Comments on: Canning Jars: From Faux to Best Preserving Choices

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:51:44 +0000

Hi Susan, great article and very helpful! I see the wide-mouth jars are the best for freezing, and i was wondering if they are also the best choice to store dry goods such as medicines which are imperative to stay dry and airtight? What are some good sources to make sure I am getting a quality mason jar that will not degrade its seal potentially allowing air/humidity to enter in a freezer? Lastly, do you know if there is a “useful life” to mason jars’ effective seal-ability?

By: Susan Lutz

Susan Lutz — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 00:05:38 +0000

@ Ross Reid– I agree that the odds of poisoning my family are (thankfully) extremely low, and my use of the over-the-top term “biohazard” was meant to be obvious hyperbole. However, I was trying to make the important point that these “faux” jars do have more sealing failures than Mason-type jars and that a sealing failure is a serious issue that needs to be carefully monitored. You sound like an experienced canner and I suspect that you keep a close watch on your jars, both immediately after processing and after they sit on the shelf for an extended period of time. But if you live with people who aren’t experienced canners (as I do), it’s easy for someone to forget to check for a proper seal when grabbing a jar of preserved food off the shelf. For this reason, I err on the side of caution and use canning jars with a wider sealing surface. This reduces the odds of a sealing failure– both after processing and during long-term storage. I am also careful to always remove the ring portion of the two-part lid when I’m putting sealed canning jars away for long-term storage so I can be sure to recognize a sealing failure when it occurs.

I am aware of the USDA recommendation you cite regarding canning with mayonnaise-type jars (page 1-14 of the Complete Guide to Home Canning http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/GUIDE%201%20Home%20Can.pdf). The recommendation states that it is ok to use these mayonnaise-type jars for water-bath canning acid foods. However, it is not recommended for pressure canning or for water-bath canning low-acid foods. It also states that consumers should expect more sealing failures and jar breakage with mayonnaise type-jars, even when used only for water-bath canning acid foods. While I’m glad you hear that you haven’t experienced these problems in your kitchen, I’ve decided not to use these jars for canning for these reasons (as I stated in the article.)

It sounds like you can large quantities of a single product using a single technique (water-bath canning tomatoes) and I can see why your process works well for you. I tend to can a wide variety of foods using a variety of different food preservation methods and frankly it would just get too confusing to sort jars into too many groups. I do collect all kinds of glass jars (including the Atlas Mason) for non-canning purposes and use them frequently for vinegar infusions and various kinds of fermentation. But I keep these jars in a separate location from the Mason-type jars so I don’t inadvertently mix the two types. For me, it is easiest to divide jars into two groups– “canning” jars and “non-canning” jars. Of course, this is a personal decision based on the kinds of foods I like to preserve and the quantities I produce (and have room to store!)

By: Ross Reid

Ross Reid — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 22:26:14 +0000

Supplemental to my earlier reply: At the end of your article you state “These distinctions may seem obscure because a jar’s a jar, right? But John Landis Mason would disagree. So would the USDA. With the explosion in interest in home canning and the ever-present problem of botulism or simple spoilage, the difference between a regular-mouth quart and a faux-Mason jar may mean the difference between delicious pickles and a biohazard (sic).
This is unadulterated scare mongering.
You were going to use this faux mason jar for “home-canned sweet pickles made using my mother’s recipe”. Unless your mother’s recipe followed USDA guidelines for making pickles there’s a chance that those pickles could have been more of a bio-hazard than the use of the jar in question.

By: Ross Reid

Ross Reid — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 22:01:22 +0000

You mention obtaining a so-called faux canning jar and then state: “And if I hadn’t taken a 12-week course to become a certified Master Food Preserver, I might have used that as a canning jar and possibly poisoned my whole family.”
Please explain how you could possibly “poison your whole family” by using the so-called faux canning jar.
If you go to http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/recomm_jars_lids.html you will see that even “commercial pint- and quart-size mayonnaise or salad dressing jars may be used with new two-piece lids for canning acid foods.”
The Atlas Mason jars from Classico pasta sauce are the ideal size for canning tomatoes for the two of us and we have been using them for at least 5 years. In that time we’ve processed well over 200 Atlas Mason jars of tomatoes. Never had a jar break and seal failure is less than 1%, no worse than Ball, Kerr, Dominion, Bernardin, etc.

By: Susan Lutz

Susan Lutz — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:53:30 +0000

@Barbara- Your wine jelly sounds delicious. I bet you’re right about the jelly not lasting too long. I know I’d eat it up in a day or two. I’m curious to know why you think the Weck Jars are “a bit of a pain”.

For everyone who has asked about Weck jars, I wanted to follow up. I’ve spoken to Ernest Miller, the lead instructor of the Los Angeles MFP program and he told me that the USDA did a series of jar tests years ago and “found that they got the best results (highest vacuum, best sealing rate) with the standard two-part lids, which is why they recommend them.” This does not mean that Weck jars are unsafe. Chef Miller says that it’s fine to use Weck jar– just be sure to follow standard procedures and use new gaskets every time. Special thanks to Chef Miller for weighing in on this!

By: Barbara | Creative Culinary

Barbara | Creative Culinary — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 23:51:26 +0000

I just canned a bunch of wine jelly using the Weck Jars; they are pretty but a bit of a pain; still I think I got them sealed just fine. I’m not sure I would use them for anything but the 5.5 ozs of jelly…I’m assuming it will be opened and refrigerated upon receipt and be gone pretty quickly.

By: Susan Lutz

Susan Lutz — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 00:10:09 +0000

@Sean- Thanks for raising this issue. Although I discussed the different kinds of jars, I didn’t mention that there are also two different sizes of lids. To clarify, jar lids come in two sizes– 2-3/8 inches and 3 inches (approximately). The 3 inch lids fit the “wide mouth” variety jars that are pint-sized and larger. These “wide mouth” jars have straight sides.

The 2-3/8 inch lids fit the “regular”-mouth jars that are pint-sized or larger (and these have the narrower neck or shoulder, as you refer to it.) The 2-3/8 inch lids are also used for the 4, 8, and 12 oz. jars, which all have straight sides.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:53:43 +0000

The description of the mouths is slightly misleading. Regular-mouth jars only have shoulders on pint jars and larger — 4, 8 and 12-oz jars all have straight sides and narrow mouths, as shown in the picture.

By: Susan Lutz

Susan Lutz — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:38:24 +0000

@Deb- The BPA is issue is concerning, as you know. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on any new research as it is released. Thanks for the suggestion for a future article.

@Lester and @Leah- I appreciate the feedback. Hope you continue to enjoy canning! I’m off to the farmer’s market to pick up some peaches so I can whip up another batch of peach-ginger jam before the season ends.

By: Susan Lutz

Susan Lutz — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:58:41 +0000

David- I love the fact that your idea of fun is having a canning party. Sounds good to me!