When you say "rings" do you mean the rubber "lids" or the rubber rings that can be re-used (older method of canning)?

I use the lids with the rubber around the outside - and the caps that are put on over them, Kerr or Ball are the names that come to mind.

After opening, I toss the lids and keep the caps for re-use if they are not rusted or dented.

I always use new lids, however, to help prevent non-sealing.

Bejay

These are not the old ones - these are the newer ones with the rubber on the caps/lids that get sealed to the jars and what I call rings are the metal rings that screw onto the jars over the lids. The ones that are mainly out for sale now(although they still sell a lot of the old ones that are rubber). When you open a jar of the newer type, you keep the ring and throw out the lid. By me not keeping the ring on, they're put away or reused earlier and my husband or the kids can just throw away the lid and not worry about where to put the rings for me. So I was wondering if there's really any reason to keep the metal screw on cap after the jars are cool and clean. I think all that matters is the sealed lid - right?

I never leave the screw bands on jars. I wait usually 24 hours and remove the bands and wash the threads on the jars carefully and wipe the jar dry. Most jars spew some liquid when processing and even water that is trapped will cause the rings to rust. When canning season is over I wash all rings and dry well and seal tightly in double plastic bags. Never a rusty ring when I open the bag in the spring. I save the plastic mayo jar lids to use after I open a jar and toss the flat lid away. I keep a drawer full of these plastic lids and give them away with my jars of goodies.

Julie, not only is it OK, it is the recommended method.

What you do is wait 24 hours to assure all the lids have sealed. Then you test them by removing the rings, inverting (over a bowl) the jar, and giving it a good shake or two.

Assuming the seal is good, you then wash & dry the jar, label it (if you haven't already done so) and store it away without the rings. If you leave the ring in place it could lead to rust and othe forms of corrosion.

Some people have taken to using the plastic caps as a protective cover over the lids. Personally, I only see one time that makes sense: if you're giving the canned item as a gift. That way the recipient has a way of closing the jar after it's opened.

Did you ever try to get rust off the threads of a canning jar? It is caused by leaving the rings on.

Gardenlad,
Never in my more than 50 years of canning have I ever held a jar over a bowl and given it a shake or two to test a seal. I know it is sealed by the indent on the lid and also the appearance of the contents in the jar. WE all do things our own way, I guess.

I leave the rings on mine. As to once they are opened, I found that the plastic covers DO leak, unless the metal lid is kept on the jar as well. Getting very rusty rings is good sign of sloppy filling and little wiping of the rim and its threads. I would have expected that once its totally submergd in a vat of boiling water, the rust would only be from a bity of trapped water. Salt and vinegar can do a real number on the rings if its left on the threads. Very few of mine have any rusty rings, and those are usually ones that were reused a few times.

Garden Lad,
With 4 teens in the house, those white plastic lids came in very handy AFTER pickles, jam, etc. was opened.
We replaced the canning lid with the white plastic one that actually screws on.
Just convenient till the product is eaten up. Wash & re-use.
That loose canning lid always seemed to get knocked off and you know it lands "sticky-side-down"...........ALWAYS!! (grin)
The larger lids of Miracle Whip fit wide-mouth jars too. Wish the small ones worked....they seem to be deeper than the threads on a canning jar, so don't screw down all the way. :+(
JMO,
Deanna

I always remove the lids and wipe the jars and threads.

No matter how well I clean those threads, I still got rings that rusted to the jars. I distinctly remember a batch of carrots that got put away by the kids without removing the rings. I was almost to the point of throwing the jars away, rings and all, because I couldn't get the darned things off. I finally took a flat head screwdriver and ran it around the top of the ring, then the bottom, and removed them. Bent the heck out of the rings too.

Now I always remove the ring, just like the instructions say to.

As for the white plastic lids, I like them and have about a dozen of each size. When I open a jar of something, I put a white lid on it. Some things I like cold, like apple cider or tomato juice. I'll put a jar in the refrigerator and forget that it's unopened and open another jar. The white lid reminds me that it's open and needs to be used. Yeah, I know, the memory is the first thing to go.

And yes, I know I could use the ring for that, but I tend to remove the rings from the canned goods that are going to the basement and reuse them on the next batch of canning. I have way more jars than I do rings, and so I don't want to use them for refrigerator storage during canning season.

Annie

You should store the jars without the rings on them in the pantry. They should be removed, thoroughly washed and dried, then stored. Same for the jars of foods, you should be washing them without the rings on in soapy water to rid them of any food residue. I have seen plenty of jars of food that people canned with mold on them because they didn't properly wash them !

This year I washed my sealed jars with a soapy paper towel & rinsed in the sink to prevent mold on the threads. Last year's peaches got mold on the threads that kept coming back & they were too close to the really valuable jars of salsa & dilly beans.

In the south Duke's mayonnaise lids fit Ball jars--I have both regular & wide mouth either from different sizes or from when they changed how the jar looks.

I have way more rings than I need...I'll keep one overflowing peck of them, but anyone have ideas for the others? Crafts or somewhere to donate them?

Melissa

>Never in my more than 50 years of canning have I ever held a jar over a bowl and given it a shake or two to test a seal. I know it is sealed by the indent on the lid Each to his own, Shirley. I've been doing it that way since I helped Mom can applesauce when I was 8, and I just collected my first SS check.

It doesn't take but a few seconds to test the seal. And there are times when all other indications (i.e., indented lids, etc.) say you have a good seal, but don't. I remember a period of time when Kerr lids wouldn't seal properly no matter what you did, although they seemed to until the shake test was done.

I also think all those reports of seals releasing over time fit this category. With a proper vacumn seal, a lid should never let go. But it's possible that a lid seemed to be sealed, and really wasn't.

Anyway, you do it your way and I'll do it my way, and we'll both be satisfied.

>That loose canning lid always seemed to get knocked off and you know it lands "sticky-side-down"...........ALWAYS!! (grin)Deanna, do you know the story about the bread that landed butter-side up?

What about storing jars upside down? I made dilly beans for the first time and of course the beans all floated to the top. But if I turn the jars over because the base in narrower than the top (12 oz jars) this seems to hold down more beans. Any comments?

Those plastic lids are great but somehow they seem exhorbitantly priced to me. (I am not sure why, since they can be re-used almost indefinitely, but I hate to pay for them!)

"Classico" brand pasta sauce also comes with jar lids that fit regular canning jars. I save them for using on once-opened canning jars are opened. Oh, and I once bought some lovely gold one-piece canning lids (with rubber seal, etc. --- they work just like the two-piece but are all in one) from Kitchen Krafts. Once they've been used for canning, I use them as post-canning lids.

I also have tonnes of the rings. Maybe I can make jewellwery out of them?

Zabby