Testing a theory

Last May, I posted a piece about reusing disposable canning lids, based on something I saw on SurvivalBlog.

Ever since then, I've been removing disposable lids from jars with extra care, washing them, and tucking them away.

Today I decided to re-can some salsa I had purchased in bulk last summer, and used this opportunity to test the theory of how easily disposable lids are reusable. Maybe "easily" isn't the right word; "reliable" might be a better description.

At any rate, I pulled out the used lids I had available...

...and boiled some water.

I turned off the heat under the pot, dropped the lids in the hot water, and let them parboil.

While the gaskets were softening, I washed some jars.

I filled the jars with salsa...

...stacked them in the pressure canner...

...and brought the canner up to 12 lbs. pressure (adjusted for our elevation) for 30 minutes.

When their time was up, I let the canner's pressure come back down to zero, and removed the jars to cool.

Every jar sealed. Every. Single. One.

It breaks my heart to think of all the disposable lids I've discarded over the years after one use, when all this time I could have been saving and reusing them.

Folks, don't do what I did. Remove your lids carefully (trying not to bend them or damage the gaskets) and save them for another use.

Canning supplies: Still a problem

Once in a while I dip into the issue of canning supply shortages, wondering what the status is. I've noticed there seems to be some canning jars in local grocery stores again, though lids still seem to be missing. But what's going on in the wider world?

So this morning I got onto the Lehman's website (which is kind of my "indicator" source) to see what's up. Looks like supplies are still sold out. Here's the announcement for regular-mouth canning jars:

Underneath the entry is the note: "Due to high demand, the vendor has been sending supply of styles that vary. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we cannot guarantee a particular style."

Same thing for all jar sizes, such as wide-mouth quart.

Canning lids, of course, are completely gone. I've always kicked myself for not getting a few shipments of bulk lids when they were available. Despite mostly using Tattlers, I like having disposable lids as well.

Lehmans has been hammering at the doors of their suppliers, to no avail:

Reusable lids still seem to be in stock, which was nice to see (although the reviews indicate some people aren't familiar with how to use them).

Next, I checked pressure canners. As you might have guessed, none are available. Here's a mid-range All-American canner:

(A quick check on the All American Canner website confirms the lack of availability.)

I checked in with Glenda Lehman Ervin, VP of Marketing, to get her take on the situation. She wrote back and said:

"Yes, canning supplies are very difficult to get, as are certain Lodge cast iron products, wood cook stoves and Berkey water filters.

We do have stock of canned meat now, as well as Aladdin lamp oil and several key gardening products, which were back ordered.

Each week we get lots of product in, but it turns right around as we fill back orders and supply pent-up demand.

We ask customers to please be patient – we are working on increasing our communication on the status of back orders.  We do recommend placing an order to reserve your place in line!"

This is an immensely frustrating situation for retailers. Remember, they can't sell what they can't get.

What has been your experiences, dear readers? Do you have any suggestions for those looking for canning supplies?

Canning supply shortage?

While corresponding a couple days ago with Glenda Lehman Evrin, VP of Marketing at Lehman's, she mentioned something in passing that staggered me: "By the way, we just heard from Ball [the manufacturer] ... no canning jars until March of 2021!"

Almost immediately after that, I received a generic email from Tattler reusable canning lids (I'm on their email list) as follows: "Due to a nationwide canning supply shortage, we have been overwhelmed with orders. Everyone at Tattler is working diligently to get them out to each and every customer as quickly as possible. We know everyone wants to know the status of their order, but due to the overwhelming amount of emails it is prohibitive to respond. Thank you for understanding. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

I haven't had to buy canning supplies for years, so somehow I completely missed this devopment, but it seems there is a severe nationwide shortage of canning supplies.

A quick internet search confirmed it:

• Watch out, there's a canning lid shortage

• The latest COVID-19 shortage is canning lids

• Trouble in store as Covid canning craze leads to empty shelves and price gouging

• Shortages of canning supplies cause headaches for home gardeners

• Canning lids are in short supply

• If You’re Struggling to Find Canning Supplies Right Now, You're Not Alone

• Increase in canning during quarantine leads to supply shortage

• The Great Canning Lid Shortage of 1975, and a history of canning lids

As a passionate canner, how did I miss all this? I mean honestly, how?

Glenda added in a later email: "Ball said they have stopped accepting purchases orders until they get caught up and won’t ship anything until March of 2021. When I go to the grocery I am always surprised at what they are out of – one week it’s paper towels, the next week it is tomatoes, and the next week it is hamburger. Strange times."

So I looked around, and by golly everyone's right. Canning supplies are in short supply.

Here's the shelf at our local grocery store:

Then I went into the city (Coeur d'Alene) a couple days ago, first time since early August. Specifically I went to Walmart, where I haven't been in nearly a year, certainly since before the whole coronavirus was a thing. My goal was to find some moccasin slippers.

Well, it was a challenge.

This could be why: Made in China.

In fact, I saw a surprising number of understocked shelves at Walmart, in a variety of unrelated categories -- shoes, office supplies, and of course canning supplies.

(As an interesting aside, the young man -- and I mean young; he looked 18 or so -- operating the cash register was wearing a "thin blue line" face mask. I couldn't quite hear what customers were saying to him -- remember, we were all spaced six feet apart -- but it seemed he was getting many compliments. I know I gave him one.)

My next stop was Winco, which had utterly bare shelves where the canning supplies were supposed to be.

As I checked out at Winco, the polite checker asked me if I had found everything I was looking for. "Everything except canning supplies," I quipped. She laughed ruefully and shook her head.

What's your experience? What are you seeing? If you can't find canning supplies, how are you coping?

Giveaway!

You probably know that I'm a HUGE fan of Tattler reusable canning lids (they're one of our advertisers).

The Tattler folks contacted me this morning with news of a giveaway at their site:

TATTLER CANNING LID GIVEAWAY!!! For anyone interested we are aiming at a goal of 3000 'likes' on our Facebook Tattler site by August 31, at which point we are going to draw a lucky winner who will receive one case (24 doz.) of Regular AND a case of Wide Mouth Lids. We need 438 more 'likes ' to reach the 3000 mark. Nothing to buy or commit to. Just go to our Facebook site and get on board for a great prize.
- Loren Stieg, Tattler Reusable Canning Lids

Raspberries and jam

It's raspberry time!

Not our raspberries, unfortunately. But we have an elderly neighbor who has one of the greenest thumbs I've ever seen. She has a massive raspberry patch (probably 20x30 feet) and there are far too many berries for her to use herself. She generously invites many folks in the neighborhood to come help themselves.

So last week the girls and I went and picked berries. Oh my, they were beautiful.

In about half an hour, we picked nearly two gallons.

Next step was to pick them over.

I ended up with the white bowl full to the brim with clean beautiful berries. But then I got busy, so I covered the bowl and put it in the fridge for a couple days while we worked.

Then came some free time to make jam. I pulled the bowl out and found... it was mostly empty. Hey, what happened to the berries? Sure, the kids had unlimited access to them, but they couldn't have eaten that many! Come to find out it wasn't just my girls, it was six other neighborhood kids who'd been invited to raid the bowl as well, the greedy things. Ah well, it's better than gorging on candy or something unhealthy.

So I turned the remaining berries into jam. There's a 3:2 ratio of berries:sugar.

The berries will froth up...

...and then start gelling. Takes an hour or two to reach this point.

But out of that original two gallons of berries, I only got one quart of jam. Harrumph.

Okay, back to the berry patch on Monday.

This time we picked a little longer and came away with nearly three gallons.

This time I wasn't taking any chances! I cleaned them right away...

...and got right down to the task of making jam.

This was a messy sticky job, and during the course of the project I dirtied just about every dish in the kitchen. Don sometimes marvels at my ability to make such a mess. What can I say? I'm talented in that department.

The pot was too full so I ended up having to divide the batch in two, but after a great deal of splatter and stickiness (man, jam is sticky!) it was ready to ladle into jars.

Before processing the jam, however, I wanted to clean the stovetop. Gadzooks, what a mess.

It took scouring powder, a green scratch pad, and finally a pumice stone to get the cooked-on jam off.

Out of this batch, I got four quarts and one pint of jam. I used my beloved Tattler lids, of course. Into the water bath they went.

But it wasn't until I got the mess in the kitchen under control -- including cleaning and mopping the sticky spatters on the floor...

...was I able to admire my handiwork.

This jam will be wonderful during a cold winter day when I use them in survival cookies. Yum!