canning--can i cool below room temp? or, do i have to waterbath this?

[peacelove&camping]

i'm making pepper butter. some of the recipes say not to bother waterbathing, as long as it's boiling when you put it in the jars, but most of them say you should. so i am going to.  but, i'm hoping to use one of the jars tomorrow [i'm canning later today], and i'm afraid it won't have cooled completely.

so can i [ha ha, no pun intended]:

-cool one jar on the porch, where it's about 25 degrees? or

-not waterbath one jar?

what do ya think? thanks :)

[GardenStream]

If you're planning on using it tomorrow then why even bother processing that jar?

I always have a little bit extra that's leftover when I'm canning. I always toss whatever is left into a clean jar and then put it in the fridge. I would water bath process everything except the one jar that you're planning on using.

[greenmulberry]

If you are using it tommorow, no need to process, and yes you can cool it on your porch. Don't let it freeze though! Just get cool and stick in the fridge.

[peacelove&camping]

awesome, that's what i was hoping. i've never made anything for immediate use before, so i wasn't sure. thanks guys :)

[peacelove&camping]

in case you guys were wondering.... it came out awesome :D

[GardenStream]

Glad to hear it worked out for you.

I had never heard of pepper butter before your post. It looks great. I think I'll have to make some this year.

[peacelove&camping]

it's 'butter' in the way that apple butter is butter, i guess--more of a spread. dh uses it on his sandwiches and loooves it! he's a big spicy food guy, and he said this batch came out really spicy :) usually his mom makes it, but we can't get down to see them for a while and he was almost out, so i took it upon myself.... hope she doesn't mind

i used this recipe: http://pocahontascofare.blogspot.com/2006/10/pepper-butter.html , except i halved the sugar, because that's just a ridiculous amount of sugar, imo :) also, because it's winter, i used jarred banana peppers instead of fresh. it came out much thicker than i expected, but in a good way.

enjoy! :)