Contact

One person writes this site, and the same person reads the post.

The address

hello@thetestedjar.com

What is most worth sending

A source that has moved. If a document quoted here has been revised, re-dated or taken down, say so. That is the single most valuable message this site can receive, and it is worth more than a compliment. A site whose whole claim is that it knows which text is current fails the moment a text changes and it does not notice, so the reader who notices first is doing the work the site exists to do.

A quotation that no longer reads as quoted. Documents get edited without an announcement. If a sentence in a slab here is not the sentence at the other end of the link any more, that is a defect even if the meaning survived.

A dropped condition. The most common way a true page becomes a dangerous one is by leaving a condition out — an altitude adjustment, a time ceiling, the jar sizes the research actually covered. If a page here states a source's position with fewer conditions than the source does, tell me which one is missing.

A citation pointing at the wrong fact. The build proves every figure carries a citation and that the citation resolves. It cannot prove the citation is the right one. Only a reader with the source open can catch that.

Include the page address, the sentence as it stands, and — if you have it — the document and page number you are reading against. Three lines like that are more useful than a long message, and they get acted on faster. What happens next is set out under corrections on how this site works: the source is re-opened, the page is fixed, and the check date changes where every reader can see it.

The one thing I cannot do

I cannot tell you whether the jar in front of you is safe. Not by email, not with photographs, not with a detailed description.

That is not a liability dodge, or not only one. I cannot see the jar. I do not know what the recipe actually was, what the canner actually held, how long the process actually ran, what your elevation is, how the jar has been stored or for how long — and the failure mode this subject turns on is specifically the one that produces no smell, no bubbles, no bulge and no off taste. An answer from me would carry the weight of a judgement I am not in a position to make, and you would act on it.

What I can do is point you at the pages that let you work it out yourself, which are written for exactly that moment: how to tell a sealed jar from a jar with a lid on it, what spoilage looks like, and I did something the internet told me to, now what.

For a question about your own specific batch, the better route is a land-grant Extension service. Both links at the foot of this page reach people who answer individual questions for a living, in your state, with your elevation in front of them. That is a real service and it is free, and it is a better answer than anything I could send you.

If somebody is unwell

Do not email. If you or anyone else has symptoms after eating home-canned food, get emergency medical care immediately and tell them the food was home-canned. That detail changes what happens next and it is time-critical. Botulism: what to actually do has the symptoms and the reasoning, and no treatment advice, because there is nothing to do at home.

What will not get a reply

Guest posts, link exchanges, sponsored placements, "we noticed your site" outreach, requests to review a product, and offers to write about canning equipment in exchange for anything at all. Nothing on this site is a paid placement and nothing will be. Sending one of these is not offensive, it is just not going to work, and the fastest way through is not to.

What to expect

Not a support desk. One person, no schedule promised, and not every message gets an answer. Corrections do get read, and the ones that name a document and a date get read first. If a message of yours results in a change to a page, it changed the page for everybody, whether or not a reply ever landed in your inbox.

What happens to the message you send is covered on privacy. Short version: it sits in an inbox, it is used to reply and to fix the page, and it does not go on any list, because there is no list.