When COVID crashed onto the scene in the winter of 2020, panic buying and shortages of all kinds soon followed. Canning lids were not to be left out, and gardeners everywhere scrambled to get a supply before they were totally unavailable. Some resorted to paying outrageous prices or getting them from abroad. More than a few people found themselves out of luck.
Supplies are gradually returning to normal, but it may not last long. The chemicals used to make the sealing compound on the lids are mostly sourced from overseas. So it's time to review canning lids and contemplate whether we need to make any changes in what we use.
Canning lids are metal or plastic, one-time-use or reusable, and foreign or domestic.
Let's
cover plastic canning lids first since there isn't as much to say about
them. Plastic canning lids, used in conjunction with rubber gaskets,
are designed to be reused indefinitely. The rubber gaskets, on the
other hand, seem to have a lifespan of about twenty uses. Like their
metal counterparts, the plastic lids are BPA-free. The initial cost is
about four times than of one-time use canning lids, so the long-term
savings would be significant. If you get the lid on exactly right, "they" say the reusable lids work just as well as the conventional one-time use metal lids.
But what
do experienced canners say? Even if the primary canning person likes them, if s/he's getting additional help in the kitchen, that helper may not be so adept at getting the lid on just right. Many observe that it is more difficult to achieve a seal with the solid rubber gasket and the plastic lid/gasket combination doesn't vent as well. The immediate fail rate is pretty high.
Furthermore, many jars fail within six months.
My personal experience echoes this. When it came to
the reusable lids, I felt like such a failure. I really wanted to like
them. They would save money in the long run. They'd be a great item
for prepping in case I couldn't get lids anymore. But they just didn't
work for me. I had about a 15% fail rate right out of the canner. And
sure enough, within six months, several jars that I know were perfectly
sealed when I put them on the shelf lost their seal. I have only one
acquaintance that has used them, and her experience has been the same.
There are two other differences to keep in mind when it comes to these
lids. The first is that you don't get to hear the ping of a jar sealing
as it cools down. You don't hear anything at all. The second is that
you cannot tell by looking at the plastic lid if the jar is sealed.
With metal lids, you can see that the top is indented if the jar is
indeed sealed. I really miss both of those signs. So while I still
have my reusable lids, I haven't used them since I first gave them a
try. In the coming months and years, I'll probably limit their use to vacuum sealing.
But if you want to give them a try, go for it. There are two companies that manufacture them.
Tattler
has been in the business since 1976, and this is the brand I used. You
can go to their website at Tattlerproducts.com or find them on Amazon.
Harvest
Guard's website is canninglids.com. They offer a sample pack for $3.75
so you can give them a try without dishing out too much money. I'd
highly recommend this option if you're considering using plastic lids.
Now on to the metal lids.
Metal lids have been used since the late 1910s. The metal lids are
only meant to be used once. I couldn't find any sources to indicate
whether previous generations of metal lids were ever approved for re-use
in canning. I do know that lids in the past were re-used for canning
by many a thrifty housewife. Some people today still re-use the lids if
they feel they can get away with it, though this is not advised and
seal failures are common. Metal lids from previous generations were
definitely substantially thicker than they are today. They were much
easier to remove from jars without distorting them. That is just not
the case with lids today.
Most canning lids sold in the US today are the Ball and Kerr brands. They're both owned by the same parent company. I honestly can't tell any difference between the two.
For those who do a
lot of canning each year, Lehman's
may be a better option for getting your canning lids. Like Ball and Kerr lids, they are BPA-free and manufactured in the US. I've been using them for
years without a problem. At the moment, Lehman's has regular mouth lids in stock, 360 for $84.99, plus $19.99 for shipping. Ouch. The lid price has escalated, and so has the shipping. You may be better off getting them at the grocery store.
Whatever you do, be wary of purchasing lids from
foreign manufacturers. Walmart sold jars and lids made in China one
year, and I got suckered. You know, peak canning season, and I ran out
of jars. Canning items were in short supply, so I picked up the
off-brand. Had I realized they were made in China, I wouldn't have
gotten them for sure. It never even occurred to me that canning jars
would be made in China. Anyway, long story short, the jar rims were
uneven, and at least a third of the lids failed. I was definitely not
happy.
According to the official Ball and Kerr website,
Freshpreserving.com, lids no longer need to be simmered before canning.
That was the recommendation in the past, but years of experience have
demonstrated that the sealing compound on the lids is sufficiently
warmed and softened during the canning process. However, if you are
vacuum-sealing dry foods or using an oxygen absorber to seal the jar,
then the lids will need to be simmered in water for five minutes to
soften the sealing compound.
According to the National Center
for Home Food Preparation, the sealing compound on lids works well for
at least five years. But they recommend purchasing new lids each year.
That's obviously not going to work for us. Five years sounds better to
me.
But what about longer than that? Because sometimes you
come across canning lids at garage sales. Like I do. One summer I got
some older Bernardin lids. I think the fail rate was
pretty high, but it was probably twenty-five years ago. I don't
remember well, other than a lot of the sealing compound peeled right off
the lids. At another garage sale, about eight years ago, I hit the
jackpot. In addition to a queen-size Hudson Bay blanket in perfect
condition for $2, I also got about 500 wide mouth Kerr
lids for $2. They were so old they didn't have price stickers
on them. The prices were stamped in that purplish-blue ink. And the
price on the boxes was--get this--5 cents!
So how well do
those really old lids work? Really, really well. I don't think I've
had a failure yet. That sealing compound is so thick and cushy. The
lids all seal so well that I have to pry up the lid in several spots
around the edge before it will come loose. So the lid is always tweaked
and there is no hope of reusing it for anything.
Of course,
not all old lids will work well. A lot will depend on how those lids
were stored. Is it worth the risk? Only you can decide that. So far
for old garage sale lids, I'm at about 600 good and 12 bad. It's worth
it to me.
Links to related posts:
The Ins and Outs of Oxygen Absorbers
For further reading:
https://www.tipsbulletin.com/how-to-sterilize-canning-lids/
https://www.lehmans.com/product/bulk-canning-dome-lids/
https://www.freshpreserving.com/canning-lids-101.html
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/recomm_jars_lids.html
https://canningacrossamerica.com/canning-faqs/
1.16.20
