Incredible Exploding Canned Peaches

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VoorTrekker

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I bought a case of canned peaches, Del Monte some time ago, maybe 5 years or so. Several of the cans had holes burst in the sides and the remaining matter was fungus and there was a black syrupy fluid all over the carton box.
I had a case of canned pineapples go bad on me, the cans were filled with a black fluid.

These were stored in ideal conditions, canned fruit used to last years, not so anymore.
 
A lot of canned fruit is now canned in "fruit juice" which has quite low pH (ie is acidic). When that is combined with cheap crappy cans (with imperfect polymer liners rather than metallic corrosion resistant linings), the failure mode is pitting through the walls that results in the failures you have seen.

Fruit was packed in syrup (high concentration sugar/water solution with fairly neutral pH) in the past (and still occasionally now). That lasted a lot longer in the cans.

I have a lot of fruit in syrup, stored in cans - that is already nearly a decade old and is still going strong.
 
I use a light syrup, 2 parts water/1part sugar. Add either lemon juice or a 1/4 tsp. Citric acid to keep them from browning. Shelf life is six + years. I have 2 jars left that were canned in 2014. Still reasonable this year. I will open one next year and one the year after for a longevity test.

I really, really don't like to keep anything acidic that is in cans. Tomatoes in cans, can end up tasting like the can itself even if they haven't technically gone bad yet. Things like tomato paste, I buy in gallon cans and reprocess in 1/2 pt jars to have a shelf life of 5 years or better.
 
Store bought canned fruit needs to be eaten by the best buy date, pretty much. Home canned with sugar syrup does ok for me. I'm the same as Clem for the tomato products. Try to use them by the best buy date, too, but prefer my home canned. I add a bit of salt to the home canned tomatoes. Just did 24 more pints of chopped tomatoes today
 
To clarify, we are talking about metal commercial canned fruit.
True. I lost 50 big commercially canned metal cans of apricots. Had to scrape the black gunk off the shelves because it was blocked by boxes and had gone unnoticed for months. Totally yuck clean up job. But, it breakdown occurs with some metal, maybe that’s why I am seeing some black on the lids of my home canned pears and peaches that were done like 10 years ago, canned in juice and not syrup. Maybe, maybe not, but now I think that it would be wiser to stick to a light syrup and not use juice.
Before the events of today’s world, I kept over 1,000 jars of home canned stuff. I have done some heavy duty canning over the years. But the post on using juice gave me an ‘aha’ moment that maybe going back to just light syrup is a smarter move.
 
I use a light syrup, 2 parts water/1part sugar. Add either lemon juice or a 1/4 tsp. Citric acid to keep them from browning. Shelf life is six + years. I have 2 jars left that were canned in 2014. Still reasonable this year. I will open one next year and one the year after for a longevity test.

I really, really don't like to keep anything acidic that is in cans. Tomatoes in cans, can end up tasting like the can itself even if they haven't technically gone bad yet. Things like tomato paste, I buy in gallon cans and reprocess in 1/2 pt jars to have a shelf life of 5 years or better.
Can you please go into details on how you can the store bought tomato paste?
 
Before the events of today’s world, I kept over 1,000 jars of home canned stuff. I have done some heavy duty canning over the years. But the post on using juice gave me an ‘aha’ moment that maybe going back to just light syrup is a smarter move.
That I find impressive . My stored food pales in comparison . My preparations simply doesn't include near that amount of stored food . Instead of storing years of food , my plan is revolved around my renewable food , such as daily goat milk , chicken eggs , yearly gardening , and wild game harvesting .
 
I did that for years. Now, with an empty nest and physical limitations, I can look back with few regrets. With what is on the shelves, if anyone in this house ever goes hungry, it’s their own fault.
It would make my heart happy for someone to come in and make it their lifestyle too. It’s all here. We all have different dreams.
 
If you have cans of fruit or vegetables that are reaching a use by date, you can dehydrate it. I've done it with pineapple. You can also dry tomato sauce to make powder or leather. I haven't done that but I have cans of pasta sauce and tomatoes reaching their use by date and the powder would be convenient.
Dehydrating123: How To Make Tomato Sauce Powder | Trail Recipes

Tomato Sauce Leather | How to Dehydrate It for Backpacking Meals (backpackingchef.com)

https://foodsguy.com/dehydrate-canned-vegetables
 
Yep done that with pineapple rings and canned tomato products. It does come out darker. I usually powder that stuff afterwards (the tomato canned dehydrated) and the powder is darker, too.
Pineapple rings dehydrated and half dipped in melted chocolate is a Christmas time treat we do. And melted chocolate peanut clusters. We give that to neighbors as holiday treats.
 

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