How to Sterilize Jars for Pickling

Pack pickles into clean, sterile jars to ensure food safety.

Nearly any vegetable and even some fruits can also be pickled. Pickled vegetables are fermented or brined in a salt and vinegar mixture that may contain additional spices depending on the type of pickling you prefer. Once brined, the fruit or vegetables must be canned to prevent spoilage. To prevent contamination from illness-causing bacteria after canning, sterilize your jars thoroughly before packing the vegetables inside.

Things You'll Need

• Dish soap
• Waterbath canner
• Jar lifter tongs
• Towel

Instructions

1. Wash the jars in hot water with dish soap. Rinse thoroughly. Alternately, wash the jars in the dishwasher.

2. Set the jars inside a waterbath canner, setting them upright on top of the rack inside. Place the jars so they are not touching one another.

3. Fill the canner and jars with hot tap water to a level one inch above the jars. Heat the water to a boil.

4. Boil the jars for at 10 minutes if you live at 1,000 feet or less in altitude. Add one minute to the boiling time for each additional 1,000 feet in altitude.

5. Lift the jars from the canner once the boiling time has been reached, using a pair of jar lifter tongs. Pour out the water from inside the jars and set them upright on a clean cloth. Fill them with your fruits or vegetables for pickling and process as usual.

Tips & Warnings

• The lids should also be sterilized in a pan of boiling water before you use them. This also softens the rubber seal on the lids so the jars seal up more easily.

• Do not touch anything cool with the hot jars, or they may shatter.

References

• Colorado State Extension: Making Pickles
• University of Georgia: General Canning Information