If you’ve never preserved your garden abundance by canning, the system can be a little confusing. A friend of mine – one who’s never canned before – was asking about canning and I was reminded that although I grew up understanding how a canning jar works, many people just don’t.
A quart size wide mouth canning jar
The jars
The jars most commonly used for home preservation these days come from Ball and Kerr. They are glass and come in a variety of sizes, from small four-ounce containers to half-gallon sized. All of these jars are approved for home canning use except for the half-gallon size. The small sizes are good for jams and jellies, especially those that you plan to give as gifts. (Even with a relatively small family of four, I wouldn’t dream of canning anything in a four-ounce jar unless it was for a gift basket; we’d finish a jar of that size in a day!)
Pint and quart sized jars come in both a standard or wide mouth, referring to the size of the jar’s opening. Wide mouth jars are useful for preserving larger items like peach halves or for pickles that need the be placed in the jar by hand.
Glass canning jars can be washed and reused from year to year. I’ve collected a good quantity of jars over the years by keeping my eyes open at garage sales. If you’re looking for second-hand jars, just remember that jars with chips around the rim should not be used for preservation, as the chip can compromise the seal.
The Lids
Canning lids are typically metal, with a ring of rubber around the perimeter. This rubber ring allows the food to remain sealed inside the jars after
Canning lids (front) and rings (back)
processing. Lids come in both standard and wide mouth sizes to correspond with the jars. Unfortunately, these metal lids are not BPA-free.
Metal canning lids cannot be reused for home preservation. You must purchase new lids for each new canning project. Lids are sold in sets of twelve and can be purchased separately from jars and rings.
An alternative to metal canning lids is a plastic lid. These are made by Tattler and come in two pieces – a plastic disk and a rubber ring. Tattler canning jars are BPA-free and can be reused from year to year.
The Rings
Metal rings (also called bands) come in both standard and wide mouth sizes. These are screwed over the lid to hold the lid in place during the canning process. Once your jars have cooled and the lid is sealed, rings can be removed and used to process another batch of jars. This means that you don’t need as many rings as you have jars. Rings can be reused indefinitely, but they do tend to rust over time.
Photo: Weck
Weck Jars
The jars from Weck are in a category of their own. Both the jars and lids are made from glass, and thus reusable. The sealing ring is rubber and also reusable. The sealing process with a Weck jar requires a couple of metal clips that hold the rubber ring and glass lid in place during processing.
Weck is a European company and while the jars are available on their website, you won’t find them readily available in the USA.
These are on my “coveting lately” list, but they’re a bit spendy. Couple that with shipping to the islands, and I just can’t justify the cost of these, especially when I already have a pantry full of Ball and Kerr jars at my disposal.
This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday on GNOWFLINS.
This was interesting. I’m a novice but realize I have to learn. Why, oh why, is there BPA on the lids?
Alexandra recently posted..Jerusha to Play Preservation Hall
Why, indeed! I suppose because nobody thought about the health ramifications when BPA first started being used. And now it’s in everything.
Impressive – you really know your jars! I don’t do any canning, but have always admired the styles of these jars, nonetheless.
Sheryl, I love the way the jars look, too. But stick around. You might become a convert to canning!
I remember my mom used Weck-style jars back in the “old country”. Putting the metal clips on the lids seemed difficult to me even when I tried that with cold jars. But the nice thing was that the lids and all were reusable year after year. We did have to buy the rubber rings once in a while to replace the dried out or damaged ones. Here in the States I use Ball jars – good results and very easy to use although I feel bad about throwing away the metal lids.
Yelena recently posted..Maker Faire NC 2011
I do use the “spent” lids to store dry food in Mason jars, so I rarely throw them away. But I wish I could reuse them for processing!
I’ve only attempted things like jams and jellies, and it was a boatload of work, especially the year I decided homemade orange marmalade was a good gift idea. Scraping the peels took forever.
Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart recently posted..One More Day to Help
Yep, it’s almost that time of year again. I canned for the first time last year and looking forward to this year!
How I wish I would have listened more when my mom was canning. This post is helping educate me–if only I’d offered to take her canning jars when she was giving them away!
Start letting people know. In all my years of canning, I’ve only purchased a couple of cases brand new, thanks to neighbors and friends who passed theirs along, or told someone else that I’d take their jars!
Growing up on a farm, my mom canned everything. I’m mostly familiar with Ball jars, but those Weck jars are so pretty.
I love the Ball jars, too, though. They’re so old fashioned and comfortable!
I love those Weck jars too, but (like you) I can’t justify buying them when there are truly dozens of Ball jars all around my house. Gotta be frugal around these parts!
[...] picked up some jars, two 10 lbs bags of sugar, 10 boxes of Sure Jell Light (uses less sugar and tastes just as good) [...]
I think I’ve reused metal lids before, for homemade yogurt. Oops! I have yet to really can though we have a million of these jars and we use them for leftovers and freezing berries and freezer jam, etc.
[...] your relish to be shelf stable, you’ll need to process it. Ladle hot relish into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-in. head space. Wipe rims with a damp cloth (to assure a good seal), screw sterilized [...]
Anyone planning to do home canning should use only those recipes thoroughly tested. Extension is the mmost reliable source of all things canning. University of Georgia Extension is the national clearing house for research and resources. Check out their website at Homefoodpreservation.com – you will be redirected to a uga site. they have recipes, instructions, videos, FAQs and more.
Don’t rely on information published before 1988 and don’t use recipes from cook books – except those published by major canning equipment companies – like Ball, Kerr, and Presto.
Just found your site today. I’ll be following you for sure! Thanks for the great info.