How Do You Prepare Sterilizing Home Cans & Jar Lids?
Buy produce in season (or harvest it from your own garden) and make it last through winter and into the next growing season. That is the promise of home canning. Different foods require different canning methods: boiling water bath canning for high-acid foods (fruits and pickles) and pressure canning for virtually all other foods. But whatever you are canning, there is a constant: you must prepare the canning jars and lids properly to ensure the things you can do not spoil during storage. Confirm that you have jars manufactured for home canning. Do not recycle mayonnaise, pickle and mustard jars for your own canned goods. Inspect the jars for scratches, chips and cracks. The rims of the jars must be in pristine condition to ensure a good seal between the jar and the canning lid. Use only new lids. Lids come with new canning jars. Otherwise, buy replacement lids to fit old jars from previous canning seasons. Even the jars your parents used for canning should accommodate today’s canning
