As you may recall, a few months ago I was asking what might have caused a 2-liter bottle of tomato juice to violently explode. One of the ensuing conversations was about the safety of using Mt. Dew bottles to preserve the juice.
To refresh, I would bring the juice to a boil, pour it into the bottles and screw the cap on immediately. I have done this for years but after hearing from several posters about how this may not be safe, I was concerned.
Cold weather arrived yesterday and so today seemed like a great day to make a batch of chili. And of course, that meant using some of my juice.
It worked perfectly (at least so far). Because I tightened the lids as much as I could, they were not the easiest thing to open, at least compared to a normal bottle of pop. But I could hear the air hissing in so I knew nothing had invaded the bottles.
The juice tasted great - not like one would find at a store that has been watered down and tons of preservatives added, just pure tomato juice.
The advantages of doing it this way include the ability to save as few as two quarts at a time (I could go with pints if I wanted to use smaller bottles), no expense for lids or rings, no pressure canning or hot water baths involved, which cuts down on time tremendously.
I don't use this method for hot sauce - the woozies get a hot water bath, but for plain juice and ketchup it seems to be great.
Mike
To refresh, I would bring the juice to a boil, pour it into the bottles and screw the cap on immediately. I have done this for years but after hearing from several posters about how this may not be safe, I was concerned.
Cold weather arrived yesterday and so today seemed like a great day to make a batch of chili. And of course, that meant using some of my juice.
It worked perfectly (at least so far). Because I tightened the lids as much as I could, they were not the easiest thing to open, at least compared to a normal bottle of pop. But I could hear the air hissing in so I knew nothing had invaded the bottles.
The juice tasted great - not like one would find at a store that has been watered down and tons of preservatives added, just pure tomato juice.
The advantages of doing it this way include the ability to save as few as two quarts at a time (I could go with pints if I wanted to use smaller bottles), no expense for lids or rings, no pressure canning or hot water baths involved, which cuts down on time tremendously.
I don't use this method for hot sauce - the woozies get a hot water bath, but for plain juice and ketchup it seems to be great.
Mike
