Question About Canning Jars

[baymule]

Your pressure canner should have a tray that raises the jars off the bottom of the pot. Never place jars directly on the bottom of any pot.

 

[Hinotori]

Check for cracks or chips. Never saw a standard canning jar glass failure in all my canning. The only failures were when my ex MIL used regular glass jars instead of canning jars

Only once, last year, I had the bottom of a half pint jar burst the bottom off at the seam in the steam canner. I'd never seen anything like that. It was a new jar.

Mom and grandma always used glass mayo jars for canning jams. I still have a couple of them. If a regular lid and ring will fit, you can waterbath with it. They used a lot of odd jars.

I only use canning jars in the pressure canner as they are thicker. None of the antique jars go in there. They get used for jams and syrups. Many of my antique jars are bail jars so they get used for dry storage. Tattler rubber rings work well with them.

I may have overdone it on lids back in 2020 before the shortage because I had a bad feeling around the beginning of March that year. My bad feeling turned out true. I still have an issue with not buying lids if they are in stock at the store. I'm still coming across boxes I've stuck in random places.

Feed stores and hardware stores around here usually had canning sales once a year. That vanished summer of 2020 and probably won't be seen again until supply stabilizes.

 

[Hinotori]

Your pressure canner should have a tray that raises the jars off the bottom of the pot. Never place jars directly on the bottom of any pot.

You can usually buy extras on Amazon as well. I have spares for when I do smaller jars so I can to more levels. When doing wide mouth half pints it really makes a difference.

 

[tortoise]

Really good to know; thanks! Should I be concerned that anything used will blow the bottom off in my pot? Is there a way I can tell if a jar is weakened before I buy it?

Only accept used jars that have raised lettering on them (Ball, Kerr, etc). There are safe jars that don't have this feature, but you wouldn't know for sure buying them used. Always check for imperfections - chips, air bubbles, etc.

Most times the bottom blows out is from thermal shock when filling the jars. Ball and Kerr brands can tolerate 90 degrees of thermal shock. If you follow instructions you'll be fine - pack hot food/liquid into hot jars.

 

[Chic Rustler]

You can usually buy extras on Amazon as well. I have spares for when I do smaller jars so I can to more levels. When doing wide mouth half pints it really makes a difference.

a towel works in between the layers of jars for double stacking as well. thats what i do

 

[R2elk]

Ball and Kerr brand jars here only. Same with lids, but venturing out this year with some Golden Harvest lids.

I've used Golden Harvest in the past without any issues.

I have lots of really old Mason jars, some are Atlas, some are labeled with a capital H, some are labeled Jeanette because they were made in Jeanette, PA.

I also have the cheap no name ones from Walmart that are made in China.

As long as they are well taken care of they seemingly last forever.

The only real issue is if you give canned goods to others, you may never see those jars again.

 

[R2elk]

Mom and grandma always used glass mayo jars for canning jams. I still have a couple of them. If a regular lid and ring will fit, you can waterbath with it.

This was common early on. At some point they changed the threads to prevent regular rings from working properly to avoid liability issues.

 

[Mini Horses]

Majority of my jars are over 20 yr. Probably 2/3. Still great.

 

[flowerbug]

so far we've been lucky to have most people we give jars of things getting the jars back to us. those people who don't return jars won't get any more goodies. we say that up front. one particular person who i'd like to smear his stingy ass name across the internet but i won't would take our jars from his Mom's place when he visited. we stopped bringing her food in jars. and no, he isn't poor.

 

[FarmerJamie]

One moment, please...