Jams

[NeverHadANickname]

I don't live in the UK anymore but still use mostly UK recipes for things, including jams, chutney and other preserves. Does anyone know why the UK recipes just say sterilize the jars and seal whereas the US recipes call for water canning and stuff after that?

I sort of wish I hadn’t googled as the superior tone in this article has given me the rage!
I imagine it just down to what people traditionally did. Here our grandmothers sterilised jars whereas canning is pretty big in the US. I’ve watched a couple of people on TikTok, some of the stuff they make and can is incredible. We don’t have such distances to travel here so don’t have the need to preserve on such a large scale.

I’d ignore the bottling is unsafe bit though as recent recipes still instruct do it.

https://www.healthycanning.com/why-old-british-method-of-bottling-is-unsafe

It's usually down to the sugar content. UK recipes use equal amounts of fruit to sugar so it's the sugar that preserves the jam so you just need a clean, hot jar to put it into and it's shelf stable and won't need refrigeration when opened.

Recipes with less sugar need to be waterbathed to preserve them and make them shelf stable, they will need to be refrigerated once open.

In many parts of the US it gets much hotter than in the UK so things that are relatively low risk in our climate are a higher risk there.

Also there are state authorities involved in devising “safe” canning practices there, so they have a belt-and-braces approach to minimise any possibility of contamination, whereas UK bottling traditions have never been formalised to that extent.

High-sugar, high-acid foods are pretty safe already. Pasteurising them (which is basically what water-bath canning is) makes them safer still.

Thank you for your answers. That article is interesting but yes, infuriating in a way. I am part of a few homesteading groups on Facebook as well as gardening groups so see a lot of water bath and pressure canning. I didn't think about there being more government and state guiding here. Maybe I should be water canning things 🤷‍♀️