Putting up dry goods in canning jars

[~gd]

My MIL used to use the oven canning method for storing walnuts from their trees. She never had any problems with mold and even after 10 years, the walnuts were crisp and delicious - not rancid at all. I know this because we found an overlooked jar and tried them.

I have stored dry goods in jars for years because we had a huge mouse problem when we moved into the house. I never did anything special- just moved cereals and flour etc from the paper bags into clean dry jars. Of course, we weren't trying for long storage- most of the time the jar was empty within 6 months or less. I don't use my canning jars for this because they are too precious-- I need them for canning- Instead, I save peanut butter jars and mayonnaise jars for dry storage.

I suspect sugar and salt (pure salt- not the table stuff that has dextrose in it to keep it from clumping) is going to harden no matter what you do. Resign yourself to doing as they did in the old days-- pounding a chunk of it to powder for table and baking use. Note to self- get a good mortar and pestle.

I suggest that you get a scale to go with your mirtar and pestle because home ground salt will not work very well in recipies written in teaspoons and tablespoons the weight of a given volume will vary with the fineness of the grind. BTW I have heard of a lot anticaking agents but dextrose is not one of them...

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[tamlynn]

I use the "fake" canning jars for dried goods. Sometimes if I inherit canning jars, there are commercial spaghetti sauce or mayo jars mixed in. Those I reserve for dried herbs and such because they may be a slightly different volume or have thinner glass than a real canning jar.

 

[Veggie PAK]

This week I started my dry stores by putting 25 pounds of sugar into one quart size canning jars. If anyone wants to do that you'll probably want to know that you will need 14 quart jars. The jars had a half inch head space. I did that just in case I decide to turn them annually to help keep them from solidifying, that way there would be room for the sugar to move somewhat freely.

After washing my jars, I let them drip off well and then put them upright on a cookie sheet and put them in a 150 degree oven for twenty minutes. That thoroughly dried them. When they came out, I let them cool for 15 or 20 minutes before using them. Normally sugar feels cool, and I didn't want to chance breaking hot jars with cool material. The jars were warm, but not too warm. I could hold them in my bare hand.

After I shut the oven off, I placed the lids inside the rings upside down and ready for use and put them on a cookie sheet and put it into the turned off oven. This let the rubber on the lids warm up without moisture getting on them. I figure ANY moisture with sugar would produce bad results. When the jars were cool enough, I filled them then wiped off the seal edge with a new paper towel surface for each jar (by folding over) then took the warm lids and screwed them on hand tight. Using the canning spout was a BIG help also. If not used, sugar would have spilled all over the place even though I was using a spouted measuring cup for the transfer. I moved my canning spout from jar to jar slowly because it holds sugar dust/powder. I didn't want that on the outside of my jars or on the seal surface.

That is how I did my sugar saving.

 

[tamlynn]

I bet the sugar is easier to use this way, in smaller portions, but it sounds like a lot of work. Nothing eats dry sugar except us humans, so I just plop unopened bags of it into a big plastic tote bin to keep off the dust and make sure it doesn't get wet. No bugs or weevils or mice will eat it if it is dry.

 

[ORChick]

I bet the sugar is easier to use this way, in smaller portions, but it sounds like a lot of work. Nothing eats dry sugar except us humans, so I just plop unopened bags of it into a big plastic tote bin to keep off the dust and make sure it doesn't get wet. No bugs or weevils or mice will eat it if it is dry.

 

[Veggie PAK]

No bugs or weevils or mice will eat it if it is dry.

The ants at my house haven't read that yet. Ha! Ha! I just wanted some sugar for long term storage and I'm comfortable with doing it this way. It really isn't much work at all. Actually, what I have with those 14 jars satisfies my want for having some put up for the long term. It's a just-in-case backup supply.

For shorter term storage, not daily use, I buy the Domino's pure cane sugar in the 10 pound yellow and white heavy, slippery, resealable good looking bags. I'm sure they're not Mylar, but it appears to be a very strong dense storage-type plastic. You can't stick your finger into it easily, if at all. I figure that they are better than paper for keeping sealed tightly. The resealable part doesn't interest me because we keep open sugar bags in the fridge held closed with a large binder clip. The ants have a tough time getting the fridge door open...

 

[AnnaRaven]

I've got a food saver with the canning jar attachment for dry goods. I've yet to use it. Any tips or tricks I should know before trying it?

Great description on doing the sugar. I'm considering doing the 25# bag of salt I got at Costco.

 

[snapshot]

Wondering about using the attatchment too!

 

[DesertChick]

I've been using the jar attachment for several weeks and I love it!!! I like that I can open the jar, take out what I need and then reseal it with the same lid. Just be sure that the jars and lids are totally dry before adding the food. To open the jar, place a spoon where the thread meets the lid and then gently pry off the lid.