It's not that inverted jams are "unsafe." It's that the risk of spoilage and wasted product is high, as you've just discovered. The rate of seal failure is increased with inverted jars.

It sounds like your jam fermented. In other words, it's kind of solid wine. That jam will have to be discarded.

You could try to salvage the contents of jars that aren't fermented by dumping into a pot, re-boiling and then freezing or refrigerating, depending upon amount. This is just a suggestion. I've never run into this problem. The other option, of course, is to dump everything. The jam, I mean. The jars are fine. It's spoilage, not poison.

Just curious. Is this a reduced-sugar batch?

Carol

Intrested like Carol on the recipe. Have to admit, I have never had a batch ferment, not the reduced sugar ones either.

Well, it's "reduced sugar" because I use pomona's pectin which doesn't REQUIRE a lot of sugar.

I'm really depressed because I wanted it to last us until next spring and I don't think my stash will at this point. I'm going to try to do more picking so I can do more canning and I will definitely BWB them!

Sugar is a preservative so with the lower sugar and no BWB it's kind of a double whammy in terms of shelf life. You're experiencing that in spades. I am sorry.

We've all made our share of mistakes. Sometimes all we can do is move on.

Carol