Lids

[Jolly]

This year, canning jars and lids have been in short supply. Ball and other manufacturers state their lids are single use only. That's lawyer-proofing.

As one lady wrote...

*remove the flimsy lids carefully and they are not dented and still have a lot of the gasket material in them they can be revitalized. simmer them in a pan with 3 cups of water and a heaping tablespoon of baking soda, for a minimum of 5 minutes, do not boil, just a gentle simmer. pull from the water and put on jars immediately. dump water and redo for the next batch. I found this in a 1964 Mennonite cookbook. it does soften the gasket stuff and allows you to reuse the lids a couple of times.

baking soda is a lot cheaper than new lids. I get about 3 uses of the lids doing this. both water bath and pressure canning. the failure rate is the same as new lids.*

I think there is stretching it. I do think you can probably get another use out of most, while maintaining a low failure to deal rate.

[jon-nyc]

[Jolly]

@jon-nyc said in Lids:

Actually you can do that. Best way is with a pressure cooker and a vacuum pump, but you can use a brake bleeder...