Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Apologies And A WARNING To All Canners !!!!!



For those of you that also have blogs you will understand that I am contacted regularly from different companies and individuals wanting me to review products, books etc. My blog continues to be an ad free blog. I have no advertisers and no sponsors. I pay all expenses incurred by this blog myself. I write all the posts myself and take 99.9% of the pictures myself.   Occasionally I will write a review about a book or author that I like and I occasionally will recommend a deal that I find. I have only done a hand full of reviews in the years that I have been blogging. I have literally turned down hundreds. Last year I was contacted and asked to do a review on a new brand of canning jar called Legacy and I agreed to try these jars and write honestly what I thought of them. Since canning jars are so pertinent to the subject of this blog I agreed. I received no payment for this but rather was shipped one dozen half pint jelly jars with lids to use for the review of this product. 

On December 10, 2012 I wrote a post about these jars and my experience using them.



Like most new jars they came with lids and rings. You will notice in the picture above that the lids had a white rubber gasket ring as opposed to the red rubber ring that we are all used to on most name brand lids. Other than not having the lining they seemed the same weight. They did not have any writing on the lids like most lids either but were blank. 


I made one batch of blackberry jam for holiday gifts with these jars. They were processed in a hot water bath and seemed to perform just fine. There were a couple lids left over so I simply put them  into a box with my other jar lids for the next canning project. All was forgotten. 


Yesterday was a busy canning day for me. It was time to process some of the meat that I had frozen this fall and get it out of the freezer. My first project was rabbit meat. I also had came across a bag of pork fat that I had overlooked when I had rendered my lard last week. So I threw it in the crockpot to cook while I worked on my rabbit canning. I also had laundry on. Notice in the picture above the jar with the blue lid magnet on it. It is a Legacy lid that when I put lids on these jars of rabbit picked up out of the lid box that I store my lids in. 


Notice in the picture above that same lid on the jar that the jar lifter tool is on. All the other lids are Ball lids.  Now while my pressure cooker was building pressure and cooking I was folding laundry and watching my lard rendering in the crockpot.  As I sat at my kitchen table folding towels I heard a huge pop and considered hitting the ground for surely we were under  attack from something. My next thought was that I had blown a jar.

 Occasionally when processing in your pressure canner a jar will explode. Many times it is a jar that had a chip or crack in it that I didn't catch. Which is why it is important to check your jars thoroughly before filling them. Many times once that damaged jar gets in the canner and starts to heat up it will crack under the pressure. Figuring this is what happened I continued with my laundry knowing that my batch of jars in the canner only had a few minutes left to go and there was nothing to do but allow the batch to finish out. 


Once my batch had cooled down I expected to find a canner full of shattered glass shards and rabbit meat. I was suprised that when I opened the canner that the glass jar was intact. There was not one shard or even one piece of rabbit in the water. The lid had exploded. The flat canning lid had totally separated during processing. Notice the white rubber circle sticking to the side of the pot. The jar ring clear on the other side of the canner. The flat metal lid part was clear on the bottom of the canner under two jars.


In all my years of canning I have never seen this happen! Ever.....


The rubber gasket had literally separated under pressure and notice in the picture above how the flat metal lid part is bent.  Notice also how the ring is bent. The ring was also bent during the explosion. 





Thank God this had not happened while I had been taking hot jars from the canner and blown up in my face. This Legacy lid obviously did not hold up under the extreme heat of pressure canning. Of the twelve lids sent to me this was the only one that was used under pressure. 


Every other Ball jar lid used that day performed just fine. Now in the past I have occasionally had a traditional jar lid to buckle from over tightening ( when hubby helps: ) or even the occasional lid not seal. I have never had a lid blow completely off the jar and separate bending the ring outward and off the jar.

I have sent an email to the company that had contacted me to do a review immediately to inform them of this dangerous problem. Unfortunately this is the only legacy lid that went through the pressure canner as the initial test batch was jelly that was boiling water processed. I notified the company that sent me the free jars that these lids could potentially be a health issue and pose a danger to canners. As of the publishing of this post I have received no comment. If you have purchased these jars or plan to do so in the future for the purpose of using in your pressure canner please be careful. 

All you canners out there spread the word. We don't want anyone hurt!   

So canners beware that there is obviously some sort of issue with these Chinese produced Legacy jar lids. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

27 comments:

  1. I'm happy to hear this didn't happen while transporting the jars from the pressure cooker to the counter for cooling. Thank you for testing this product and putting this warning out, I will make sure to pass the word to my canning friends.

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  2. So glad that it didn't happen when you were taking them out of the pressure canner. Thank you for letting us know about this product.

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  3. I read the first post about the Legacy canning jars. When you said they were made in China, I knew I would never buy them. Next thing you know, they will be outsourcing Ball/Kerr products.

    So glad you weren't injured in the incident.

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    1. My first thought was that there was only a few cents different between them and the name brand. Costs to ship would make them less of a deal and as far as I know they are only available online. I have not seen them in any stores in the midwest yet.

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  4. I have heard too through the a family milk cow forum that the Ball half gallon jars of late are also not what they used to be. All across the country folks have had these jars break under normal kitchen use, not canning. I suspect that Ball is contracting out some of their work to cut costs. I'm sad they bought out Kerr, no we really have no choice :(

    Glad you're OK, that is a terrible accident waiting to happen. All my years of canning I have never seen anything like that.

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    1. Like you I have never seen that happen either. The other thing that I have read lately is that the chinese jars are higher in lead content. I have nothing to base that on though. I think I will hang on to my old jars like gold and pick up older ones at garage sales and stuff as I run across them.

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    2. I wonder if this is causing the problems I am having with my Ball jars. I freeze my homemade stock in quart size and lately I've had several crack even after allowing them to cool completely in the refrigerator overnight before putting them in the freezer and allowing plenty of space at the top.

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  5. How scary! Can you imagine if you had had the whole canner full? Glad it turned out the way it did and thanks for letting us know!

    Teresa

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  6. Glad you're okay.

    I'm betting no one will answer you.

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  7. Thanks for your posting. Im pretty new to canning having only done it two times. And thought all jars and lids were equal. Thank you for showing they are not. I will stick with the Ball and Kerr as well. I dont do pressure canning but glad to know of this issue.

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  8. Scary! It might be a good idea to go back to your old post & add a link at the beginning to this post. That way those who just find it surfing the net will know the full story.

    So glad no serious damage was done.

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  9. Wow- this is really helpful to know as we all start to get ready for a hopefully exciting canning season! I've never seen this brand but will make sure to avoid all the same. So glad you weren't hurt in the process!

    KK

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  10. Holy flip, that is crazy. Glad you are safe.

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  11. New to your blog, Saw the post title on Sandy's and had to check this out. Thank you for testing and passing the info on..as I will also. I think this is a brand I saw here in Southern Indiana in our local Walmart. I'll stick with my Ball and Kerr jars and lids!

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  12. Wow....I hope you do not mind but I shared this on my facebook page. I want to THANK YOU for posting this.

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  13. This is invaluable information and I thank you so much for sharing it. I will post this on my blog and on Facebook. Blessings ~ Penny

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  14. thank you for sharing your experience! i am new to canning and have only done jellies and jams - i will try green beans this year! i am also in N MO - in the boonies on a farm called Rabbit Ridge :)

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  15. Thank you for the information. I have not seen these jars but will definitely remember.

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  16. Holy smokes-this could have gone horribly wrong. Keep us posted when (more like if) the company responds. Good for you for telling the real review!

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  17. The good news is.. you got the news out... The bad news... there isnt any..other than that rabbit quart not sealing. More good news.. You got new subscribers (me ;)) and most likely more when other canning lovers read this post. Thanks to The Homestead Survival for sharing this in my direction.

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  18. I use either age old Mason jars with Ball lids, or Ball jars & lids. Both have held up throughout my 93 year old grandmother canning (a few lids have had to be replaced from time to time) and then through me canning. The only problem I encountered was trying to use a "fancy" jar that stated it was "made for canning" and shipped in from France. It shattered inside my canner-with stewed tomatoes inside. What a mess! I will never make that mistake again!

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  19. Seen this from The Homestead Survival I was wondering if you have ever heard or tried tattler canning lids I have some and have only done a little canning with them and have worked great for me. http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/

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  20. glad I found your post to read and so glad you weren't hurt..and this has been shared alot now thanks to you

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  21. This is actually the second post of this nature I have seen on these jars. I definitely will not use them. I'm sticking with Ball jars. I definitely prefer the made in the USA, where I can buy it.

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  22. I am very new to pressure canning. Yesterday I canned 10 pints of chicken breast (raw pack). The jars sealed great -- so well that I had to use a can opener to pry off the lid of one jar that I used to make soup today. AFTER my family had started eating, I noticed that the jar had a pretty sizable chip on the side of it. I could not find the broken glass anywhere -- not in the jar, on the counter, or in the soup. I have no idea where it went!Has this ever happened to you? I was not happy about throwing away a whole pot of soup, but it wasn't worth the risk.

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    1. No I have never had this happen. My guess would be that the jar was probably nicked when you bought it and just went unnoticed. I have had jars bust in the canner and coming out of the canner but usually knowing where the glass is is not an issue. Try to stick with reputable jars and lids if possible. Beware those knock offs. When in doubt safety first and always dump it.

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