# Can You Re-Can ??



## Helena (May 10, 2002)

Have asked about using the large 10# cans of veggies and was told that they often just can what's left. So...if I have a large can of food..veggies or fruit..and recan it with my canner or pressure canner..will it be soft and soggy. ?? And if I can do this succesfully...do I can it at half of the usual canning time with raw fruit or veggies from the garden. Confused ??:smack


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Most fruit and veg will get mushy if you recan large containers down into smaller containers... especially low-acid veggies with the long times in the pressure canner. Pickles, sauerkraut and jams are the only things that I have found tolerate the double processing. Since those are acidic, I process them in the waterbath canner for the recommended time that is called for in the "canning from fresh" recipe for the jar size I'm using because the food could have been recontaminated with mold, etc as soon as you opened the original container. Once you open that, the food is no longer sterile, so you have to fully re-process it.


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I have re-canned tomatoes and tomatoe paste with no problem but they are also acid. To the tomatoes paste I add a little citric acid just to make sure.


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## JohnL751 (Aug 28, 2008)

When I get #10 cans of vegetables, it is hard to use all of it quickly for one person so I freeze part of it. It works good for me. Anything I will be using in the next two weeks, I don't worry much about packaging. Freezer burn hasn't been a problem. Any kind of a dish or wrap that will handle freezing.


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## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

Agree that freezing is the best option. But if you choose to try it you need to use the full processing time and/or pressure called for.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

If we open bigger containers in the winter or have left overs, I wrap them up and put them on the porch to freeze. In the summer, we either eat it every meal until it's gone or one of the critters gets it. It's rarely cost effective from a fuel standpoint for me to can in small batches; so if I'm buying something big, I'm doing it with the full intention of taking it home and batching it up immediately to run at least one full canner's worth. I wouldn't really even consider canning up batches from a larger recipe that contained previously canned items (except maybe canned tomatoes in chili or pasta sauce). Anything low acid pretty much turns to goop the second time through the pressure canner, especially if it's added to a recipe that already has a long cooking time (like some soups and stews) prior to canning.

Whenever I go to Sam's/Costco I take my batch amount and processing time cheat sheet with me so I can figure whether I'll have enough of one or more things that process for the same time to make a full canner load if I break a #10 down into something smaller. I know that all my pickles will BWB for the same amount of time in the same size jar... so I can grab several varieties in the honking 1 gallon jars and repackage and reprocess when I get home in one go. And since I know I'll have a few 1 gallon jars afterwards, I'll go ahead and pick up 10 lbs of pasta or rice or beans to fill them up for vacuum canning while I'm at it.


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## campfiregirl (Mar 1, 2011)

Is re-canning commercially processed tomato paste a concern because of how thick it is? It is SO expensive now, and I would love the idea of canning up some little jelly jars of it from a #10 can would be GREAT!


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## Packedready (Mar 29, 2011)

I thin it out with distilled water first bring to a boil and re-can. It is still thick at that point, but not as thick.


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