Jars

If you’re someone who home preserves regularly, jars are something you will be periodically buying.

Sometimes a new design of jar will come on the market that catches your fancy. Sometimes you’ll need to expand your inventory to handle a bumper crop of something that has come your way. And sometimes, you’ll buy just to replenish your existing stock. Everyone’s “herd” of canning jars shrinks overtime owing to give-aways that don’t find their way back home.

When giving someone a jar of something for the first time, it’s usually fine to say with a smile, “the jar’s re-usable for ever, so bring the jar back for refills!” Not everyone knows that anymore, and many well-meaning people toss them in recycling. It won’t always work, but it does improve the odds of jars coming back — eventually.

Considering keeping empty jar boxes, if you have the storage space, to store jars for next season as they get freed up. Keep the outside plastic wrapping around the bottom and sides of the box intact to strengthen the box. Store the jars upside down in their boxes. This keeps dust, debris and critters out of the jars.

Only Mason jars with screw-top lids are recommended as of 2017 for safe home canning. Some types, such as the bail-type jars made by Kilner and le Parfait, are directly recommended against. Other types, such as Weck jars, have no positive recommendation but no recommendation against, either.

U.S customs pretty much only recognizes Mason jars as “preserving jars” for the purpose of duties and import charges:

Customs proposed that the principal use for the class ‘preserving jars of glass’ is jars purchased and used for home canning only. Further, there are identifiable characteristics that are indicative, but not conclusive of the principal use of glass jars classifiable as ‘preserving jars of glass’. These would include glass articles of any shape that are between .23 and 2.2 liter sizes, and are the shape and height of regular and wide-mouth ‘Mason-type’, threaded, home-canning jars with self-sealing lids. Generally, the standard jar mouth opening is about 2\⅜\ inches with wide mouth jars having 3 inch openings. ‘Mason-type’ jars have narrower sealing surfaces and are tempered less than most commercial pint and quart-size jars. …. Glass articles with wire bails and glass or porcelain caps or lids were considered not classifiable as ‘preserving jars of glass’ as their physical characteristics do not allow them to be recommended for home canning use.”  ^[1] Department of the Treasury Customs Service. Tariff Classification of Imported Glassware. Federal Register Volume 61, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 3, 1996). FR Doc No: 95-31593. Pages 223-229. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1996-01-03/html/95-31593.htm

A part of Mason jar history that today’s manufacturers don’t necessarily bandy about is the jars’ link with booze:

It was the ratification of the 18th amendment in 1919 that really started things rolling [for mason jars.] This time the unlikely demographic [for them] was moonshiners. During prohibition… these homegrown entrepreneurs saw the benefit of storing and selling their wares in Mason jars, as they provided a known quantity. A quart jar was a quart jar, no matter if it contained tomatoes or white lightning. … So entwined are the histories of moonshine and Mason jars that several myths have blossomed from their union. First, it was said that moonshiners were so influential on the Mason jar business that companies like Ball manufactured square jars to be more packable… ” ^[2]Moser, Joann. Mason Jar Nation: The Jars that Changed America. Cool Springs Press. 2016. Page 20.

Atlas mason jars for home canning

The Hazel-Atlas Company was an actual company from 1902 to 1964.  They made actual Mason jars for home canning, as well as other glass items, such as depression glass and milk glass. ^[3]Hazel-Atlas Glass Company. Accessed December 2016. ...

Bail Lid Jars

Bail lid jars have a two-part wire clasp attached to the top of them. Newer-style French Le Parfait, English Kilner and Italian Fido jars operate on this principle. Older-style bail jars, made in the first half of the 1900s, were known as "lightning"...

Frutta del prato jars

Frutta del prato is a line of home preserving jars sold in many countries around the world. Depending on where you are in the world, and where you buy them, they can be more expensive than other home preserving jars, or less expensive. In some...

Gem Jars and Lids

Gem jars are shouldered Mason jars that came in (Imperial) pints, quarts and two-quart sizes. What is now unique about them is the mouth size on them: the mouth size of 78 mm falls in between the now-standard sizes of 70 mm (regular) and 85 mm (wide...

Golden Harvest Mason Jars

  Golden Harvest brand Mason jars for home canning are a lower-priced line of Mason jars sold by the Newell Corporation, which also owns Ball, Bernardin and Kerr jars. The jars are sold in Canada and the U.S. The Golden Harvest jars...

Jar Sizes

  When can you change the jar size that a tested recipe calls for? You can use smaller jars than a tested recipe calls for, but not larger. The reason is that larger jars usually requires a longer processing time for proper heat penetration...

Kilner Jars

Kilner is an English brand name of home preserving supplies. Many different types of jars, flasks, bottles and preserving accessories are sold under the Kilner name. Kilner also sells kits for related preserving ranges such as sloe gins, and ...

Le Parfait Familia Wiss Mason Jars

Le Parfait  jars are highly desired by cooks the world over. The name means, "The Perfect". The company makes a line of wide-mouth, straight-sided Mason-style jars with two-piece lids for home canning. The jars are sold under their "Familia Wiss" ...

Le Parfait's hinged-lid jars

Le Parfait is perhaps best-known for its classic hinged-lid (aka bail-type" lid) jars. The glass, hinged lids are permanently attached and re-usable indefinitely. At the start, we'd like to note that the USDA currently recommends against this...

Leifheit Jars

Leifheit jars are very sturdy preserving jars from Germany. In the preserving world, Leifheit is not as famous as Weck is. Many people in Germany know Leifheit only for their "cleaning supplies": small appliances and tools for laundry, kitchen...

Lightning Jars

A lightning jar was a type of jar made for home preserving in the first half of the 1900s. These jars are now recommended against for home canning purposes. This article is for historical reference only. Do not attempt to do home canning with lightning...

Quattro Stagioni Jars

Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons) are preserving jars made in Italy. The jar mouth sizes come in regular mouth, wide mouth, and non-standard mouth. The jars take screw-on lids. The jars are, it appears, still actually made in Italy. They are...

Re-using jars from store-bought products

Can you use recycled glass jars as canning jars? The answer depends on who you ask, and revolves around operational safety, rather than food safety.   No, don't use recycled jars for home canning Here are some responses from the "no,...

Weck Jars

Weck's home canning jars are well-known in Europe. The Weck canning jar system consists of glass jars, glass lids, tabbed rubber gaskets (sealing rings) and metal clamps. The most noticeable difference between Weck jars and Mason jars is that...