It is normal for some bubbling to happen. In addition to the air you remove when jarring, there is also air in the fruit itself that is forced out during the processing. This is especially true when you use raw pack. It helps to let them sit in the canner for a few minutes after turning off the heat and removing the lid rather than lifting them out immediately. The guidelines recommend letting them sit in it for 5 mins.

Dave.

Thanks Dave ... I did leave them in the canner for 7 minutes before I took them out, and I just checked the jars again: the tomatoes sank in two of the jars I was concerned about. The third has about an inch and a half of air space between the top of the tomatoes and the top of the jar. (The other two, the contents are at the top of the jar.) Will the sunken tomatoes be OK to eat?

Yes, you can eat them all! Over the next few days your tomatoes should all sink and settle. Just make sure you have a good seal. I put up over 100 quarts of tomatoes so far this year and about 25 percent sink immediately.

Thanks Tom ... I'm a bit worried as I have some jars in which the contents sank and two in which the contents are at the top of the jar (which I remember was the desired outcome when canning with my mom ... ). All jars sealed within an hour or two; however, there are variations in the contents. I HATE wasting food, so I'm hoping that things are OK. There are huge air pockets in some of the jars. Are they OK to eat?

While the large air pockets are not desirable and can be prevented for the most part, the food in the jars is still quite safe to eat as long as the seals are good. As Tom said, over time they will all sink and the worst that can happen is any solids sitting above the liquid may turn dark over time. Those dark pieces are unappealing and can be tossed but the rest are fine.

The causes of the big air gaps, the increased head space, are (1) the air in the fruit and that is why hot pack is much preferred over raw pack as it forces the air out of the fruit and replaces it with liquid so the hot fruit does not absorb as much liquid from the jars, (2) boil over during BWB processing from either the jars being overfilled (improper headspace left) or the caps not be screwed on tightly enough, and (3) rapid changes in temperature when BWB processing or rapid changes in pressure when using the PC.

The only time it is of an real concern is if more than 1/2 the liquid in the jar is lost. In that case you put the jars in the fridge and plan to use within 3-5 days or you transfer the contents to freezer containers and freeze them.

Dave

Tom - thank you for the reassurance, The jars did seal within an hour or so, so I'll store them and watch the contents. Very reassuring to take advice from someone who has canned like it's going out of style ... 100 quarts - yikes! I can (ha!) only aspire to that!

Dave: Thank you for the information and for your scientific advice. Between you and Tom, I hope I may be OK. I'll just be patient.