Hot Wired, I loved your tutorial. Thanks for doing that!

I'm a newbie to canning. Did some years ago, but just got back into the swing and just put up a small amount of tomato sauce as I don't have large enough pots to make a decent quantity.

Next year I plan to grow more paste tomatoes and will buy a BIG stock pot.

Googling info on canning, I found some sites that say that (after they have cooled) we should tap the caps with something metallic and that the sound made should indicate if everything went well. My tomatoes are ok, but some jars of applesauce made a dull "thunk" instead of ringing "ping" yet the lids are slightly concave and appear well-sealed. Should I be concerned?

Linda

I've never tapped on them. I have counted the pings as they have cooled on the counter. If the jar is holding a vacuum, it is good as far as the seal goes. The seal only tells you that it got to boiling or near boiling and pushed the air out of the jar, it doesn't tell you that is was processed long enough.