I'm probably about as happy as I could be

[pigletwillie]

If you want to bottle seriously then you need a pressure canner. I have just bottled 10 litres of passata and a further 6 of pasta sauce (ie passata with added garlic, onion, courgette etc). The bonus being the free space in the freezer.

You can also bottle soups etc with a canner which you cant in a water bath.

[bobleponge]

Sarz
I was actually very touched last night that you were so worried, if I could have got online to ease your fears I would have done.
Whilst I read and agree in principal with what you say, there are a few things that I think I have to point out.
Firstly I live in France. As has been posted on the Vine before, domestic canners aren't sold in France, there is a law that prevents any electrical appliance capable of boiling to over a certain temperature being plugged into the domestic mains.
In the 4+ years that I have lived here, I have made lots of good friends, who, without exception, have parents that still produce and bottle/can their own food, and who have shared their stuff with me. I have received absolutely everything you can think of, none of which was done in a canner. I have a jar of pate in my fridge right now that was made by a friend of mine without a canner, I have eaten half of it, and will eat the other half too.
Clearly botulism can kill, there have been 33 people killed in the UK in the last 25 years, of which the vast majority were caused by one case. The number is actually slightly lower in France, predominantly caused by fois gras. It does exist, but its occurance is rare.
The website you have linked to is very good, and very informative, but it does also come from the most litigious country in the world, I give you "caution this cup contains hot coffee." I think the line that you have quoted above, "when IDEAL conditions exist etc etc, is the important one.
This is in no way at all intended to be snotty, as I said, I was touched that you were so worried, but I think, when all is said and done, although botulism clearly exists, the chances of actually catching it are very small, and the chances of dying from it, smaller still. I am in no way casual about this, I am well aware of the possibility of it, but having been shown how to do it by laydeez who have done it for longer than I've been alive, I feel fairly safe in doing it myself.
More people are killed in their cars in 2 days on French roads than are killed by botulism in the average decade in France.
If, however, I do succumb to it, please feel free to say "ner ner ne ner ner" on my funeral card.

[FionaH]

Let's be sensible here. As long as your jars are clean and sterile (I wash mine in hot water with washing up liquid, and then stand on a wooden board in the oven at 100 degrees for 20 minutes) and you put hot(ish) produce in, then put the lid on while still warm (not hot, cos the steam produced will make the lids pop off) as the chutney, passata, whatever cools a vacuum will be created within the jar which keeps everything sterile. Anyway, don't you take a sniff when you open a jar of anything (even from a shop) before eating it?

Not sure that would work, isn't botulism odourless?

[SarzWix]

I guess that's up to you Bob, but I wouldn't advise anyone else to be so blasè!

And just so's you know - Canners aren't electrical appliances, they're just a pressure cooker with a pressure gauge on the lid

[Jardiniere]

oooohhh pressure cookers....very very very frightening!!!!!!!!

[Eco-Chic]

Yers, them pressure cookers can surely make a mess of a newly decorated kitchen

[pigletwillie]

Firstly I live in France. As has been posted on the Vine before, domestic canners aren't sold in France, there is a law that prevents any electrical appliance capable of boiling to over a certain temperature being plugged into the domestic mains.
.

Erm, domestic canners just go on the hob, they dont plug in!!!