I've been making jam and jelly but the wax discs have caused me a lot of bother on two batches. I have to confess that I don't know much about them or whether I'm doing it right we never had wax disc's in NZ just the cellophane but I need to learn to use them so I can enter jam in our Flower and produce Show.
I really struggle to work out which is the waxy side on some brands. One lot I've obviously got right but the last batch I put the discs on what I thought was the waxy/shiny side down and I came back later and they'd all popped up again with air underneath. The only thing other than possibly getting the wax side wrong was that I put the cellophane on when it was still quite hot.
Any ideas anyone? :BangHead:
FOUND THIhttp://www.ehow.com/how_8303208_can-wax-seals.htmlS
Thanks. Looks like I hadn't left them to cool long enough before putting on the cellophane. One lot has worked and I remember that I left them a while before putting on the cellophane.
Another method is to let the jam cool a bit then melt paraffin wax in an old saucepan and pour a little over the top of the jam. It sets hard and protects the jam from mould. Then just seal the jar tight.
Never bother with wax discs etc. I reuse pop-up sauce jars and lids, fill with the hot jam, wipe the top of the glass and clean the metal pop-up lids properly, then close and pop into a boiling waterbath for ten minutes. The lids pop down as the jars come out and start cooking. Any that don't go into the fridge and get used first. The ones that have popped down keep for years, because they are hermetically sealed.
My mother and sister, fill the jars and close the lids (as above), then invert the jars, so the very hot contents sterilise the lids. Not recommended according to US guidelines, but possibly slightly better than just closing the lids.
My Mum's jam used to last years without the wax but unfortunately our flower and produce show requires wax disc seal and cellophane or metal lids.....metal lids are easy but require jars of the right size.