Putting Food By - Janet Greene [31]
ABOUT JARS AND CANS
Either glass jars specially made for home-canning or metal cans maybe used for putting food by.
Overall, canning jars are more versatile than cans are: (1) anything that is canned in cans may also be canned in glass; (2) Boiling–Water Bath and Pressure-processing are used for either jars or cans of food; but (3) there are certain foods that should be home-canned only in glass—the individual instructions later on will tell you which ones, but among them are jellies, preserves, pickles, relishes, a couple of fruits and vegetables, and seafood.
Another advantage of jars is that they usually require one less step in the packing procedure than cans do; the step is called “exhausting,” and will be described in detail in a minute.
Still another plus-mark for jars is that they’re generally a lot easier to get, being sold in hardware and farm stores and supermarkets all over the country, as well as online.
And of course jars show off their contents, and hence are a requisite for exhibiting your food at the fair. Jars of food must be stored in a cool, dry place that’s also dark, otherwise the contents will fade in the light.
And last, jars are re-usable as long as they have no nicks or scratches, even minute ones, and as long as you can get the proper fittings for them.
Aside from having to be special-ordered from the distributor, cans require a machine for crimping their lids onto the sides to form a perfect seal. Also, certain foods need cans with special enameled linings.
Cans are not re-usable.
But cans of food require only dry, cool storage—not darkness, since the contents are not exposed to light. And cans stack easily. Further, when they’re piping hot from the processing kettle they don’t need to be handled so gingerly as glass does. (It’s a mistake to be rough with them, though: a dented rim can mean a damaged seal.)
The Types of Jars for Home-Canning
The jars recommended for use to North American householders are all alike in three highly important respects:
First, the jars are manufactured specifically for canning food AT HOME. Generally speaking, this means that they are designed to withstand more cavalier treatment during filling, processing, and storage than their commercial counterparts undergo at the hands of industrial processors and shippers.
North America’s largest makers of home-canning jars—which means in Canada and the U.S.—have told PFB that, though they also make commercial glass containers, their jars for salad dressing or whatever are “one-trip” containers, and therefore are not reliable for re-use in canning food at home.
Second, the canning jars come in ½-pint, 1-pint, 1½-pint, 1-quart, and ½gallon sizes; of these, the ½-gallon does not have a wide-mouth version.
PFB does not give instructions for processing ½-gallons, either for the B–W Bath or the Pressure Canner Reason: dense and/or low-acid foods do not heat thoroughly enough in these out-size containers to be safe. With looser and strong-acid foods, the outside would be cooked to death before the center was dealt with. Half-gallons are too tall for virtually all canners anyway.
Unless specified otherwise, ½-pints are processed like 1-pint jars, and 1½-pint jars are processed like 1-quart jars.
Third, the jars have types of closures (described below) for which fresh sealers are available at the start of each canning season. And our filling/processing /sealing instructions take these closures into account.
Modern Mason with Two-Piece Screwband Metal Lid
“Mason” goes back to the name of the originator of the screwtop canning jar, and denotes any jar with a neck threaded to take a closure that is screwed down. Today’s modern mason is the highly refined home-canning jar being produced in the millions each year by manufacturers in the United States and Canada.
The jar mostly has standard and wide-mouth openings, and, depending on the maker, has a variety of shapes and sizes. The straight-sided and wide-mouth jars are especially handy for large pieces of food that you’d like to remove more or less intact.
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