during pasteurization, jars with blanks are heated only to 85–90 °C. With such processing, the taste qualities of vegetables and fruits, as well as useful microelements, are preserved to the maximum; preservation remains suitable for consumption for a long time.

Sterilization refers to the processing of jars (empty or filled) at temperatures above 100 °C. The process suppresses thermophilic microorganisms that can cause food poisoning.

The pasteurization process makes canned food safe for consumption.