Regular or Wide Mouth Jars?

[roosmom]

Remember using Mayonnaise jars for canning? I don't you can even find a glass mayo jar anymore. My mom always used them and never had a mishap with cracking or exploding.

I still recycle the mayo lids, though, to place on opened canning jars. They make the best lids and last forever. Also double as tiny dishes for little animals, dabs of paint, etc.

It is funny you mention that. When my mother came over to can the tomatoes, she brought a bunch of mayo jars. I laughed and told her that I remember her using them. BUT, I also told her I would prefer not to use them. When asked why, my reply was, When I was growing up we ate all the food you canned pretty fast. And you had experience in canning stuff. I am trying to get a little ahead, the food hopefully will be sitting for awhile on the shelves. I also do not want to take the chance of me doing something wrong and having jars break on me. I told her that I know she used to just skimm off the "mother" and we would eat it anyway, BUT I know that now I cannot stomache it at all. I'm sorry.
I felt bad.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Midland, Knox, Drey, Standard,Safety, Mission, Lamb, etc are some of the old brands I have collected over the years in getting a supply of canning jars. I have a bunch of original Mason, Kerr and Balls too. I have a bunch of presto lids, zinc and glass lids too.
Of course I don't used those for canning. They are set aside for decorations mostly.
One of the intersting things is a series of jars that start with the Mason label, switch to the Ball Mason label then to Ball. I also have a Kerr Self-sealing series. Fun- but I wish I know more about them.

 

[Beekissed]

I told her that I know she used to just skimm off the "mother" and we would eat it anyway, BUT I know that now I cannot stomache it at all. I'm sorry.

Never experience that phenomenon! Our mayo jars performed just like the standard canning jars over the years. They do have a tendency to chip at the mouth, if one isn't careful. We always check all jars for this anyway, so we never had problems with short term or long term storage of food in the mayos. I would say that they were designed to withstand far greater stress and temps than we can produce with our pressure canners....I can only imagine what extreme processing that is required by commercial food processing.

Like I said, we never had any "accidents" with the mayos, only Ball or Kerr. One of these exploded on my mom once and she had some pretty severe burns.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I have never pressure canned so can't speak to that but I have had mayo jars crack when hot things were poured into them, things like jam. The bottoms just split when stuff was poured into them. Never had that happen with a canning jar.

 

[patandchickens]

It is generally recommended not to use recycled commercial mayo (etc) jars b/c they are not tempered the same way Mason type jars are and thus have a greater chance of breaking unexpectedly. Of coure, this matters more to some people than to others; also, if one has had good luck with 'em in the past then obviously you have either the right jars or The Right Touch so why mess with success

I was trying to buy lids the other day, btw -- went to Large Superstore Type Grocery Store and could not find them. Asked employee #1: no idea what I was talking about. Employee #2 sent me to the aisle with canned veggies and fruit Employee #3 said 'oh, we probably don't have any left, they're a seasonal item." I looked puzzled and said 'but this IS the season'. She said "Oh, no, I expect we get them in at the beginning of the summer when people do their canning, and there wouldn't be any left by now".

I finally found them at Canadian Tire, at a pretty good price too, so I stocked up in order to avoid having to speak to any more store employees *next* year

Pat

 

[Ellie]

I must say I have had a hard time finding lids. I have gone to several stores, and they are out. Maybe it is because it is the season and everyone has bought them up for their canning. Guess I will have to wait until next year.

I do like the wide mouth lids for reasons everyone says but the regular ones are cheaper.

Ellie