Yes! I just read that tonight on another site.

I immediately pulled out all the Ball lids I bought last year. The directions last year said to simmer. My widemouth Kerrs from last year say the same, simmer. I pulled out my brand new cases of Ball widemouth jars with lids, had to turn a case upside down, and sure enough, there is no mention of heating the lids.

So far I have not used any of this year's lids, but I think I can remember to not heat them.

Hadn't heard that. Glad you pointed it out. I haven't bought any new lids in at least 4 years as we have such a big stock of them (still have some unopened boxes with the 50 cent price tag on them :) but will keep it in mind for the future.

Dave

Thanks for the posting. I recently bought several boxes of regular and wide mouth lids. All the same brand, purchased at the same time, same place. Some of the boxes have the new instructions to wash and set aside until ready to use. Some of them have the old instructions to simmer until ready to use. I would not have known if you hadn't posted this. I haven't had any seal failures yet, but I don't know if I've used any of the ones that have the new instructions or not. They are all Ball brand.

It's in small print and REALLY! They don't state that it could cause your seals to fail if you simmer, they just state that you don't need to simmer them OR your bands, per their research.
I wish something like this weren't tucked away in small print. I don't like to find out the hard way by redoing one jar a load. The blogger (dunno if this is correct or not) said she was told they'd switched to plastisol for the seals. If this is true it might explain a lot, because I have been pressure canning and not hot water bathing. I've read with the one-piece lids using plastisol lids that going over 212 degrees can cause seal failure. If it's being used in the two piece lids system, why would it be any different?

This post was edited by calliope on Mon, Aug 25, 14 at 0:22

Not only is it small print, but it looks exactly like the previous packaging...only the wording is different. They should have put the change in bold or in a different color, AND mentioned in big print on the front that processing rules had changed. I had to really look to see the difference between the two packages.
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They put "BPA Free" i big letters, why couldn't they put this change in a larger font.

I did see/hear during a webcast on canning myths last month that Ball said it wasn't necessary to simmer the lids, and just last week there was a question on Can It Forward webcast asking and they said they'd done "years of testing" and it wasn't necessary, too hot (like in DW) and the sealant may become too soft. But they didn't mention changing the sealant. It still looks the same.

Isn't plastisol white?

What blog was that where she said she'd called and was told they'd changed?

Here is a link that might be useful: Can It Forward webcast - look at comments

http://livinghomegrown.com/2014/08/changes-in-canning-lid-procedures.html

Thanks! I will pass that along - Linda Ziedrich just mentioned this on her blog too, but I didn't know that they'd changed the sealant.

I wonder how they could have done "many years" of testing if they just changed to plastisol when they went BPA free (wasn't that just over a year ago?)? Though I guess the coating was in development for a while.

Strange, though, I would think GH would use the same sealant even though lids aren't coated. I just checked ones I bought on clearance at $ store last month, the boxes are dated 2013 and say to simmer!

This post was edited by ajsmama on Mon, Aug 25, 14 at 10:35

Ok, did a bunch of reading since I saw this last night and made several calls this AM and this is my understanding of what I was told by the Jarden/Ball reps and two MFP instructors I know.

Continuing to briefly simmer (not boiling) your lids will not harm them in anyway assuming it is done for the standard brief period. Prolonged simmering isn't recommended. But it isn't necessary to do so due to the new compounds - your option.

The new wording is not meant to imply that you MUST use them at room temperature, only that you MAY do so. Also any seal failures that result should not be attributed to this change. As we all know seal failures happen for many different reasons.

In actual fact simmering the lids has apparently been considered optional by many since NCHFP came out with the "no need to sterilize jars when they will be processed for more than 10 min" guideline. That length of processing will also do any prep needed for the lids to seal.

We all know that some folks continue to sterilize their jars even if it isn't needed and that's their choice. Rings/bands never required heating/simmering/boiling but some do it. Lids are now the same.

Boils down to your choice.

Dave

I never actually simmer the lids - just put them in a Pyrex bowl or measuring cup and pour the first jarful of water out of the canner over them to soften while I fill the first jar or 2. Since hearing about this last month I stopped doing that, except for when I did the dilly beans in sterilized jars so only processed 5 min, then I did warm the lids.

A few years ago when I bought the Ball Discovery kit I quickly found out the basket wasn't that handy for jars, so I'd put the lids in it and set them on top of the jars in the just-below-simmering water but sometimes they wouldn't be submerged and I'd have to move the basket to put jars in and out, I switched to the separate bowl right away.

My 2 big burners are in front and it was too much of a pain to have a small pan simmering with lids behind the preserving pan.

Dave, did Jarden say anything about the GH lids? All the same sealant, no simmering required though the 2013 boxes say to (I know you talked to them before I posted but just wondering if they mentioned the noncoated lids)?

That is nonsense. If simmering , say at 200F can damage the lid/sealant then what will happen if you keep them at 250F in PC , for 30 minutes(sometimes longer )?

If simmering , say at 200F can damage the lid/sealant...

No one here said that except perhaps some unknown blogger mentioned above who may have jumped to that conclusion. Clearly from all the posts above, that is not what the manufacturer is saying and it is not what is said on the boxes.

Dave, did Jarden say anything about the GH lids?

No, and honestly I didn't ask. Just assumed since Jarden makes them all, the same info applies to all. I do know however that GH stock doesn't turn over as fast as Ball brands does so there is likely a backlog of older GH lids and boxes.

Dave

Just in case some folks didn't catch the update to the original blogger's post, here it is:

UPDATE: What About Pressure Canner Temps?

One question that kept coming up in the comments below and on canning discussion boards across the internet was this:

If over heating thins the plastisol gasket on the lid, what happens when it reaches over 240 degrees of a pressure canner?

We all had our theories, but I got the official answer from the experts at Jarden.

They said that yes, over heating in a pan of water will cause the plastisol to âÂÂthinâ which means it spreads out on the lidâÂÂs surface and flattens out too much.

However, when that heat hits while in the pressure canner, that plastisol is up against the glass jar rim and they have found that the extreme heat just causes it to spread around the glass rim (as you would hope it would) and gives a good seal.

The difference is that in the saucepan of water, the plastisol has no place to go but out across the lid and gets thin. In the second case, it is up against the glass rim and spreads around all sides of that rim which ends up giving a good seal.

So, there you go.

End quote.

Also, remember some folks still boil them, which we used to have to do with the rubber seals.

I shall have to remember this in a few years when I use up my stock of lids I bought a few years ago. Roughly 1,440 to go. Hey, it was a great deal :-)

Thanks Dave I'll have to ask. The GH lids I got were marked 2013 which is when the BPA-free Ball lids (with new compound?) came out so unless they were packaging old stock in new boxes, and not changing the text on the boxes, I would have assumed them to be the same sealant.

What difference does it make? As I said above you can do either - simmer or not - and have been able to for some time. It basically just boils down to a change in the wording on the boxes which come from a different supplier anyway. It's not some major change in methodology and not a safety issue. Simmer if you want, don't simmer if you don't want as long as they are processed for 10 min or more.

Dave

Just curious. And since these aren't coated, I thought I'd save them for PCing anyway - I just bought them b/c I needed bands.

Thank you Dave for going to the horse's mouth and passing it along. I do think a lot of the concern has to do with the semantics on the instructions.........it's vague and raises questions. If the blogger passed on accurate information about what she was told, perhaps there was a breakdown in communication along the line. I'm glad to have it resolved. I shall just quit heating lids. One more step not to have to go through. I don't 'boil' lids, but usually dip them in the bands long enough to bring them up to hot, as are the contents of the jars and jars themselves. I'll chalk the failures of this one box of lids as a fluke since a close inspection of the jars and using new bands seem to rule out that as a cause. At the end of the day, I suspect everyone who cans will notice what lids work best for them and which ones will give them challenges and base their purchases accordingly. The only question I am still pondering is why, with plastisol sealants are the one piece lids not recommended for pressure canning. I don't intend to use them anyway, lol, just curious. Thanks again for enlightening us with reassurances from the manufacturer.

I'm going to finally quit accusing myself of being cheap for not buying a magnet lid-lifter or one of those nice racks that holds each lid separately. Now I won't need them anyway. Hurray, all I had to do was patiently struggle with hot lids for three decades until I found out I could stop heating them. ;)

I looked at my new and older boxes of lids last night. I have a box of wide mouth Kerr lids, at least 5 years old, and they say to wash in hot soapy water, rinse well, and set aside until ready to use. An even older box of wide mouth Kerr lids to pour boiling water over them and let sit at least 3 minutes before using. DO NOT BOIL.

My newest box of regular Golden Harvest lids says to place lids and bands in saucepan; cover with simmering water, leave in water until ready to use. I have no idea if they are to be kept simmering until ready to use, but that's the only reason I can think of to put them in the sauce pan and not just a bowl.

matthias, even with just pouring boiling or simmering water over the lids, I like to have my lids in the lid rack. I'd rather have the magnet lid lifter though because the water level wouldn't have to be as high.