Canning Jars and How to Choose Them - Helen's Fuss Free Flavours

Not all canning jars are made equal. You can’t just get any jar in your house and use them to store your preserved food – you want the right one for the job. Read on and you’ll be sure to choose the right jar every time.

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The basics of canning jars

The most important thing to remember is that you need something that can withstand the preservation process. Remember that you subject the canning jars to heat, so you need a jar that can handle the stress.

To start, a canning jar should be made with tempered glass. Tempered glass can withstand heat far better than an ordinary jar, so it won’t break easily under heat or pressure during canning. Look for a canning jar with a thicker surface to be sure it will withstand the canning process.

Chunky tomato sauce preserved in attractive Mason jars and clip-top jars with rubber seals.

The canning jar you choose should be able to create a vacuum seal to prevent the food from spoiling. Different canning techniques exist, so you may need to buy a particular jar lid to create the vacuum seal. If you plan to use heat through the water bath canning method, you need a cover that seals at high temperatures.

When choosing a canning jar, make sure that there are no cracks or scratches. They may be shallow but they compromise the strength of the jar and make it more likely to break under the canning process.

Now that we’ve covered the qualities of good canning jars, let’s look at the types of canning jars.

Can you use Mason jars as canning jars?

Mason jars are mainly designed for canning and are one of the best choices for preserving food. Mason jars come in different sizes and have a particular design that can hold additional seals to create an air-tight vacuum inside the jar.

Three shelves filled with rows of Mason jars containing different preserved and pickled vegetables.

One of the nicest things about using a Mason jar is its rustic feel. If you’re looking to giving your preserves as a present, you can’t go wrong with a Mason jar as attractive packaging.

Mason jars are available with different mouth sizes to be used as canning jars. Regular-mouth Mason jars and wide-mouth Mason jars are available and easy to order online. The jars are available in different sizes so choose one to suit your recipe.

Regular mouth jars

Regular mouth jars have an opening slightly narrower than the rest of the jar. This tapered design on the top allows you to keep food below the pickling liquid. Because of the tapered design, you may have some issues putting certain fruits or vegetables inside.

Regular and small jam jars full of preserves, presented in traditional style with waxed brown paper tied around the narrow necks.

Regular mouth jars are best for pouring out foods, including jams, jellies, fruit syrups, sauces, and pie fillings. Because of the tapered design, you can pour from them without making a mess.

You can also use a regular mouth canning jar for smaller vegetables, as long as they fit the opening.

However, regular mouth jars aren’t ideal for freezing, as the tapered neck doesn’t have enough space for liquid to expand during freezing.

Wide mouth jars

Wide-mouth jars have openings that are as wide as the jar. Ideally, the top to bottom of the jar should be straight, like a drinking glass, without any unusual shapes in between.

Jars of preserved carrots in various sizes.

Because of the more generous opening, wide-mouth jars are ideal for storing large fruits and vegetables. If you’re having difficulty fitting them in regular-mouth jars, they will work better in wide-mouth jars. You should also be able to remove the contents easily when they’re ready to be eaten.

Wide-mouth jars are also ideal if you plan to freeze canned food. The wide mouth allows for enough room to expand during freezing.

Canning jars by size

Now, canning jars come in different sizes, aside from having two kinds of mouth openings. These sizes will suit different projects.

Half pint jars

With a capacity of around eight ounces, a half-pint canning jar is best used to create small quantities of jams or preserved food. A half-pint jar works best if you plan to give away some of your creations or have small batches to take with you for a picnic.

Three attractively labelled jars of dill pickles.

Pint jars

Pint jars have a capacity of 16 ounces and are suitable for trying new recipes or preserving smaller batches of food for personal consumption. Not all vegetables may fit in a pint jar due to their size.

Quart jars

Quart jars are the typical size jar for canning. They usually have larger openings than the pint or half-pint jars, and even with a tapered opening, you can easily put larger fruits and vegetables inside. You can’t go wrong with quart jars if you plan to make more significant amounts of sauces or preserves.

Half gallon jars

Half gallon jars already border on the size of the commercial jars supplied to caterers. With 64 ounces, you can use this to store kombucha, large quantities of pickles or vegetables, among other things. A half-gallon jar is best used for canning juices, such as apple juice or grape juice. Because of their size, it is hard to heat the centre of the canning jar, so you could risk inadequate preservation.

Gallon jars

Gallon jars are enormous and probably the largest containers you can use for canning. With a 128-ounce capacity, these canning jars are best used for large restaurants that need to store large amounts of ingredients for dishes, such as pickles. You might not get to do much with these jars due to their size, but they make an excellent refreshments holder to serve juices at a party.

Can you reuse glass jars for canning?

It’s tempting to reuse glass jars for canning purposes, especially glass Mason jars, which are pretty presentable. After all, we all want to try to reduce our carbon footprint.

Assorted pickles and preserves in small and medium-sized jars

However, it’s not recommended to reuse canning jars or any other commercial jars you may have accumulated from products you have consumed.

For one thing, you don’t know exactly how much pressure or stress these jars have gone through, especially those you bought or received with food already in them. However thoroughly you check these glass jars, they may not have the same durability as the day they were first used.

If your concern is the carbon footprint you make by accumulating used glass Mason jars, don’t fret. You can still reuse them for other non-canning purposes.

Conclusion

There are many options for canning jars available for home canning purposes. Be guided by the advice in the recipe when choosing.

If you cannot find canning jars based of the size specified, your next best option would be to go for something smaller, with more jars. You can’t go wrong with a smaller jar, as these will not need extra processing time. Better safe than sorry!