Larger canning jars

Have you/your readers noticed that the new canning jars are larger? I had to purchase new quart jars, Mason brand, and 7 jars would not fit in my pressure or water bath canner. I measured and they are almost 1/2 inch wider around than my older jars! YIKES! I need to go yard selling to get more jars.

Marcia Lambert
Clay City, Indiana

I haven’t bought new jars this year. Have any more of you folks out there noticed this? — Jackie

Canning tomato sauce

I canned your Tomato sauce recipe from your canning book page 83 with recommended spice which taste great. But in the process I forgot the lemon juice. Do I need to open the jars and reprocess or just use those up first? If it makes a difference with acidity I grow my own Amish paste.

Julie Marsh
Kingsville, Missouri

Well Julie, here we get into the gray area of canning. Experts regard pH levels of 4.6 or below to be high acid foods, including most tomatoes. A pH of 4.7 or above is considered low acid and you really need to add an acidifier such as citric acid, lemon juice, or vinegar to tomato recipes to be sure of safety. The “average” pH of Amish paste tomatoes is classified at 4.68, which should be safe for water bath processing. Then again, the pH of tomatoes can be affected by such things as growing conditions, weather, and ripeness (less ripe are lower in pH). Generations of folks have canned Amish paste tomatoes using the water bath method with no problems. BUT to be absolutely sure of safety, you can dump your jars into a kettle, reheat it to boiling, then ladle it into jars and add the lemon juice. Use new lids and re-process in a boiling water bath for the same time as if you were making fresh sauce (pints 35 min, quarts 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure). — Jackie

7 COMMENTS

  1. Yes, I had the same problem with Golden Harvest jars. I bought 3 cases on sale at Big Lots several years ago, and I’m so glad I didn’t get more. Now I try to use them for items I know I’m going to give away. ;-)

    I also had a lot of seal failures with the lids that came with those jars. I think 3 out of 12 failed on each case. I think I’ve had total of 3 failures EVER outside of those lids! Some failed right away, some failed weeks/months later. I used the sealed jars of food first once we noticed them failing and made sure there was still a tight seal when we opened them.

  3. Last year I purchased a box of regular mouth jars, Walmart brand. They would not fit in either of my pressure canners, nor steamer canner, unless they are mixed in with other jars. Too wide at the sides…and made in China too :(

    I will never buy them again.

  4. I have noticed that the Walmart brand of jars are a little bigger, but I only use them for honey and maple syrup. I may have to stick a few of them in the canner and see how they fit.

  6. We had to break down and buy more jars this year. We bought the economical brand from Jarden Home Brands commonly known as Golden Harvest Jars. These are wider than Ball Jars (also made by Jarden Home Brands) and will not fit 7 quarts into a canner. Its a struggle for sure that I noticed this year. It also seems that they hold more. In my pressure canner, All-American 930, I can only do 12 quarts at a time instead of 14.

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