One of the most prolific manufacturers was the Ball Corporation. In the early 20th century, mass production made Mason jars ubiquitous in America. The transparency of the glass that Mason used also made the contents appealingly visible. Mason’s design, which possessed a ribbed neck and a screw-on cap that created an airtight seal, helped to refine a canning process that had been prone to error. He soon exchanged champagne bottles for glasses with wider necks, and by 1803 his canned goods were being successfully distributed to the French Navy. But, as Sue Shepard writes in her book Pickled, Potted, and Canned, the products of this technique were often compromised by imperfect seals: Appert originally used champagne bottles, which he secured with the improbable mixture of cheese and lime. The idea of “heat-based canning” emerged in 1806 and was popularized by Nicholas Appert, a French cook who had been inspired by the need to preserve foods for long periods during the Napoleonic wars. Integral to this process is the Mason jar, which was created in 1858 by John Landis Mason, a New Jersey native. Vegetables, meat, and poultry, however, need to be pressure canned, a process in which the contents are heated to more than 240 degrees Fahrenheit to destroy bacteria. Highly acidic foods-like fruits, jams, and pickles-respond well to the water bath. The two most common methods, water bath and pressure, are appropriate for different types of food. Like other kinds of preservation-drying, curing, pickling, freezing-canning maintains foods against the natural processes of this decay. At that point my mother would begin canning what we couldn’t eat, storing the vividly colored contents in transparent Mason jars that would reappear throughout the fall and winter-like a bit of summer preserved in amber.įood starts to degrade the moment it is harvested. The vegetable plants produced less regularly, but from mid-July onwards we could reliably eat fresh produce every evening, and by August we had a surplus. She would harvest the herbs throughout the summer, tying small bundles together with twine and drying them along a clothesline that ran the length of the basement. The growing season in New Hampshire is spectacularly short-sometimes only eight weeks-but my mother tried to take full advantage of it, growing dill, thyme, sage, mint, rosemary, and at least six varieties of basil, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, squash, beans, peas, peppers, broccoli, chard, and zucchini. Join the many customers that have made Eco Mason jars a regular addition to their canning supplies.In the mid-1970s, my parents fled the New Jersey suburbs to build a house in rural New Hampshire, where my mother tended a large vegetable and herb garden. Whether you buy Mason jars in bulk or smaller quantities, you will always get wholesale pricing and fast shipping from Specialty Bottle. If you're looking for wide mouth jars, consider our Gallon Jars category. All of our mason jars have a regular mouth size (70 mm lids) except for the little Mayberry jar. Our Mason jars come in convenient cases of 12, in a range of jar sizes. Besides being used for canning and preserving fruits and vegetables, these multipurpose Mason jars can also be used for jar glasses, candles, crafts, and home organization and food storage. The quality difference is significant when compared to cheap types of Mason jars made overseas. The lids and bands of our two-piece lids are also available separately for re-use, a money-saving option for home canning (Call Customer Service to purchase the band and lid separately). Our one-piece and two-piece metallic canning jar lids are plastisol lined so they seal safely and easily with a normal canning process. Made in the USA, these glass mason jars cost less than traditional Ball mason jars or Kerr jars. Our series of Mason jars are known as Eco jars because they are economical and eco-friendly.
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