What did you do in the garden today?

[Below frigid]

100 plus,here for two weeks straight! Today I grabbed some ripe tomatoes and two watermelons, and some zucchini. Added ,some ventilation to the shed and equalized my batteries. Cooked a pizza and drank a btl of zin. That's all folks!

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes they are supposed to be once use, lol.
They are actually Classico tomato sauce jars, Atlas jars. I work at a Kraft/Heinz Foods dairy plant and we can buy pretty much whatever the company sells at cost, super cheap on 'food orders' every few months. I've bought many cases of them and saved the jars originally thinking I could use them for canning, but everything I've read says you can't, I'm really not convinced on this cause they seem to be just as heavy duty as Ball canning jars, and the Ball rings and lids fit on them also. IDK?
I figure they'll be just fine for cold packing cucumber pickles and such anyway. I actually just reused the original lids that came on them, they have a good amount of rubber seal, more than Ball canning lids, and they did seal just pouring boiling hot brine into them. Still refrigerated anyway.

BC, I also use those jars for all hot water bath canning. I have not used them for pressure canning, and one day, my bravery will overcome my fear of trying it. I have a friend who gave me a "tour" of her canning area. She had boxes of regular jars from the grocer. I asked her what she did with those, and she told me that she uses them for her canning. She and her mother before her had been doing so for years. She says that any jar that has a decent lid can be used for canning. And she uses the regular flat lids multiple times. As long as the white paint is not scratched or dinged, and as long as the edge that creates the seal is not dinged or warped, and the rubber looks to be in good shape, it can be re-used. She showed me a lid that had been dinged on the edge by a can opener. "This would not seal well." She then rolled the edge of the lid on a counter to smooth out the little divot. "This will seal well." The little rolling on the counter top had perfectly restored the contour of the edge. So, for the past 2 years, I've been saving my lids, and also re-purposing appropriate sized jars from the grocer. All jars have sealed well in HWB. As a matter of fact, some of those seals are BETTER than the standard lid and ring seals. And, I've noted that the "paint" liner of the grocer jar lids is much stronger than the "paint" on the canning lids.

ETA: My friend who re-uses jars and caps from grocer, and re-uses lids from regular canning jars DOES NOT PRESSURE CAN.

 

[lazy gardener]

Note, my edit on above post.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Kind of figured that I only cold pack them

 

[lazy gardener]

Made dill pickles. 8 pints. Put some extra pickling spice and red pepper flakes to zing it up a bit. Here's a ? for you picklers: What do you use for your ratio of vinegar/water, and do you prefer ACV or white vinegar? And, what's the LEAST amount of salt you can add and still get a good pickle???

Do you HWB? for how long? I have a friend who cold packs the jars, then pours in boiling brine, seals, and calls the job done. She gets good seals and no spoilage. I know this is the "old timer" method, but I'd love to hear what the rest of you do.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sent home a bag of cukes and dill with my "cold packer friend". A DIY pickle kit! Picked 3 Zucchini this morning. 2 will be grated, and one will be sliced and blanched for freezer.

Blue Lakes are almost ready for picking.

 

[lazy gardener]

Beer cold pack my salsa in their jars never had complaint or sickness they seal great

So, you sterilize jars and lids, put the boiling salsa in, and seal. Job done???

I'd love your recipe.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Yes that is how I do it use start with 1 cup of sugar in a pan brown it Dice 20 tomatoes, 6 wala wala sweet onion, 6 jalapeno a full bunch of cilantro and 2 tbls of lemon

 

[lazy gardener]

We're having a rumbler storm pass through. Rain coming down in sheets. I just talked with hubby who is about an hour SE of me. He said they got 45 minutes of good rain. So, hoping we get that much. I have spent the past several hours ripping some fencing out of a compost area where the weeds had grown up through the fencing. Plan to mow down the weeds, then turn the compost and put up a plastic fence style bin that I've had for many years.

Weeded around the seedling pear with Seckel grafted onto it. the unions are looking good. Will choose one union, and sacrifice the second next spring. Hope to use the sacrificed scion to graft an other tree. Have 2 seedling pears heeled in in the garden. But, want to also grow Bartlet.

 

[cavemanrich]

Yes they are supposed to be once use, lol.
They are actually Classico tomato sauce jars, Atlas jars. I work at a Kraft/Heinz Foods dairy plant and we can buy pretty much whatever the company sells at cost, super cheap on 'food orders' every few months. I've bought many cases of them and saved the jars originally thinking I could use them for canning, but everything I've read says you can't, I'm really not convinced on this cause they seem to be just as heavy duty as Ball canning jars, and the Ball rings and lids fit on them also. IDK?
I figure they'll be just fine for cold packing cucumber pickles and such anyway. I actually just reused the original lids that came on them, they have a good amount of rubber seal, more than Ball canning lids, and they did seal just pouring boiling hot brine into them. Still refrigerated anyway.

BC, I also use those jars for all hot water bath canning. I have not used them for pressure canning, and one day, my bravery will overcome my fear of trying it. I have a friend who gave me a "tour" of her canning area. She had boxes of regular jars from the grocer. I asked her what she did with those, and she told me that she uses them for her canning. She and her mother before her had been doing so for years. She says that any jar that has a decent lid can be used for canning. And she uses the regular flat lids multiple times. As long as the white paint is not scratched or dinged, and as long as the edge that creates the seal is not dinged or warped, and the rubber looks to be in good shape, it can be re-used. She showed me a lid that had been dinged on the edge by a can opener. "This would not seal well." She then rolled the edge of the lid on a counter to smooth out the little divot. "This will seal well." The little rolling on the counter top had perfectly restored the contour of the edge. So, for the past 2 years, I've been saving my lids, and also re-purposing appropriate sized jars from the grocer. All jars have sealed well in HWB. As a matter of fact, some of those seals are BETTER than the standard lid and ring seals. And, I've noted that the "paint" liner of the grocer jar lids is much stronger than the "paint" on the canning lids.

ETA: My friend who re-uses jars and caps from grocer, and re-uses lids from regular canning jars DOES NOT PRESSURE CAN.

I have not done canning for many years, but when I did, just like my mom, we reused jars, lids, many times. Used regular store jars, and not just Ball Mason Jars. Never used a pressure cooker, to can. Used a boiling water in a stock pot method. Only time not reused lids, was when there was a sign of rust, or obvious rubber seal damage. Jars all held up well.