Reusing pickle and preserve jars

11 years ago

I saw a very old thread on this from 2008, but I wanted to bring this back up. My entire family (grandmothers on down) has always reused the pickle and preserve jars with one caveat; they only used them for "spoon in" things, like relishes and preserves, they sealed them with wax and never use them for anything that isn't going to be eaten within a few months.

So the other day I found an old box of jars in the garage, and inside was one jar of preserves that had somehow never gotten put into the pantry. It was marked 2008. It was canned in an old Mt. Olive pickle jar, sealed with wax. I opened it, the wax was intact. The preserves were not discolored, and they smelled like freshly canned preserves.

Am I going to eat them? Not on your life, but the point is, if they could stay that good for that long, I see no harm in reusing jars for something you're going to eat very quickly, especially if it's something that doesn't take long boiling processing, like relishes or preserves.

I know a lot will say "better safe than sorry," but no one in my family ever died of food poisoning eating the things my grandmother or mother canned this way. In this disposable world, isn't it best to find a way to reuse everything we can?

I know what the pros say. I've read all the studies, but if you're smart enough to toss out anything that seems a little off, like our grandparents and parents were, why not reuse the jars?

Comments (4)

Linda_Lou
11 years ago
Because if you follow the safe, current guidelines you don't have to worry about anything being "Off".
Sure I reuse jars, but for the freezer or for dry foods, not for canning in. Just doesn't make sense to me to risk perfectly good food in a reused one trip jar. They were only meant to carry the food home in. They did not sell you a canning jar !
digdirt2
11 years ago
It is your choice of course, just not something to be safely advocated to others, especially those new to canning.

Am I going to eat them? Not on your life, but the point is, if they could stay that good for that long, I see no harm in reusing jars for something you're going to eat very quickly, especially if it's something that doesn't take long boiling processing, like relishes or preserves.

Had they been properly canned then eating them with the 2008 would be of no concern.

Personally I don't waste time and energy canning things that are going to be "eaten very quickly". That's what the freezer is for. And I think many share that philosophy - that the primary goal of canning is long term food preservation, not quick consumtion.

I can when things are in abundance for those times when they are not. Peaches are prolific this year. Last year, and perhaps next year or the one after, the late freeze will get them. Same with green beans and tomatoes - last year was a bad cropping year for much of the country. Thanks heavens we still have tomatoes and beans, properly canned from 2009 and 2010 when the crops were good.

Dave
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readinglady
11 years ago
If they're sweet preserves and smell fine, regardless of the paraffin and the re-used jar, you might as well go ahead and eat them. Fruit jams with high levels of sugar don't present a health risk unless you detect mold (obviously easy to identify).

If you want to can jams and jellies in re-used jars, feel free. Sometimes the lids don't fit quite properly and the risk of breakage is greater, but if you don't mind taking the risk it's your prerogative. Sweet preserves don't even require boiling water bath preservation, but it does reduce the risk of mold and increases shelf life.

I would point out, though, that saying a practice is "safe" because no one in the family has died yet isn't the most logical. The statistical sampling is too small to be meaningful. It's a crap shoot, like going to the casino, and it's just a matter of that one time when the dice turn up snake eyes.

If something is a risk, the risk is there regardless of previous lucky escapes.

Carol
lilycrazy
11 years ago
I also only reuse commercial jars for non-canned things- and the biggest reason is the rings wont screw on correctly. Plus it's not worth the risk of a broken jar in the BWB and a horrible mess to clean up. But I know alot of people who did and still do, so it's to each their own.