Help! Canning question!

[AFarmhouseFull]

I was canning 7 quarts of green beans in my pressure canner and accidentally force depressurized my canner. It was cooling down after the 25 minutes of processing was complete and the heat was turned off. About 10 minutes into cooling I accidentally knocked off the weighted gauge. Steam poured out and I was too scared to get close enough (after backIng away quickly so I didn't get a steam burn) to put the rocker weight back on. It still took a couple more minutes for the high pressured steam to escape and once the plug dropped I removed the lid and removed the jars. So far I have already heard a couple seal but I am worried about the safety of the food since it cooled so quickly. I have read that force cooling can result in under processed food..... I makes me sick to throw out SEVEN quarts of beans but I am scared to eat them; I have 5 young kids and am pregnant! What should I do? Is the food safe to eat? Should I remove the beans and just freeze them? How long does botulism take to develop? Ahhhh!!!!
Thanks,
Nic

[Paquebot]

What happens when it's suddenly depressurized like that is that liquid escapes from the jars. If it were pure water, the lids will usually still seal. But if there is a bit of solid material which stops between the latex and the glass, the seal may be only temporary and eventually let go. Remove the lids, top off the liquid back to an inch of headspace, wash the flats, replace them on the jars, and run them through another pressure canner cycle. They won't turn to mush or anything like that but will be safe.

Martin

[janetn]

Originally Posted by Paquebot

What happens when it's suddenly depressurized like that is that liquid escapes from the jars. If it were pure water, the lids will usually still seal. But if there is a bit of solid material which stops between the latex and the glass, the seal may be only temporary and eventually let go. Remove the lids, top off the liquid back to an inch of headspace, wash the flats, replace them on the jars, and run them through another pressure canner cycle. They won't turn to mush or anything like that but will be safe.

Martin

Ditto they may seal but they may not stay sealed redo them

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by janetn

Ditto they may seal but they may not stay sealed redo them

Learned that BC, before computers. Mistakenly vented a canner with 9 pints of carrots prematurely. One didn't seal but no big deal to include it in the next batch. Other 8 all sealed and were taken to the basement for storage a day or so later. For next month or so, I began finding an unsealed jar with foggy liquid every now and then until all 8 had come undone. That taught me to always err on the safe side and if something isn't quite right the first time, do it over until it is right.

Martin

[MichaelK!]

Don't be so afraid of the steam. I've held my hand in the stream of steam on purpose to moisten my hands when they felt dry. It's not like touching a red-hot coal.

Let your jars cool completely cool to room temperature and check each and every lid for a seal. If all are still sealed at room temperatue then I think you are OK.

If water did leak out, your beans might discolor in the portion not covered in water. But as long as the seal is good the beans will still be good.

[mary,tx]

You can re-pressure can them, but if it was me, and I had room in the freezer, I think I'd just let them cool off, then bag them and stick them in the freezer. Then you just won't have to worry about it.

[Tracy Rimmer]

Like Mary, I'd cool them, bag them and freeze them, and then use them up first. Pressure processing them again would certainly work, but I don't think they'd retain much by way of texture or nutrients after being subjected to high pressure cooking twice -- certainly edible, but perhaps not terribly enjoyable.

Freeze 'em.

And yes, they're still safe -- it takes longer than that for botulism, or any other nasties, to develop!

[CarolT]

After having gone through the canning process, I would put new flats on them before reprocessing. I just couldn't trust them not to have something embedded in the rubber now... Just me