First time canning apple butter
I'm trying my hand at homemade gifts this year and spent today making apple-pear butter in my crockpot. It tastes delicious but I didn't realize all the extra steps I'd have to take to process the jars when done cooking, so I might have made a few mistakes and have a few questions.
I don't own a water bath canner so I simply used two big stock pots. I read on a few sites that if you do so it's important to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot - somebody said you can improvise here, use a dish dish towels in the pot or a board, etc. So I used dish towels. One seemed fine and the other one had the color bleed into the canning water. Is this batch of apple butter okay to use or is it possible the dyes got into my jars? I only did three jars in that pot so it's not a huge loss if I have to toss it.
Also, when removing the jars from the water, I dropped one on the floor. It didn't break. I'm not sure if it affected the seal. Assuming the seal holds and I hear the little pop, is it okay to keep this jar or do I need to toss it?
Last but not least - does canned apple butter need to be stored in the fridge or is the whole point of canning that I can store it outside of the fridge?
Thanks in advance! I probably should have researched all of this before starting out but hey, live and learn :)
I don't own a water bath canner so I simply used two big stock pots. I read on a few sites that if you do so it's important to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot - somebody said you can improvise here, use a dish dish towels in the pot or a board, etc. So I used dish towels. One seemed fine and the other one had the color bleed into the canning water. Is this batch of apple butter okay to use or is it possible the dyes got into my jars? I only did three jars in that pot so it's not a huge loss if I have to toss it.
Also, when removing the jars from the water, I dropped one on the floor. It didn't break. I'm not sure if it affected the seal. Assuming the seal holds and I hear the little pop, is it okay to keep this jar or do I need to toss it?
Last but not least - does canned apple butter need to be stored in the fridge or is the whole point of canning that I can store it outside of the fridge?
Thanks in advance! I probably should have researched all of this before starting out but hey, live and learn :)