Balls.

[British Red]

For those who are into canning (or who want to start), Lakeland are now doing a range of Balls Mason (canning) jars, canning tools and even the Balls Blue Book containing recipes and instructions.


http://www.lakeland.co.uk/brands/ball


Good to see this stuff in a mainstream store.

 

[Jared]

Excuse my ignorance but is there an advantage of these over IKEA's Korken jars?

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/?query=korken+jar

 

[santaman2000]

Excuse my ignorance but is there an advantage of these over IKEA's Korken jars?

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/?query=korken+jar

Those are storage jars (uncooked rice, flour, coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc.) not canning jars.

 

[British Red]

Actually that's a US misconception. Spring clip jars are absolutely fine for both water bath and pressure canning. Indeed the quality manufacturers such as Le Parfait give instructions on doing it

http://www.leparfait.com/how-to-make-your-own-preserves

That said I suspect the Ikea jars are cheap and cheerful so I don't know if they would stand up to pressure canning. I would certainly replace the seals.

 

[cranmere]

I'm wary of some of the spring clip jars that are currently on sale, they are very fashionable for storage but I wouldn't trust them for preserving.

 

[British Red]

Very true cranmere. Le Parfait, Killer and Ravenhead are fine. I'm not sure I would trust Tesco or Ikea.

 

[Toddy]

I bought some Kilner ones in Sainsbury's yesterday, and they say that they can be used for fruit preserving (canning). I'm going to use them for peaches, so we'll find out

Thanks for the heads up BR. I fancy the book, and there's a store in Glasgow too

M

 

[Laurentius]

I'm wary of some of the spring clip jars that are currently on sale, they are very fashionable for storage but I wouldn't trust them for preserving.

I use them for pickling, it is not the same as canning as it is the acid that does the preserving. I have not succumbed to food poisoning yet. The seals are meant to be replacable, you use a new seal each time you use the jar, and if you are worried about the seal after you have opened the jar you can keep the contents in the fridge.

I would be a bit more wary about canning perhaps but I don't have a suitable pressure canner so I make pickles instead or use the jars to store dried goods like pulses, pasta and herbs.

 

[David LaFerney]

Here in the US the main advantage is that mason jars are cheap and readily available in any grocery store. $9-10 retail for a dozen quarts and just a few cents for replacement lids. Also despite several different brands the lids and rings are completely interchangable. And the technology is tried and true - the seal will hold for many years.

 

[Toddy]

Well, as a comparison, I paid £2.75 each for the jars I bought yesterday, and they'll only hold a third of a litre.
To buy a pack of 12 of the replacement metal disc lid liners (not the screw bands) is £4.
No idea what that works out at in dollars, but it's not a cost conscious way to preserve fruits, etc.

M

 

[santaman2000]

Well, as a comparison, I paid £2.75 each for the jars I bought yesterday, and they'll only hold a third of a litre.
To buy a pack of 12 of the replacement metal disc lid liners (not the screw bands) is £4.
No idea what that works out at in dollars, but it's not a cost conscious way to preserve fruits, etc.

M

That would be $6.21 currently. Much more expensive than we pay. From $13 to $21 for 8 dozen on Amazon

[h=2]Ball Regular Mouth Size Canning or Mason Jar Lids, 8 dozen or 96 lids total[/h]by Ball

$21.00$29.80

More Buying Choices
$13.50new(4 offers)

 

[Toddy]

It's very much cheaper for us to buy commercially produced jars of fruits, soups and so on.
The 700ml jar of cherries I bought last week cost me 89p. The fresh cherries are nearly £6 a kg. I can pick my own, but the jars cost over a couple of pounds each too, and though those are reuseable the seals aren't and cost 40p a time (because I do a lot of this I know when to look for the sales, so I don't normally pay that for mine, but that is the usual price) add in sugar (cheap just now at 70p kg) and the heating and it all adds up.

Jam making's not so expensive and a lot of people do that, and a fair number make wines too. Freezing is commonplace, and since power cuts are very, very, rare, generally secure. Pickling is pretty straightforward, and again fairly common.

American quarts are smaller than UK ones, but pretty close to a Litre in size. 3 kilner 1lt jars cost £8.99.

M

 

[British Red]

Easy enough to bring a few hundred replacement Mason lids in from the US Mary. Happy to sort you out a load when you need some at much less than £4 a box which is robbery!

The relative price of Mason jars in the UK is a total rip off though. One day I will import a forty foot container of them and be done with it.

 

[David LaFerney]

Are there member owned co-ops in Great Britain?

 

[British Red]

There are indeed.

 

[Toddy]

….but they don't do Kilner jars these days

Thanks BR but I hit the sales at Dunelm at Easter and they were selling off all the packs of Christmas designed caps, for under a pound so all my jars are looking a wee tad festive but the stuff inside's no' bothering

M

 

[TarHeelBrit]

David is correct. Our local grocery store in Raleigh (Harris Teeter) had a pallet by the front door loaded high with boxes of a dozen quart jars for the princely sum of $4.99. Do you think purchasing bought too many?

 

[Toddy]

That works out cheaper than we pay for the inner seals, let alone for the complete jar.

Actually, social historian hat on here, two world wars and the British were actively discouraged from 'hoarding food', it was considered unpatriotic and very much agin we're all in it together mentality of an island nation with uncertain imports. Extra food was certainly prepared in season, but was taken to a central collecting place (Women's Institute very involved in this) and not kept at home. We are a very industrialised society, the first truly urbanised nation, and it's slowly taking it's time to find a balance again.
It's cheaper here to buy food than it is to grow it and preserve it. If families have no experience or history of such activities as those we discuss here, then it's a real effort to find out how, to acquire not only the equipment (which as already discussed is expensive, though it becomes good value over time) but the produce to preserve too. Few homes have gardens big enough to grow a lot, and most allotment societies have waiting lists for plots.

M

 

[British Red]

David is correct. Our local grocery store in Raleigh (Harris Teeter) had a pallet by the front door loaded high with boxes of a dozen quart jars for the princely sum of $4.99. Do you think purchasing bought too many?

Damn my friend, could you not have shipped me fifty cases?

 

[David LaFerney]

If we could we surely would. But that's a heck of a good price - I paid about $8.50 a dozen for the 400 I just filled with honey.