Can I reuse commercial canned jars for putting up jelly?

[Marianne]

Do you realize that there are 65 pages of posts in this category?? I'm sure the answer is there somewhere. I went thru 7 pages, got sidetracked reading other stuff....and I GOTTA get some stuff done today!

Am I remembering this correctly? I am going to make jelly today. I have a few jars/lids that had storebought preserves in them. Can I use those same jars and lids with my jelly?

Is this just for jelly stored in the frig, or can I process them and some will seal?

 

[patandchickens]

The jars themselves you can certainly reuse if they are sized to fit your canning lids, bearing in mind that commercial jars are not as sturdy and may have a higher rate of breakage for you than actual canning jars would.

I have not personally tried reusing the commercial *lids* as well, I do not know how that would work in a waterbath canner. My m-i-l periodically gives me homemade preserves that she's done with reusing the lids, and they are adequately sealed, but I honestly have no clue whether she actually waterbaths them or just does old style "pour boiling jelly into sterile jars and then if it gets moldy don't eat it"

With jams and jellies and such, I don't see any big reason not to try it if you want, the only spoilage you're going to get in normal full-sugar preserve recipes will be mold and that is certainly noticeable. So you are not likely to give yourself food poisoning. I would not be as inclined to try it with anything else other than pickles, tho, as your rate of seal failure is probably going to be higher and it may be more difficult to detect a slightly-failed seal with a commercial lid as opposed to the two-part canning lids.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

Definitely for freezer jam. I haven't had luck getting regular lids and bands to fit commercial jars. The commercial jars are always a bit off on sizing.

 

[Marianne]

Thanks, gals -
I did put the jelly into 2 jars that had store bought jelly in them originally and used the lids that came with them. The rest of the jelly went into regular canning jars with *used before* lids and rings.

I just checked and every one of them has sealed. Probably just a soft seal, but I was rather surprised. It's all going into the frig anyway. I'm taking a jar to a relative when I visit her later this week and didn't want her to feel like she had to mess with getting the canning jar back to me.

It was a small batch, only 3 cups of juice, so we should go through it pretty fast.

What's freezer jam?