Why I love preserving with vacola
May 4, 2018 13:19:45 GMT 10
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Peter, ygidorp, and 1 more like this
Post by tomatoes on May 4, 2018 13:19:45 GMT 10
I use both ball mason gear and fowlers vacola, and think they’re both great for different things. I’ve notice more people seem to be using the ball mason method now though, so I thought I’d do a quick review of vacolas and comparison of the two.
1) I use the two systems for different things. If I’m putting fruit in a jar to preserve, such as pear slices or plum halves, I will almost always use the vacola. For jam or anything that will need a screw top lid, or sometimes when following specific recipes in ball mason books, I’ll use ball mason.
2) Vacola for jars of fruit is much simpler. Mostly you just rinse the jars - no sterilising or preboiling. Put the rubber rings on. Pack in the uncooked fruit - so you can chop and pack as you go; you don’t have to estimate your quantity to cook first for numbers of jars prepared. Pour over your choice of liquid - even just water, but you can use a simple syrup or fruit juice. Cap and clip the jars. Put them in the empty preserver. Now notice, that at this point NOTHING IS HOT OR STERILISED. This makes it so much easier to handle everything. Fill the preserver with cold water and turn it on. Leave for an hour (almost all jar sizes are the same time). You don’t watch for it to start boiling. You just start the time from the beginning. Then remove the jars and drain the water using the tap on the preserver (so I set it up next to my sink to start with).
3) The jars and lids are pretty easy to get second hand. I’m not sure if I’ve bought any jars new. When you find second hand jars you will often get boxes of them at once as they will be from someone who has “retired” from preserving or moved on to the next life.
4) They have good phone support in Australia. I will often phone them with a question and the person who answers the phone will usually be able to help me. If you are wondering about whether something is acidic enough, or why your fruit is floating, or anything like that, you can just ring them and ask!
5) You don’t have to search recipes for timing, quantities, etc. They do have a small book which I always check just incase my food is too low in acid (in which case it would tell you how much lemon juice or citric acid to add) but apart from that the method is pretty much the same for everything.
Why I sometimes use ball mason:
I use mason jars for jam because I want a screw top, for storing dehydrated food and other stuff because I can use the vacuum sealer with them and for jars I’m giving away because vacola jars aren’t easy to open without a special opener. In general though, vacola is so much easier when I’m just straight up bottling fruit that to me it it well worth having two different systems.
1) I use the two systems for different things. If I’m putting fruit in a jar to preserve, such as pear slices or plum halves, I will almost always use the vacola. For jam or anything that will need a screw top lid, or sometimes when following specific recipes in ball mason books, I’ll use ball mason.
2) Vacola for jars of fruit is much simpler. Mostly you just rinse the jars - no sterilising or preboiling. Put the rubber rings on. Pack in the uncooked fruit - so you can chop and pack as you go; you don’t have to estimate your quantity to cook first for numbers of jars prepared. Pour over your choice of liquid - even just water, but you can use a simple syrup or fruit juice. Cap and clip the jars. Put them in the empty preserver. Now notice, that at this point NOTHING IS HOT OR STERILISED. This makes it so much easier to handle everything. Fill the preserver with cold water and turn it on. Leave for an hour (almost all jar sizes are the same time). You don’t watch for it to start boiling. You just start the time from the beginning. Then remove the jars and drain the water using the tap on the preserver (so I set it up next to my sink to start with).
3) The jars and lids are pretty easy to get second hand. I’m not sure if I’ve bought any jars new. When you find second hand jars you will often get boxes of them at once as they will be from someone who has “retired” from preserving or moved on to the next life.
4) They have good phone support in Australia. I will often phone them with a question and the person who answers the phone will usually be able to help me. If you are wondering about whether something is acidic enough, or why your fruit is floating, or anything like that, you can just ring them and ask!
5) You don’t have to search recipes for timing, quantities, etc. They do have a small book which I always check just incase my food is too low in acid (in which case it would tell you how much lemon juice or citric acid to add) but apart from that the method is pretty much the same for everything.
Why I sometimes use ball mason:
I use mason jars for jam because I want a screw top, for storing dehydrated food and other stuff because I can use the vacuum sealer with them and for jars I’m giving away because vacola jars aren’t easy to open without a special opener. In general though, vacola is so much easier when I’m just straight up bottling fruit that to me it it well worth having two different systems.
