Oh how I love Canning jars

I have a humongous collection of canning jars.  I'm not sure when it started but I have been collecting ever since.  NEVER-SAY-NO-TO-A-CANNING-JAR is my motto.  In my dreams I grow, produce and can enough food for all of us for a whole year - but that's just it- it's a dream at this point.  It doesn't stop me from trying though!  A friend of mine calls canning - embalming food.  That made me think for a moment or two and I suppose in some ways it's true but I decided there are certain foods I will continue to "embalm" because they don't taste very good raw - like dried beans for instance!  I am excited to try fermenting pickles when cucumber season rolls around again, trying a batch of kimchi and some more sauerkraut since fermenting is a completely different process and adds beneficial enzymes to our diet.

This week the weather wasn't so nice outside so I spent most of two days cleaning and organizing my food storage space.  I actually enjoy doing that.  As I cleaned and tidied I checked the cans for best-before dates and brought a few upstairs that we need to get to sooner than later.  I checked all my dried beans which I store in vacuum sealed canning jars for the bugs I told you about a few weeks ago - no more bugs thankfully!

Food Saver Jar attachment

coconut, lentils, yellow peas, black beans, green peas

I am still trying to figure out a system of what to do with the jars as we empty them.  My basement is old and a bit musty at times so cardboard boxes aren't the best solution for the long term. I have a few Styrofoam crates that once held grapes - those are a little easier to clean but I don't have nearly enough.  Any ideas?


I have been very fortunate to be the willing recipient of many cases of used canning jars - lots of them from my friend Downtown-Donna who seems to be a clearing house for older folks who are getting out of canning.   It took several hours to take my shelves apart and reorganize the empty jars while trying to come up with an estimated number of each kind.  I confused myself a lot.  I'm not sure I realised just how many different kinds there are...standard mouth quarts and large mouth quarts, about 5 or 6 kinds of pints (tall ones, short ones, standard and wide mouth as well), half-pints, square sided ones and several sizes that you can't safely can most foods in 1.5L and 1.9L (used for storage only) blue ones, yellow ones and green ones  - and how's that for switching between metric and imperial to confuse things even more. I think a trip to the Ball Jar Museum should be included in my next holiday!  If you're as crazy about jars as I am check out this web page:  Ball Jar Collection  My collection is teeny tiny in comparison - granted I actually use mine!

from Flickr- at the Ball Jar Museum

I have found that storing the jars up-side-down helps keep the nasties out of them. Some people mentioned they put the old lids and rings back on the jars to keep them clean but I end up confusing the new lids with the old that way. I decided to make a habit of throwing the lids out as soon as I am finished with them.  I keep the rings in a large cloth bag hanging on the basement door - that gives me one place to put them so I don't find them in every drawer in the kitchen and they can breath and air dry so they don't get rusty as quickly.

I have some of the beautiful glass topped jars with the zinc lids...which I wouldn't use for canning but I could use to store dried foods if I could find the rubber rings I need for them.  Although they were used for canning for many years it's impossible to tell if a good seal is made so I prefer the newer technology.  Without a sense of smell I need all the help I can get to make sure my food hasn't spoiled.

I also have a great supply of tall skinny pints that have the odd-sized lids that you can't get any more.  I have some creative ideas for summer projects with those - candle holder jars for the deck, growing herbs in jars in the kitchen window sill and painting jars different colours with glass paint are all added to my to-do list.  One thing I know - I CAN"T throw them out - that would go against my motto NEVER-SAY-NO-TO-A-CANNING-JAR!

Here's a great article on the history of Mason jars over the years and how some collectible ones could be worth $10000.00 - $15000.00 each!