Posted: 4/22/2007 8:31:37 PM EDT
| Lets say in an extended SHFT/Disaster senario you go through your stockpile of lids and rings. I know you aren't supposed to be able to reuse lids. How would you can food to preserve it? Use parafin canning wax? How well does a wax plug in a can instead of a lid and ring hold up to pressure canning? |
I don't think there's anything intrinsically "wrong" with re-using lids if they're in good shape. It will increase your seal failure rate though......and the really annoying seal failures are the ones that occur after you've stored your goods. |
I'm not gonna give that a try, so I'm just speculating here..... In the first minute at canning temperature, the wax will melt and form a nice smooth layer over your food. Then once the food starts to boil in the jars, the boiling action will disrupt your wax layer and start distributing it throughout the jar.....at the end of the processing, you'll have a messy pressure cooker and a bunch of unsealed jars with wax-flavored 
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I'm not gonna give that a try, so I'm just speculating here..... In the first minute at canning temperature, the wax will melt and form a nice smooth layer over your food. Then once the food starts to boil in the jars, the boiling action will disrupt your wax layer and start distributing it throughout the jar.....at the end of the processing, you'll have a messy pressure cooker and a bunch of unsealed jars with wax-flavored [/quoteThat is what I was thinking would happen. Just brainstorming on how to make the most out of what you have and store. |
| Ok, now that we have the wax issure cleared up, what would you do if during an extended scenario, you ran out of lids (we already know you can occasionally reuse then, but let's say you can't) is there a way you can make new seals? What about food grade silicone or something? |
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No help on re-using lids, but I can help establish a baseline. Out of about 100 quart jars full of tomatoes my mom canned, using new lids, evenly distributed from 1990 through 2003, I have two failures to seal. Can't decide whether to toss them, or save them for my bio-weapon precursors. :-) |
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In olden days before wax(bronze?) they would fill jars with fruit, then cover with olive oil. It would act like a barrier like the wax. Reuse?? I would recommend bail jars. The glass top on a hinge with the reusable rubber gasket. Not good for longer storage of food because you cannot pressure seal like mason jars, but good for short time storage of many items(fruit-vegi). I have a hald dozen jars and wish I could afford more. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bail+jar There are even cook books on bail jar canning. I have one. Lots of chutney, and mince, and fruit mixtures in it. The local count ag. extension officer speaks against them, but generations used them so just be hygenic, and they should work for what they're good at. |
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I stock pile lids and rings just like I do ammo. never have to much. Keep them in a plastic tote and you are good to go. Buy them during the winter months, I usually find them at Wally world marked down. I guess there are other ways to seal the jars but in my fifty some years I have never heard of another method except for the wax sealing of fruit and jellies. |
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My mother would sometimes reuse lids. What she did was get all her new lids on and sealed. Then take the screw ring off of the new lids after the jars cooled and sealed. Then she put them on the used lids. Then she used the old lids and rings, and when they were starting to cool and seal, she turned them upside down and dipped the lids and rings in wax. It worked well, it is just that a used lid would sometimes loose its seal over time. That is why she dipped the things in wax. You have to dip them while they are hot, so they can create a vacuum in the jar as they cool. Then when we opened a jar, we put the wax into a coffee can and reused it as well. We always used wax for jelly. I would never use any type of silcone based caulk. That crap never seals anything for long. Silcone makes a much better lube than a sealer. |