Useful trick for canning

Sweet Tatorman's picture

All the official guidance on canning disapproves the use of jars and lids not purpose designed for canning. Many, myself included, do use such jars and lids with success. Specifically, jars used for store bought canned items such as pickles, olives, etc. Invariably these have single piece screw on lids. This presents a bit of a problem in assessing whether a proper seal has been achieved. Normal two piece canning lids allows verification of sealing by removing the screw band and picking the jar up by the edges of the lid. Clearly this is not an option with a one piece lid. If the lid is sealed it will be somewhat concave due to the partial vacuum in the jar. If the lid is made from thicker than typical canning lid metal seeing the concavity may be a bit difficult without the trick I outline here. All that is required is a thin, short straight edged object such as a razor blade and a small flashlight. Using a razor blade, place it vertically with the edge centered on the jar to be tested. Shine the flashlight from behind the razor. If sealed and thus concave the razor will be touching the lid at it's ends only and the concave contour of the lid clearly visible. If not sealed the razor will be touching the lid all alone it's length. I recently did a batch of 20 such jars that originally held Wally World store bland sliced olives. Some of them were on their second reuse. I had only one seal failure out of 20. Photo below of a properly sealed lid.

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Sweet Tatorman's picture

Here is what an unsealed jar looks like

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Coo!. I might have to give that a try.

kma's picture

Based on the Ball company literature I have always thought I would be killing people by reusing jar lids. Getting a fresh supply of new lids has been one of my prepping worries. This is enormously helpful information that I might need in a pinch. Thank you!

Last year my garden buddy and I were forced to reuse our old canning lids due to new lids being unavailable. They worked just fine, but we were quite selective with the used lids. No rust, no dents or distortions. We have since found sources for new lids, but they are still being hard to find and when they show up, they are snatched up by other canners. The one thing that still hasn't shown up in our local stores is regular rings. There are wide mouth rings, but not regular. I had to order some from my best lid source, https://masonjarmerchant.com/. The are fast in shipping and not too expensive. Good luck.

kma's picture

Kay - thank you for the link!

I bought a number of Tattler lids a few years ago https://reusablecanninglids.com/. But then had a baby and didn't have the time to can for 6 years so I can't tell you if they work or not! I currently use one to keep on my jar of homemade vinaigrette. :)

I've just gotten back into the water bath method this summer and hope to get back to pressure canning in the next year....and then was planning to experiment with the reusable lids. Slow and steady.

I tried for three years to use these and I could not make they work no matter what videos I watched or instructions I read. The failure rate was about 20% per canner load. Way to high for me and the amount of work that went into preparing the food for processing. I would not recommend these in any way shape or form. I would rather reuse lids.

mountainmoma's picture

I went to masonjar maerchant for fun. -- over $7 for 12 regular lids ! dont even say if USA made. The new Lehman ones are cheaper than this, and sometimes you can have your local hardware store order some Ball lids for you

I will check that out. Last year, Mason Jar Merchant was the only place in this hemisphere I could get lids and rings.

This year I did find this company and there service was really good and they are cheaper.
https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/closures/2-piece-lids.html

Sweet Tatorman's picture

A better price on lids and bands at link below. They sell both Ball brand and unbranded; "standard". The standard ones are cheaper and I prefer them over the Ball as they seem to hold up better for multiple reuse. They do limit maximum quantity but have in stock. The do not sell bands only, just bands with lids. Best to place a largish order to dilute the shipping cost.
https://www.uline.com/Product/AdvSearchResult?KeywordTyped=mason%20&keyw...

ClareBroommaker's picture

Yesterday Lehman's sent advertising for a metal lid that I don't think is the unbranded one they previously carried. What is interesting is that they say the "Superb" branded lid is thicker metal and has thicker, wider gum on it. To wit, "Engineered to be the highest quality lids available, these regular-mouth canning lids have a specially formulated adhesive that is thicker and wider to seal even on jars with minor defects (always follow USDA recommendations when canning). Locally made near us in Ohio!"

They are expensive, $24.99 for 60. But if one is able to use them many times, perhaps they are worthwhile. Of course, Lehman's is not calling them re-usable. https://www.lehmans.com/product/canning-jar-lids-regular-mouth-pack-of-60/

mountainmoma's picture

That is not an unuausal price in many places these days, although I would expect a discount for being a bulk pack. A local store here had some kind of "in" with getting ball lids, and they sold me a flat for a discount, so I paid 3.50-ish per box of 12 since I bought the whole flat. I felt very lucky to find some but not happy about new prices

Sweet Tatorman's picture

Welcome KMA. There is a very old thread on lids that you might not have run across that you may find of interest.
http://greenwizards.com/node/367

kma's picture

thank you! This is great info

Survivalblog often has useful information other than building your arsenal even bigger.
A contributor did some serious experimentation on reusing canning lids as well as repurposed jars.

His findings are similar to Sweet taterman.

Here are the links:
https://survivalblog.com/2021/05/06/reusing-can-canning-jar-lids-st-funo...
https://survivalblog.com/2021/06/12/science-reusing-canning-jar-lids-par...
https://survivalblog.com/2021/06/13/science-reusing-canning-jar-lids-par...

kma's picture

Excellent! Thank you Teresa