canning supplies

[Chic Rustler]

anyone else notice the canning supplies are getting space and more expensive? Ball canning lids are going for up to $12 on Amazon. wide mouth jars are getting really hard to find as well

 

[Hinotori]

Canning supplies are ok here. I keep buying more every grocery trip because my gut says it's just a matter of time.

 

[Hinotori]

Most of the thick/thin thing on window glass is because of the blowing process. It was blown out then flattened, then cut to needed sizes. Blowing causes thickness variations as well as the ripples that are sometimes seen.

The method for making plate glass is what changed that. Float glass is usually how it's done now as it's cheaper to do.

My husband says i need to leave off on the history books and documentaries. I find stuff like that interesting. He says I'm the only one he knows who would read a book on the history of salt for entertainment. I just point out that he's got a ton of books on war history, especially ancient Greek and Roman.

 

[farmerjan]

I picked up 5 boxes each of wide mouth and regular jar lids today. WM were ball and were expensive. The reg were the walmart generic. Saw some Anchor hocking canning jars there today too. I must have nearly 600-1000 jars as I have inherited all the family canning jars I think. No one else does it. Have boxes of the bale top jars, that family used. I used them when I first started because they were what we had and used regularly.
Have made many a jar of jelly with wax seals. When we were kids we would sneak into the boxes of jelly with the wax seals and push on them to get them to break the seal so we could get mom to bring another jar into the fridge for us. We ate a lot of grape jelly in those days..... Us kids used to go find the wild grapes for her to make the jelly with...

 

[Britesea]

Is there a botulinum test for the homesteader?

I have never heard of one. What makes botulinum so dangerous is that it is odorless, tasteless, and colorless; you won't know you've ingested it until it poisons you- which it does be killing the nervous system. When I took the Master Food Preservers Class, they had us listen to a tape made by a woman who survived botulism that she got from baked potatoes at a restaurant that had been held too long at too low a temperature.

The entire U.S. stores of botulism anti-toxin are kept under lock and key in Washington D.C. As soon as the doctor determined what the problem was, he called for it. They flew it out by express jet.

She describes being able to hear what was going on, as apparently those nerves hadn't been hit yet; but she could not open her eyes or twitch her face or move any other part of her body. I don't remember how long it took for the antitoxin to take effect, but she describes it as agonizing.

When she recorded this interview, it was 5 years later. She STILL got random nerve firings- like pins and needles, or hitting your funny bone all over her body, as her body was still rebuilding the damaged nerve system.

Botulism is NOTHING to be casual about. Botulinum spores are everywhere, you probably ingest some every time you eat a salad; but they are not a danger in and of themselves-- it is the toxin they produce that is the problem.

BUT. the toxin is destroyed by heat; so we use pressure canning to bring the food up to a specific temperature. The spores themselves are sensitive to acid; so we use vinegar, citric acid, and lemon or lime juice to up the acidic environment. If you are not completely sure, you can take a calculated risk and boil the suspect food for at least 15 minutes at a rolling boil, to neutralize the toxin; the spores will curdle up and die when they hit your gastric juices in your stomach.

 

[Britesea]

you seriously eat decade old canned goods?

@Chic Rustler properly prepared canned food will last, literally, for a hundred years and still be perfectly safe to eat, although some (but surprisingly not all) of the nutritive value will have degraded, as well as the texture and look of the food.

In 1865, the steamboat Bertrand loaded with canned provisions left port for the mining camps in Montana. Unfortunately, it had too many provisions and the weight of the vessel caused it to sink early on in its journey.

It sat at the bottom of the Missouri River for nearly a century. Among the provisions were cans of plum tomatoes, mixed vegetables, peaches, oysters, and honey.

In 1974, NFPA chemist Janet Dudek and Edgar Elkins found that these canned goods were just as safe to eat in 1974 as they were to eat 100 years earlier. They reported significant amounts of vitamins C and A were lost; but protein levels remained high, and all calcium values 'were comparable to today's products.

 

[CrealCritter]

I'm a guy with big hands that are not so sensitive to heat. It took me a lot of practice to get the rings "finger tight" as my wife calls it. The first couple of times my wife accused me of "gorilla torquing" the rings because the lids crinkled.

She had to show me how to do rings finger tight. We practiced on a jar. She would finger tighten the ring and I would unscrew it, then screw it back on again. She would then do the same. After several times of screwing and unscrewing the ring I finally caught on.

I have to use my thumb and little finger to screw the ring down the same as my wife does with all her fingers and thumb. Finger tight is not the right way to describe it to a guy. It's more like almost loose. But at least I got the "touch" now.

 

[Britesea]

There's a lot of that in old-time type skills. Probably because people back then learned those skills hands on instead of out of a book. I remember it took me a long time to understand the phrase "knead until smooth and elastic" but once you get it, you never forget it.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Every time we go shopping, I plan to pick up a couple cases of canning jars. May be crazy. But... even if I end up with way too many jars, I'm guessing that I'll be able to barter them for other goods in the future. If the world economy continues down the present path, could be that canning jars will fetch a king's ransom on the black market.

 

[Hinotori]

I have a bunch of old bail canning jars that were from my great grandfather that grandma had. I use them for dry goods. After my grandmother (on Dad's side) died no one knew how to open them. None of her daughters were ever interested in canning. Mom took them as she knew I liked old jars. The look on her face when I picked one up and flipped it open. "How did you do that? We tried and tried to open them." I guess one of my aunts wanted them until they couldn't open them.