Tim Horton
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Post by Tim Horton on Feb 14, 2021 4:39:22 GMT 10
I know there is a ton of info about canning jars here.. Mostly in bits and pieces in other subjects.. So with a little new knowledge I though I would try to create a dedicated pigeon hole for the subject.....
Anyway.... I recently learned about the NZ brand of canning jars called PERFIT... And wondering if the large mouth and small size rings and lids are the same as North American Ball, Mason, Bernardin..?? ??
Is PERFIT a common item in OZ ?? I believe the Weck brand, style jar is used extensively there ?? Weck being a German product ??
It seems the PERFIT brand is in as short supply as any other brand canning products.. I presume that goes for the Weck brand as well ??
Here in Canada we have, on a limited basis, a jar size called a JEM... It is a size ring and lid in-between Ball, Mason large mouth and standard.. Sweetie has a huge collection of jars, and accordingly a proportional part of that is JEM size jars... She has been lucky to be able to find lids and rings to make this brand useable in her many canning projects.. - - - - - Anyone with personal, side by side, experience of the PERFIT and North American size lids and rings ??
Facts, details, experiences, thoughts ?? ??
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Feb 14, 2021 6:47:20 GMT 10
We are dehydrating food in a home dehydrator, it takes up less room when done. Then put into glass screw top jars for a week or so to make sure it is really dry and no nasty's form, then we vacuum seal in plastic bags. The best food to dehydrate is also one of the cheapest, namely frozen foods. They have already been freeze dried and dehydrate well in one day. As we totally off grid on solar, the power bill is insignificant. Every days dehydrating gives another days supply of food.
I'm in shape, round is a shape isn't it ?
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Post by spinifex on Feb 14, 2021 9:05:21 GMT 10
I know there is a ton of info about canning jars here.. Mostly in bits and pieces in other subjects.. So with a little new knowledge I though I would try to create a dedicated pigeon hole for the subject..... Anyway.... I recently learned about the NZ brand of canning jars called PERFIT... And wondering if the large mouth and small size rings and lids are the same as North American Ball, Mason, Bernardin..?? ?? Is PERFIT a common item in OZ ?? I believe the Weck brand, style jar is used extensively there ?? Weck being a German product ?? It seems the PERFIT brand is in as short supply as any other brand canning products.. I presume that goes for the Weck brand as well ?? Here in Canada we have, on a limited basis, a jar size called a JEM... It is a size ring and lid in-between Ball, Mason large mouth and standard.. Sweetie has a huge collection of jars, and accordingly a proportional part of that is JEM size jars... She has been lucky to be able to find lids and rings to make this brand useable in her many canning projects.. - - - - - Anyone with personal, side by side, experience of the PERFIT and North American size lids and rings ?? Facts, details, experiences, thoughts ?? ?? All my people use Vacola. Or ... recycled screwtop jars (as seen on supermarket shelves) for short term use.
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Post by Stealth on Feb 14, 2021 9:14:45 GMT 10
Apparently Ballmason in Australia have shut down their purchasing from China. They were purchasing from them as well as Europe and the USA but they don't want ties to communist China anymore and despite the fact that it will impact on their business model pretty heavily, they're cutting them off. So they've already shut down online purchasing and don't expect to have a lot of stock past mid-21 because America is having supply issues as well. Frankly, I hope to see an Australian company jump on the gap in the market but that remains to be seen.
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peter1942
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Post by peter1942 on Feb 14, 2021 10:26:42 GMT 10
For more than 20 years we have used twist top jars for all our preserving, juicing and jam making needs. These are the same jars and bottles you see on the supermarket shelves. We have friends and groups who give them to us so they cost us nothing and we get new lids from a Melbourne based company. We also have several friends who use them so when we purchase lids in bulk we always have an outlet for the extra quantities we purchase.
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Feb 14, 2021 12:01:40 GMT 10
For more than 20 years we have used twist top jars for all our preserving, juicing and jam making needs. These are the same jars and bottles you see on the supermarket shelves. We have friends and groups who give them to us so they cost us nothing and we get new lids from a Melbourne based company. We also have several friends who use them so when we purchase lids in bulk we always have an outlet for the extra quantities we purchase. peter1942 from Ausurv days! Mate only just realised! Good onya bloke your advice is always solid gold from my POV !!
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Feb 14, 2021 12:11:15 GMT 10
We also use twist top jam jars etc to put the food that weve dried in the dehydrator in. After a week or so, if its properly dry, and no mold has grown, we then vacuum seal the dried food in bags and store it. The dehydrator doesn't use a lot of power, about 300 watts for 12 hrs. a day, and we buy the cheap frozen vegies from Aldies, which are freeze dried to start off with.
All reality is aspect dependant.
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Tim Horton
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Post by Tim Horton on Feb 14, 2021 13:50:35 GMT 10
Fowler Vacola...... That is the name of the type jar I have struggled to come up with...
...... This shows the difference well... I have been curious of the procedure to use the Fowler jar..
- - - - - - Now when you mention using "screw top" jars it seems mostly like reusing grocery store jars ?? ??
Is this quarter turn, interrupted thread jars ?? ?? Can you get new replacement lids in the proper sizes for this type jar ?? ??
This is why I want a vacuum chamber of some kind to reuse grocery, quarter turn lid jars more ways than just for secure storage..
More info ?? ??
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Post by spinifex on Feb 14, 2021 14:48:30 GMT 10
My Vacola jars and lids were purchased by my grandparents in the 60's. The golden advice with them is to use the Vacola tool to remove the lids.
Plenty of items will remove the lids ... but they run a high risk of causing little nicks and scores in the metal of the lids which can stop the lids being sealed properly afterwards.
anything will seal if bottled hot, with a good initial seal - ie flat surfaces on jar rim and no dings or scractches in the lids. As the contents cool and contract in volume they generate vacuum inside which really sucks the lids on good and tight. Thats how the fowler system works. No threads ... just rubber o-ring and a lid which sits snugly but loosely over the seal. As the contents cool and reduce in volume the suction on the lid becomes phenomenal. Think of it as a tubeless tyre in reverse!
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dirtdiva
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Post by dirtdiva on Feb 16, 2021 1:11:16 GMT 10
Here in the US you see mostly Ball/Mason jars with a 2 piece lid system consisting of a flat lid and a threaded ring. I have an extensive collection numbering about 1400 ranging from half pint to gallon jars and many of my jars dating back to my own mother and grandmother. There now is a shortage of lids in the US and I rarely see them available right now. Not sure if they will be again available in the spring or continue to be short. There are 2 companies that I am aware of now offering reusable lids which is a 3 piece lids system consisting of a flat, rubber gasket and designed to be used with a threaded Ball ring.
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Post by Stealth on Feb 16, 2021 6:06:25 GMT 10
Here in the US you see mostly Ball/Mason jars with a 2 piece lid system consisting of a flat lid and a threaded ring. I have an extensive collection numbering about 1400 ranging from half pint to gallon jars and many of my jars dating back to my own mother and grandmother. There now is a shortage of lids in the US and I rarely see them available right now. Not sure if they will be again available in the spring or continue to be short. There are 2 companies that I am aware of now offering reusable lids which is a 3 piece lids system consisting of a flat, rubber gasket and designed to be used with a threaded Ball ring. Lids etc. are very hard to get here at the moment. Most of the sites that I would normally order from are entirely out of stock and have no eta for restock. I'm guessing the US get their replacements first and then we get any that are left over... Only there's none left over! We can still get heritage jars in full sets, but the plain uncoloured versions are generally out of stock and replacement lids alone are hard to come across. So much so that I've considered changing to Wek jars as they're less well known here.
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tomatoes
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Post by tomatoes on Feb 16, 2021 14:31:38 GMT 10
I use a combination of ball mason and vacola jars. I use to use recycled store jars but I like the extra level of safety in they way ball mason and vacola seal and also if I put in work preserving I want to reduce any risks to the lowest possible.
I love vacola jars for using with the whole vacola system. If something can be preserved well that way, it is my first choice - quicker and easier than the methods in the “blue book”. Any plainish preserved fruit - vacola. It’s the simplest method.
Jams and some other things I do with ball mason and a water bath in a big pot. Vacola jars would be inconvenient for jam and also as jam is bottled hot it is quicker.
Also love ball mason for vacuum sealing dry goods in.
I’ve used weck and had a few but I got rid of them. They are beautiful and I like them just for frig storage of stuff but I made the decision that I didn’t need them for a few reasons: *i already have two jar types plus empty pasta jars etc (used for storing stuff in the frig and pantry) *I tried preserving using water bath (ball mason method) and they are the ONLY jars that I’ve ever had failure to seal with *weck jars have a higher level of lead than ball mason. I don’t know the lead level of vacola. *the new weck preserving book has methods that are outdated and are now known to be unsafe. This turned me off the brand.
I haven’t heard of the New Zealand jars. Interested to know about them.
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dirtdiva
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Post by dirtdiva on Feb 17, 2021 2:10:20 GMT 10
I use a combination of ball mason and vacola jars. I use to use recycled store jars but I like the extra level of safety in they way ball mason and vacola seal and also if I put in work preserving I want to reduce any risks to the lowest possible. I love vacola jars for using with the whole vacola system. If something can be preserved well that way, it is my first choice - quicker and easier than the methods in the “blue book”. Any plainish preserved fruit - vacola. It’s the simplest method. Jams and some other things I do with ball mason and a water bath in a big pot. Vacola jars would be inconvenient for jam and also as jam is bottled hot it is quicker. Also love ball mason for vacuum sealing dry goods in. I’ve used weck and had a few but I got rid of them. They are beautiful and I like them just for frig storage of stuff but I made the decision that I didn’t need them for a few reasons: *i already have two jar types plus empty pasta jars etc (used for storing stuff in the frig and pantry) *I tried preserving using water bath (ball mason method) and they are the ONLY jars that I’ve ever had failure to seal with *weck jars have a higher level of lead than ball mason. I don’t know the lead level of vacola. *the new weck preserving book has methods that are outdated and are now known to be unsafe. This turned me off the brand. I haven’t heard of the New Zealand jars. Interested to know about them. Tomatoes I am curious on the difference in price of the different jars? A dozen pint jars run about $9 here right now when you can find them. Wide mouth quarts run about $12. Lids run about $3.50 for small mouth and $4.50 for wide mouth when they are available at all. Of course there are always price gougers out there marking them up much more.
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Tim Horton
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Post by Tim Horton on Feb 17, 2021 5:47:03 GMT 10
There are 2 companies that I am aware of now offering reusable lids which is a 3 piece lids system consisting of a flat, rubber gasket and designed to be used with a threaded Ball ring. +++ We use a lot of "reusable" lids and rings.. Here in North America that will be the Tattler lid system... When the inventor of Tattler sold and the no competition clause ended his grandson (?) brought the product out again as Harvest Guard brand....
When Tattler first came out, Sweetie made a significant purchase of the product.. An amount that would be more than a lifetime supply for most canners.. Enough at the time they even gave her free shipping.. That a BIG bonus here in the far north.. Last year I got her an order of Harvest Guard lids (red) and rings to compare side by side with the Tattler (white) systems.. She says they are identical in use procedure and success rate..
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raptor
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Post by raptor on Feb 17, 2021 20:53:46 GMT 10
I do the proper pressure canning of meat, stews and I also pressure can all my tomato products. I own a Presto pressure canner and I have a large pot that I do bottling in.
I bottle jams, relishes and the like.
I had a hell of a time getting pressure canning lids. The price of lids jumped by a third and then wasn't even listed on my supplier's site anymore. My canning jar supplier hasn't had pint jars for over 9 months. I'm a single person and so pints and half pints are perfect for me. My kitchen economy demands that I put up over 100 pints of passata and then a top up of stewed diced tomatoes, chillies, beef stew, chicken in various forms. Last tomato growing season broke my heart and I had a complete bust. An Italian having to ration tomato products...I don't think there is a more miserable creature on the planet.
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