Need sort-of canning advice by tomorrow night

I have a big bag of cranberries that I bought at Costco. I'd like to make some sort of compot to give to friends. I bought some of those glass jars with the rubber rings in the opening and would like to use them to sort of can my compot.

I don't really have a precise recipe so I don't want to process the resulting compot. I just want to maybe boil the jars and maybe the rings so they at least start out sterial. Is that adviseable? I mean will the rubber ring stand boiling?

I mean to ask recipients to keep the compot in the fridge and eat within a week or two.

OR
anybody have an actual canning recipe that uses these glass jars?

Hi,

The Weck system is not consider food safe by USDA standards for home preservation. The bail wire, rubber gasket thing is merely a decorative artifact now. I'll use it to store dried peppers or salts, but not for active preservation.

If you leave your cranberry relish/compote in the refrigerator, then you can keep it for some weeks. You cannot keep it on a shelf at ambient temperatures and expect to use it later, if you do not water bath seal it.

I refer to to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, your tax dollars at work, for research based factual information on how to preserve your cranberries.

I bought 4 bags of cranberries from Costco recently. I made about 18 pints of cranberry sauce for my family's consumption.

I will be back later in the day and will check if you have questions.

Regards,
Cathy2

Link: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home...

Do the jars also have a bail & wire clasp or metal clips?

I have canned with Weck jars, which are glass and use a rubber seal. The seals are prepped in warm water, but not boiled. They are held in place by metal clips while processing and cooling. After that you remove the clips.

I haven't processed bail & wire clasps, but again, I assume that the rubber makes the seal and the clasp holds it in place until that occurs.

So for your question. I would boil the jars for 10 minutes if you want them to be sterile. You may get a few more days storage out of them, but it's probably not neccessary if the compote will be refridgerated and eaten in a week or so.

I wouldn't boil the seals--it's pointless. It's the vacuum held in place by the seals that preserves the goods, not the seal itself. I would just use the seals as is: fill the jars, put the rings in place and attach the clips or clamp.

When I used the weck jars, I canned cherries, using a Ball Blue Book recipe. I had to figure out the volume of the jar and approximate the timing, which is technically a tad risky. If you can find a compote recipe that has already been adapted for canning, you could go whole hog and process the jars after adjusting for any size discrepancies. But I would only try that with a canning recipe--that is, one that has the neccessary balance of acid to be safely canned. You'll be taking enough liberties just by fiddling with the timing.

There is no need to "preserve" cranberry relish/compote if you are going to use it within a couple of weeks. I've used it months later. There are some cranberry relish recipes further down on this board.