i have a case of half gallon canning jars,but my water bath canner is not high enough too cover the jars. if i put the lid on really tight could i lay them on their sides to process? as always thank you so much! fred

-- fred in wi (sixuvusmeyers@aol.com), October 13, 2001

Answers

should,, as long as you keep it off the bottom

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 13, 2001.

I am sure that I will get pasted for this fred but the Amish in my neighborhood just put the water up to the neck of the jar and don't ever totally cover the jars. I would stand them upright and do it that way if I were you. What are you canning in them???

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.

well diane,with sixuvus here i thought grape juice would make good use of those jars.and yes stan i have one of those wire racks that sits in the bottom.but i think i'll just wait and see if diane gets pasted:') thanks again gang , fred

-- fred in wi (sixuvusmeyers@aol.com), October 13, 2001.

You could forget the rack and just set the jars on a thin towel laid in the bottom of the canner. That might make the jars set low enough to cover. I won't paste anyone, I have a few odd jars that aren't covered with water and I can them anyway. Never had a problem. Or you can do your juice by having jars and juice hot and lids in boiling water. Just fill, wipe and seal. Not recommended, but done for many years anyway.

-- Barb Fischer (bfischer42@hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

I juice all my berries each year that I make jelly from by using a steam juicer (Weck brand) and draining hot juice directly into jars and sealing. Have done this for years, and never had a jar spoil.

-- Duffy (hazelm@tenforward.com), October 13, 2001.

I used an old terry hand towel on the bottom of my old canner for years...works great. I have some 1/2 gallon jars too...and they are always used for juice. good luck!!!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 13, 2001.

I'm with Diane. In a water bath, the contents of the jars will not boil. This would not be true in a pressure canner. With a pretty good tight lid, it would probably be o.k. to stand them up too.

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), October 13, 2001.