If your jar seal is OK I wouldn't worry about it. Bernardin says that there
is no food safety issue with this type of situation, at worst case you could
be dealing with a food quality issue (some discolouring on top)

If you later open that jar and don't hear a nice pop i'd throw it out. You
could risk boiling it for 10 minutes before use to kill anything that may
have lived inside the jar during storage.

I canned apple pie filling before the holiday weekend, and my headspace
disappeared completely and I was concerned about it because I also had some
leakage. But my jars seemed to be sealed properly. When I opened up the
filling this weekend to make my pie I heard a nice loud pop which reassured
me everything was ok. After opening my filling sunk back down and magically
enough my headspace reappeared again. I must say it was one of the best
apple pie's I have ever eaten. I was confident enough to serve all of my
family and myself with it once I was confident in the seal itself.

We're all still alive.

PS: You have to be extra careful with tomatoes because they are borderline
on the acidity scale. Use vinegar in your recipe (can't remember if the
bernardin book does it or not), and pressure can those suckers. I wouldn't
boil water bath them even with some vinegar. Not worth the risk to me.

Jason

"Kathi" > wrote in message
m...
>I made salsa verde according to the Bernardin preserving guide,
> leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Now that it has cooled and settled, the
> headspace is below the shoulders of the jar. Anyone think I should be
> concerned and reprocess in smaller jars, or maybe just leave it alone
> because it'll be OK?
>
> Kathi