Find out how to sterilise jars and bottles including our top tips on how to make sure your preserves don’t spoil.
Sterilising jars and bottles are essential when it comes to preserving jam, chutney, or sauces for an extended amount of time. There are a few ways you can sterilise jars; boiling, warming in the oven, washing in the dishwasher, or microwaving.
Every jar or bottle you are using to store food needs to be sterilised, even if it’s brand new. Anything that has a tight lid preserves the food inside, protecting it from bacteria outside the jar, but if it has not been properly sterilised, you could be trapping harmful bacteria within.
Not only does sterilising a jar stop the growth of bacteria spoiling your food, but it also extends the food shelf life. In a correctly sterilised jar preserves, jams and sauces should last up to 6 months in a cool, dry place, but do check the individual recipes for accurate shelf life information.
Bacteria will rapidly reduce the shelf life of your food and could be dangerous to those eating it. Therefore it is a very important step that you shouldn’t skip – but thankfully it’s not that hard at all.
*How to sterilise jars and bottles *How to sterilise jars and bottles in the oven *How to sterilise jars and bottles by boiling *How to sterilise jars and bottles in the dishwasher *How to sterilise jars and bottles in the microwave *How to sterilise jars lids *Top tips for sterilising jars and bottles
Video of the Week
Sterilising just means a really good clean so you need to wash the inside of the jar then steam or heat it to ensure that the jars remain clean while drying. There are a few ways you can do this…
Sterilising jars in the oven is the most traditional, efficient way.
You can boil your jars and bottles on the hob or stove but you may need multiple pans to do this especially if you want to sterilise a bulk of jars in one go or opt for the biggest saucepan you’ve got.
This is a great option if you own a dishwasher but do bear in mind that this will use more water than the other methods so only use this if sterilising jars in bulk.
[apester id=”602cfabf06fa0e440799d1d8″]
If you’re short on time you can opt to sterilise your jars or glass bottles in the microwave.
Do not sterilise the jar lids this way. Especially metal lids as metal cannot be heated in the microwave as it will spark and catch alight. Follow the methods below to sterilise your jar and bottle lids separately.
It’s a good idea to sterilise the jar lids as when packaged to sell this can often be the part of the jar that is exposed and is more likely to collect harmful bacteria.
Lids can be left in boiling hot water to sterilise. This can be done by following the boiling method above on the hob or simple by filling a container with the jar lids with boiled water from the kettle.
If you are using Kilner jars you may want to remove the orange rubber seal and soak that in boiling water too.
Make sure you check your jars and bottles over thoroughly before sterilising. You want to keep an eye out for cracks, chips, or damages to the lid. If your jar or lid is damaged do not use it.
It’s best to sterilise containers around 20 minutes or so before you need them. You’re best to use them immediately after being sterilised and adding your chutney, homemade sauce, or jam into the jar or bottle as quickly as you can to make sure harmful bacteria stays at bay.
Always sterilise more jars or bottles than you think you’ll need. It’s better to have more just in case you’ve got more mixture than intended.
One of the most important things to remember is to make sure the jar or bottle and the food you are putting in it are the same temperatures to avoid any breakages. Hot food in hot jars and cold food in cold jars.