Processing Spaghetti Sauce Safely

by Shannon
(Erie, PA)

We have been making spaghetti sauce for months. We boil the sauce, sterilize the jars through the dishwasher, and boil the lids and seals. After filling our hot jars with hot sauce, we place lids and seals on jars and turn jars upside down for 24 hours. In the beginning we found this to be a successful and efficient means of canning our spaghetti sauce. However, recently our lids have begun to pop and their seems to be a great deal of pressure in the jars. The spaghetti sauce has a burnt odor to it. I recently filled jars that did not seal. I immediately began reheating the sauce to attempt to reseal. While reheating the sauce, the sauce seemed to be having a chemical reaction, began to smell and got extremely thick. Can anyone tell me what is going on with my sauce all of a sudden? We are using the exact same recipe we have for months. Thank you for your help!

Answer: Are you processing your spaghetti sauce after filling the jars? If not, you're probably canning spaghetti sauce that is not safe to eat. I use a boiling water canner or a pressure cooker when processing my spaghetti sauce. This is essential!