Goodness, you guys are crazy for Weck jars! I had feeling this would be a popular giveaway, but I had no idea that it would be a Food in Jars record breaker. An impressive 670 of you signed up for a chance to win a six-pack of jars from Kaufmann Mercantile. As is my way, I turned to random.org for help choosing a winner. After a moment of consideration, it spit out #606, which is the comment left by Atarah. Congratulations, you lucky canner!
So many thanks to all of you for playing!
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Holy Cow, I can hardly believe it I’m number 606 & I am so very thankful for these jars! Especially to find out this news today. I was needing a little extra hope, with things being so dreary in the world right now, this was the little spark I needed. I am so eager to can in these pretty jars! Thank you Marisa & Kaufmann Mercantile for offering this opportunity. This is indeed my favorite canning blog!
Thanks so much for the post on the Weck jars. I’ve been drooling over them for awhile and it’s nice to hear they get your seal of approval (no pun intended). It’s also nice to know that there’s somewhere to order them from that has reasonable prices, free shipping, and that doesn’t involve old-fashioned paper order forms.
I wanted to point out something from the original post regarding reuse/disposal of the rubber rings (seems a few other people did too). I was a little surprised by that because I didn’t recall seeing anything on Weck’s site in the past about those being disposable. Seems sort of wasteful and counter-productive to the high cost of the jar. Sure enough, though, there are at least two places on their site where they say, “Always use new rubber rings.” Perhaps that’s a recent addition after having too many reports of ring failure because people try to reuse them too many times and expect too much? If they’re not brittle or deformed, I’d see no reason why they can’t be reused (unlike the Ball lids where the gum and the lid become misshapen easily). People just need to have realistic expectations of rubber, which gets old and looses its elasticity over time.
I was also a bit confused about the rings on the Tattler lids because you happened to mention them in the same breath. I went back to my Tattler boxes with the instructions printed on them and they more or less indicate that they can be reused. To that, I breathed a sigh of relief because I bought them specifically to reduce waste on products that won’t remain canned long (soups and other convenience items). If I have to buy new rings and pay tattler’s ridiculous shipping and minimum purchase prices, I’m right back where I started.
I suspect this is one of those things where instructional language is being updated to account for the “laziness factor.” I find more and more lately that customer service folks would rather say, “Yeah, we don’t recommend/support that method of use,” than to say, “Yes, it can be done but make sure you do X, Y, and Z.” Today, it’s more about guaranteeing the product will work 100% of the time than about educating your users about how your product works so they’ll know how to use it properly. In the case of the rings, it’s easier to say, “Always buy new rings.” They also get to sell you more product that way.
A reply to Justin – Justin, *officially*, I was told that the rubber rings are supposed to be used only once. However …
The gaskets are reusable if you take care of them – i.e., don’t leave them on your windowsill in the sun, they’ll get dry & cracked. (Think rubber bands.) Don’t let your kids use them as slingshots. After using them in a recipe with oil or vinegar, please clean them well. Store them in a cool, dark, place and you can re-use them many, many times.
(I specifically asked about this. Although even if they were only one or two use items, rubber is much more sustainable than metal lids. But – I was told that canners can use them many many times. I don’t yet have enough experience to vouch for this myself, but I do have a control group of jars that I have started, will be cycling through often & I will be keeping track how many times each gasket is used w/o failure. Far, the control group (10 jars) has been pressure-canned twice, with 100% seal rate.)
I hope this helps!
I have canned everything that I could get my hands on for the past 47 years. My family & I live on a farm and raise a garden. It’s so rewarding to open the pantry and see all the jars with their different colors and textures. It is also a good feeling that I have canned things that my family can enjoy all year long. And another reward to myself is that I did it all with love.
I have always wanted to learn and can stuff like my mom always did. This year I got a tree full of Pears so I am diving in and making (so far) Pear Jam and Pear Sauce! Plus much baked goods. I would love to win this prize to continue this quest! Thank you!!!
Carol, this giveaway closed back in March.