Oh, the possibilities! An old friend was cleaning out things of her mothers

Oh how fun!!! Take a look at Maria's post above for some immediate ideas! Then

you can be adventurous, and let me know how it works, because I have not tried, pickling! (What a nice friend) She knew you would enjoy and appreciate them!

 
I've done pickled peppers, pickled spring onions, red pepper relish, chow chow, fig jam,

peach jam, etc. in the last couple of weeks. My problem was I had more ideas than I could afford jars for:).

 
New jars or used jars? I stopped reusing jars after I had a few blow-out during the waterbath. It

didn't happen with every jar but when folks remove the contents (usually some kind of preserves) they tend to scrape the bottom of the jar with something metal like a spoon or knife.

The scraping creates micro-scratches which effectively score the base of the jar. Under the pressure of a water bath, the scoring can cause the base to separate from the body, emptying the jar's contents into your pot.

Not only do you lose a jar but the mess is a pain to clean. You also have to wipe off and clean all the other jars which, because directions usually call for the jars to be allowed to sit over-night, can be counter productive.

After losing 3 jars out of a 12 jar batch I decided it was more than I was willing to risk. These days, I only use brand-new jars and lids.

 
Old, but I've reused jars for years with no problem. I'll examine them all carefully before I use

them. I can't afford not to try.

 
Very impressive!!! I did not realize that you canned that much! I am still very much learning...

 
Yay! And I thought I scored when I found jars on sale at Orchard Supply today.

$8 for little 1/2 pint and a buck or so more for a case of the 8oz. Both Ball brand.

I did a bit of recon locally on jars today.

Costco = none

Walmart (we got a Walmart and went for the 1st time) = only had quart size (Kerr)

Smart and Final = best overall prices (Kerr) at 8 something for non quilted 8oz, but I wanted the little guys

Orchard had the sale items above, the little guys are the quilted ones. I'd really like the platinum style but those weren't on sale and lots more moola. smileys/frown.gif

 
Same with me. Seems that I have only lost maybe three jars over quite a few years of canning. . .

One was due to thermal shock, as I place a hot-from-the-canner jar into a cold cake pan (stupid I know!) and the second was while canning apricots (it broke in the pot while processing) and third was while pressure canning some beans, I think.

 
Dang, this IS a good price for jars. . . we cannot seem to to find the 4 oz down here. . .

Smart and Final does have the best price in town, literally, around here!

Sadly, our OSH shut down earlier this year. . . .

 
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