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They don’t re-seal. You can use them for dry goods storage or freezer jam, but if you need a seal for room temperature storage or cellar storage, they’re no goo
by BooneJS 6y ago
They don’t re-seal. You can use them for dry goods storage or freezer jam, but if you need a seal for room temperature storage or cellar storage, they’re no good anymore.
- Scoundreller 6y agoNobody has DIY’d a layer of something that you could apply as a thin liquid layer that would seal up at boiling temperatures?
- BooneJS 6y agoNot that I know of. The lids have been so cheap that no one cared.
- wolco2 6y agoAnd the high cost of wasting jam makes local experimenting unwise.
- dragontamer 6y agoAnd if you mess this up, food poisoning can blind and/or kill you. Food sitting around at room temperature for 6 months or 2 years is not really a process you want to be experimenting with... I guess the cans have the "clicky click" to ensure safety. But this is actually life-or-death: you don't want to mess this up at any step of the process.
- jrmg 6y agoUntil recently (in the ‘humans making jam’ scheme of things, at least) melted paraffin wax was commonly used for this. It’s now considered unsafe.
- Scoundreller 6y agoAh, i didn’t mean as a food-covering layer, but applying a ring around the jar-lid mating surface. We’re just making a gasket here, no?
- oh_sigh 6y agoJust a gasket, but you need to be really confident it maintains its sealant properties for years, or else you get botulism and die when you eat your jam
- danielodievich 6y agoVery true. Years ago I tried canning italian plums. I didn't think anyone else in my househoold will like them, so I decided to experiment. I thought I'd try for a light syrup so I used 1/3 of the sugar - some recipes in the 1939 Kerr canning cookbook that I have called for that, with paraffin on top. Plus, I decided to reuse some of the previously used lids, being too cheap that specific year. They turned out beautiful to look at and went into my pantry Well, about a month later, I was awoken in the middle of the night by explosion from downstairs. 2 jars exploded, most of those jars were fermenting, some had really nasty organic growth scum on it, and the cleanup was quite terrible. I think it was the lack of sugar, not the lids, but lid reuse didn't help. Key takeaway - always use the right amount of sugar (1:1, even if it seems like you're pouring white death on), and never reuse lids.
- jelliclesfarm 6y agoI ferment garlic cloves in honey. You have to ‘burp’ them. Ditto with kimchi. Also..this is why I always preserve fruit in alcohol. Why not?
- dragontamer 6y ago> botulism Botulism actually dies when in contact with oxygen. So you can only die to Botulism if you properly seal a can. Actually... you don't die to Botulism, but to Botulism's toxins. As soon as you open a can, Botulism dies. The leftover toxins however will kill you. ----------- You seal a can to protect it from all other infectious diseases: E. Coli, Black Mold, etc. etc. This stuff can kill you as well. ------- "Normal" diseases die at boiling temperatures. So when you boil a can, its sufficient to kill off E. Coli, Black Mold, etc. etc. However, Botulism dies at higher temperatures... you need a pressure canner to raise the boiling point above 212F (!!!) to kill Botulism spores. So the high-temperature is to kill Botulism. The sealing is to then keep all other diseases out after you've decontaminated the food.
- deftnerd 6y agoI usually freeze my jam into large blocks using tupperware and then transfer them into vacuum sealing bags. After sucking the air out, I let them defrost and then they stack nicely as flat packs of jam, ready to be cut open. No glass to break, no worry about not getting all of the air out, and easy to inspect from all sides to see if anything has started growing in there. Also works well for other "liquidy" things people usually put into jars.
- jrmg 6y agoHave you tried it? We have some we’ve been reusing for years for jam and chutney making and they always reseal.