I was wondering if anyone has ever canned food in those 5# honey jars. (we all have a million of them) The rim will accept a standard quart lid and ring, but I was concerned about processing times.

-- Harmony (harmonyfarm57@hotmail.com), January 15, 2002

Answers

Ive used all sorts of sizes for hot water baths,,(tomatoes), from pickle jars, on up to honey jars. I wouldnt use then in a pressure canner,, the side walls are thinner than canning jars,, so they may not hold up.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 15, 2002.

I think you'd be fine in water bath. I have not used them but know many who have canned in them.

-- DW (djwallace@sotc.net), January 15, 2002.

My grandmother canned in any kind of jar she could get.... mayonnaise, pickle, relish, ect...BUT she saved her mason jars for the pressure canner...I definetly wouldnt put a recycled jar in the pressure canner.... She canned meats and beautiful green beans ( won blue ribbon for green beans 16 years straight.). so she used her best mason's for that....

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), January 15, 2002.

Never use anything but canning jars in a pressure canner. Some people use the mayo and honey jars in a water bath but if they break as you are taking them out a quart of boiling goo is really dangerous. Any time you are working with hot liquid be careful.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), January 15, 2002.

Harmony, do you have honeybees? I use a lot of honey and am always looking for rurally produced honey, I could use that size every month! I get very bored with "clover honey" and prefer wildflower or darker type honey.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 17, 2002.

I have canned for 25 plus years in water bath and pressure with any kind of jar that would accept a canning lid, and I have broken very few jars ever (and those mostly in a water bath). I use canners that process at 15# pressure with shorter processing times (Mirro and Presto--recognized brands). I currently use the 5# honey jars primarily for soup--a quart is not enough, and a half gallon is too much for my family. My old original canning book doesn't give specific times for half gallons; it says to process foods 20 % longer than food in quarts. Anyway, I'd use them for whatever, and use either processing method suitable for the feed you're canning. By the way, the last two jars I broke was 4 years ago, and they were both wide mouth NEW Ball jars. I have noticed that the newer mayo jars with plastic lids no longer fit canning lids. I mark them with an x and use as cannisters or other storage. Happy canning!

-- Denyelle Stroup (dedestroup@hotmail.com), January 17, 2002.

some of the newer mayo jars don't seal 'cause the screw area is not as tall. if the band screws on but you can get your thumbnail between the flat and the band, use an old canning lid on top of a new one. if the old one seals to the new, leave it alone, it will eventually come loose. I, too, have lost more jars to water baths than to pressure canners. and more canning jars have broken than scrounged ones. my experience only.

-- carol (kanogisdi@yahoo.com), January 17, 2002.

This began with honey jars and went to pints mayo jars. I've been canning with the 5# honey jars for about 15 years. Nice "tweeners" between quart and half-gallon. Haven't lost a one but they are only used for tomatoes in hot bath method. But I keep reading about not using mayo pints in a pressure canner. In other responses I have mentioned having jars crash but they've always been "normal" canning jars; Ball or Kerr. 60 years ago, you could play kick football with a canning jar and you'd never break it in a month. Mayo jars were as thin then as they are now. Old jars were indeed heavier. Now I'd like any canning friend who has standard mayo pints to go out and buy a new box of Kerr or Ball jars. Use a reliable scale and weigh the 2. Most old pints weighed between 10 and 11 ounces. Mayo jars seem to have always remained as just under 9 ounces. Weigh a new Kerr pint and it happens to come in at just a hair under 9 ounces! BINGO! May have to dig way back in time to find where exactly the info about not using mayo jars began but when there was almost a 2 ounce difference, I'll bet that it was one of the canning jar producers. Now Kerr and Ball, Alltrista monopoly, have quietly reduced the amount of glass in their jars to the same as the mayo jars. When we have a lot of old tough buck meat to can, we just bring up a box of pints and pack from whatever is in the box; old blues, old and new regulars, and mayo jars. Into the pressure canner with no dire results to date but we've only been canning venison for 15 years! "Who dares, wins!"

Marty

-- Martin Longseth (paquebot@merr.com), January 18, 2002.