stacks of Tattler canning lids and rubber rings
I was blown away a few months ago when GrammaFrog told me there were reusable canning lids. What? And BPA-free, too? How come I had never heard of them? She had ordered some from Tattler, so we grabbed some rhubarb, and decided to check them out.
GrammaFrog had originally heard about them from Backwoods Home Magazine’s Jackie Clay, so we read the article and the directions at the Tattler website, and we were ready to go.
It was pretty easy. We followed the standard rhubarb canning recipe, and canned almost just like normal.
Preparing to can the rhubarb
We soaked the rubber rings in hot water, and did a very light boil on the plastic lids. After filling each jar, we popped the rubber ring on the lid, put the lid/rubber ring on the jar, and put on a regular canning ring and tightened it down. And then we untightened just a bit – Tattler recommends 1/4 inch. Evidentally this is rather important so that the contents can vent. We continued processing the rhubarb jars normally in a boiling water canner. After removing them, we tightened the rings. All in all, it went really well.
To open the jars, you lightly press up on the rubber ring with a knife. Pop! Save the lid and ring for next time.
Letting the jars cool
So, important things we learned from this were:
1. Be sure to untighten just a bit before putting in the canner. But not too much!!
2.
Be sure to tighten right after you take them out
3. The above two steps seem like they shouldn’t be too hard to remember, but they are easy to forget the first few times you use the rings and lids, so pay attention (speaking from experience here…)
4. It can be a bit hard at first to tell if the lid really pops down (when it’s truly sealed), but you learn to tell the difference pretty soon.
The lids are more expensive than the disposable lids, but I really like how they are BPA-free and reusable. If you can alot, I can see how you could make the up the price difference before too long.
Happy canning!
close-up of finished jar with Tattler reusable ring and lid
Hi :) I found your blog through the Tattler site. Your jars of rhubarb look quite lovely! I have been testing the Tattler lids for the last month on various home canned foods. I wrote a review that appeared on my blog on Sep. 5 if you are interested. I too love that these lids are BPA free! I do a lot of canning (over 1,000 jars per year) so while the Tattler lids cost me 80¢ each in comparison to 10¢ for metal after 8 uses the Tattlers will cost me nothing to use. I actually them better than the metal lids and changing the technique wasn’t difficult either.
Happy canning to you too :)
Thanks for your comment – I will check out your blog! Also, thanks for your price comparison calculation. I hadn’t realized that the lids would pay for themselves quite so quickly.