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2steps

Canning/bottling jars

Does anyone know if I can use normal jam jars for water bath canning of fruit and veg? Would it be ok for things like homemade curry pastes and pickles or would I be better off sealing them as I do Jan with waxed discs and cellophane covers?
oldish chris

I use ordinary jars and lids, typically from jars of mayonnaise or bolognese sauce, for jams, bottling in syrup and chutneys. The metal lid will only last one year before the chutney corrodes it. (I haven't bought a jar of jam in 37 years!)

I process the stuff in an oven.
jamanda

I re-use ordinary jars for everything. I've never quite understood cellophane discs.

Nice to hear from you btw Very Happy How's things?
pollyanna

I'm not absolutely sure I would use random jars for water-bath bottling in case an imperfect seal was formed. It is so easy to test a dedicated jar after processing by undoing the clip or screw band and seeing if a vacuum has been formed.

I would not be entirely sure how far to loosen the lid for processing. A quarter turn, perhaps?

Though if the lids of 'second-hand' jars pop down after cooling I think you can assume all is well.

For jams and chutneys I use whatever comes to hand; old lids and all.

I thought cellophane and wax discs had gone into history by now. Not sure why you can still buy them.
quixoticgeek

I'm not absolutely sure I would use random jars for water-bath bottling in case an imperfect seal was formed. It is so easy to test a dedicated jar after processing by undoing the clip or screw band and seeing if a vacuum has been formed.

I would not be entirely sure how far to loosen the lid for processing. A quarter turn, perhaps?

Though if the lids of 'second-hand' jars pop down after cooling I think you can assume all is well.

For jams and chutneys I use whatever comes to hand; old lids and all.

I thought cellophane and wax discs had gone into history by now. Not sure why you can still buy them.


Most jam jar lids have a button on the top that allows you to check the seal. As the jar cools, the vacuum created pulls the button down with a very reassuring pop. I leave my jars in the kitchen, and can hear the pop while reading in the lounge, count the pops, and you know everything is sealed.

J
Luath

I'm not sure the glass in ordinary jam jars would withstand 35 minutes of boiling. Right tool, right job, ie Kilner jars, Mason jars, or Le Parfait.
I use wax discs and cellophane for most of my jams and marmalades - enables jars to be re-used even when the lids are lost/missing. Not suitable for pickles, as the air gets in and dries the contents out fairly quickly.

You can't water bath veg - you need a pressure canner for safety against botulism. Curry pastes and pickles shouldn't need processing as the vinegar/sugar acts as the preserver. Ordinary jam jars wouldn't stand pressure canning.

HTH
quixoticgeek

I'm not sure the glass in ordinary jam jars would withstand 35 minutes of boiling. Right tool, right job, ie Kilner jars, Mason jars, or Le Parfait.
I use wax discs and cellophane for most of my jams and marmalades - enables jars to be re-used even when the lids are lost/missing. Not suitable for pickles, as the air gets in and dries the contents out fairly quickly.

You can't water bath veg - you need a pressure canner for safety against botulism. Curry pastes and pickles shouldn't need processing as the vinegar/sugar acts as the preserver. Ordinary jam jars wouldn't stand pressure canning.

HTH


Normal glass jars are fine with heat, and with cold, they just don't like changes in heat. If you take a hot jar and cool it rapidly, it won't like it. But as long as you don't take it out the oven and put it straight on a cold metal surface you'll be fine.

J 2steps

I re-use ordinary jars for everything. I've never quite understood cellophane discs.

Nice to hear from you btw Very Happy How's things?

Hello Smile We moved down to Surrey in 2011 and love it here. Don't have quite as big a veg garden as I but do have a very productive pear tree, used/preserved loads ourselves and gave away 10 carrier bags full on Freecycle! Working as a freelancer writer and jewellery designer, still doing my OU degree and home educating my youngest who has autism and epilepsy.

Thanks for all the help everyone Smile I have Kilner jars but run out and have a load of normal jars that I have saved or been given. Most don't have lids so I bought some, so the seals should be ok. I've always re-used jars for jam and never had a problem - a we've just opened a 2 year old jar that had got lost at the back of the cupboard and it is fine. I wasn't sure if the normal jars would be ok being boiled or if the lids would let the steam out ok with them being one piece. 2steps

I'm not absolutely sure I would use random jars for water-bath bottling in case an imperfect seal was formed. It is so easy to test a dedicated jar after processing by undoing the clip or screw band and seeing if a vacuum has been formed.

I would not be entirely sure how far to loosen the lid for processing. A quarter turn, perhaps?

Though if the lids of 'second-hand' jars pop down after cooling I think you can assume all is well.

For jams and chutneys I use whatever comes to hand; old lids and all.

I thought cellophane and wax discs had gone into history by now. Not sure why you can still buy them.

Most jam jar lids have a button on the top that allows you to check the seal. As the jar cools, the vacuum created pulls the button down with a very reassuring pop. I leave my jars in the kitchen, and can hear the pop while reading in the lounge, count the pops, and you know everything is sealed.

J

Good to know that they will pop down again. I also have some new lids from Lakeland but they don't have the button in. VM

I think if they are just normal jam jar lids you should probably just put them on loosely, have the water in the water bath come up to the neck of the jar rather than over the top and then screw lids on after processing.

I have seen this described, roughly. Don't think you can be sure of steam escaping if you put them on normally and then process.

But then I've never tried. Dee J

Anybody use these folks for preserving jar spares?

http://www.preservingjarparts.co.uk/

Suggest there that Leifheit metal lids fit old Kilner dual purpose jars... never knew that..

Dee chickenann

I used normal jars (any kind saved or given to me) for canning. The lids "suck" down as they cool.

Is first year I've done it - I just left 1" headspace, put warm stuff into warm jar, put lid on firmly, put into warm (ie blood-tem-ish) water then brought to bboil and boiled them for 20mins or whatever., When they cooled the lids got sucked in.

I didn't have any explosions and nothing looks iffy. have I just been lucky? jamanda

What are you preserving? If it's jam or jelly you don't need to do the putting it in to the water and boiling. If it's meaty then I think you do. oldish chris

Normal glass jars are fine with heat, and with cold, they just don't like changes in heat. If you take a hot jar and cool it rapidly, it won't like it. But as long as you don't take it out the oven and put it straight on a cold metal surface you'll be fine.

J In my experience, which includes working in a jam factory, what quixoticgeek says is totally correct. Those of you who have come across really old kilner jars will notice that the thickness of the glass can be somewhat variable, and that is what makes gradual heating and cooling so important, which also explains why classic (i.e. re-war) books on preserving go on at great lengths about it. As for modern jam-jars, just imagine what its like in a factory, with thousands of jars whizzing along conveyor belts! The jars are designed to take quite considerable heat shocks. In 40 years of lackadaisical home preserving I've never had a problem. Luath

What are you preserving? If it's jam or jelly you don't need to do the putting it in to the water and boiling. If it's meaty then I think you do.

Only preserve anything meaty by pressure canning; water bath/oven method not safe. jamanda

What are you preserving? If it's jam or jelly you don't need to do the putting it in to the water and boiling. If it's meaty then I think you do.

Only preserve anything meaty by pressure canning; water bath/oven method not safe.

In which case I can't think of any occasion when you'd need the water bath method. pollyanna

You would need it for bottling fruit. SeedSaverEmma

Reusing Jam Jars

Hi everyone, I'm new around here and a keen grower. Lately my thoughts turned to stuffing things into jars - and being the kind that's mean, thought of using all those jam jars that get thrown away.

Only I'm terrified of them going bang!! When Oldish Chris says

Quote:
As for modern jam-jars, just imagine what its like in a factory, with thousands of jars whizzing along conveyor belts! The jars are designed to take quite considerable heat shocks. In 40 years of lackadaisical home preserving I've never had a problem.


I thought to pop them in a home-made boiler (an enormous, watertight coffee tin) and start boiling them from cold and then let them cool from boiling thus allowing the glass to expand and contract slowly, reducing possibilities of explosions.

What is your experience? I'm bottling Grunkohl (kale) for the winter as there's a lot around right now.

Help, please!!! I don't want to have to scrape this stuff off of the ceiling ... pollyanna

Frankly it sounds like you will end up with an explosion. If the pressure gets too high how will the vessel vent???? Luath

I wouldn't do kale/vegetables without a pressure canner, not acid enough, danger of botulism present. SeedSaverEmma

Guess I'll just have to munch it!

There's a lot on sale in bottles this side of the channel though - how do they do it? tahir

There's a lot on sale in bottles this side of the channel though - how do they do it?

Probably using the water bath method, but the UK/US are more risk averse so the recommendation is to use a pressure canner (bit of a misnomer as you use jars not cans).

I'd rather use a pressure canner and know that it's safe. oldish chris

Guess I'll just have to munch it!

There's a lot on sale in bottles this side of the channel though - how do they do it? At a guess, in big machines designed for it, not to mention a factory chemist, aided and abetted by a microbiologist, checking the process. SeedSaverEmma

I guess you're right. I guess it could go in the freezer?

Thanks for all the help and ideas.

Now where can I get acidic kale seeds?? Wink Wink Wink VM
In which case I can't think of any occasion when you'd need the water bath method.

You need the water bath method for bottling fruit, fruit purees or compotes and some pickles and relishes - basically things which are not cooked as long and don't have as much sugar in as jam or chutney.

The Pam Corbin book I use is quite helpful on this - tells you how long things will keep without water-bathing. So rosehip syrup that I just made keeps about 3 months on its own but longer if you do the water bath thing.

When I have done it for whole pickled cucumbers it considerably lengthens the time they stay good. But it is a pfaff so I usually do some jars only - and label them all accordingly. VM

Hello Emma

Kale - you should be able to pick it or buy it through quite a lot of the winter - that's the great thing about it. that it is hardy.

But if you want to store it then yes, freezer, definitely not home bottlling/canning. Not sure it freezes very well as a straight green veg but I freeze it in soups or stews. SeedSaverEmma

Yes, and of course, it's always better when frosted too. Popping it in the freezer for a week at this time of year improves it considerably! So it got itself chopped and cooked and stuffed into little boxes to freeze. It was like when the kids were tiny, we'd freeze their food in ice-cube trays, and then bundle it all into bags!

It's just that I had a lot of kale right now someone was throwing a whole heap of plants away - I cannot think why as they are winter hardy. There are things the Dutch do in gardening that defies any logic or sense.

Back on topic, I'd thought of popping it in jars because then it could be taken in a basket when travelling to Naumburg. It's eight hours on the train and whilst the trains have electrical sockets, I'm not sure if they'd appreciate my bringing my freezer with me Wink

Plus there's no electricity there either, it's a little rustic just yet, shall we say? chickenann

I was canning apples in syrup, and tomato puree/sauce thingy, so not meat-based but not cooked with sugar like a jam/jelly would be.

Emma, if you wanted to take some with you, then could you defrost some and pickle it - like kale equivalent of sauerkraut? Luath

Dried kale chips are supposed to be good too, but not tried them myself
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