Jars used for canning foods are in short supply this year. (CNN) The increase in the number of people cooking and trying recipes during the pandemic has led to a surge in canning -- because experienced canners are doing it more and novices want to give it a try. And that surge has led to a shortage in Mason jars and lids.
Why is there a shortage of canning jars?
What Might Be Causing the Canning Supply Shortage? “Consumers staying home over the last few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in shifts in demand for food storage containers like Ball-branded glass jars and lids,” explains one Newell Brands spokesperson we spoke to.
What are canning jars used for?
Canning jars are pretty straightforward. They’re glass jars that you use in your canner to preserve food, and they come in several sizes. Canning jars come in many different sizes (most commonly pint, quart, and half-gallon).
Are Anchor Hocking jars good for canning?
One thing that’s really nice about Anchor Hocking is that they don’t label their jars, so they work great for labeling your own products or gifting jams/jellies. The only negative about these jars is that they aren’t “approved” for pressure canning.
Why can’t you reuse the lids on jars?
That supply and demand problem, specifically for the two-piece metal lid, simply hasn’t gone away. The jars are reusable if cleaned properly, but the lids are not. Trying to reuse the lids is a safety issue because the seal might fail, leading to spoiled food.
Why is there a shortage of canning jars?
When the 2020 pandemic created a huge demand for canning supplies, Newell Brands decided it would not try to sell Ball and Kerr products at every store handling canning supplies as in the past, but only through online giant Amazon and select major chains such as Walmart and Ace Hardware stores.
Is there a shortage of canning jars and lids?
It all began last year when the pandemic hit in early 2020. Stuck at home, people picked up gardening, then canning their harvest. “That led to a supply shortage of canning lids,” said Suzanne Driessen, University of Minnesota Extension food safety educator.
Will there be a canning jar shortage in 2021?
A recent conversation with a representative from the Newell Corporation (manufacturer of Ball, Kerr, and Golden Harvest canning products), indicates they are hoping for new shipments to go out toward the end of March 2021, but in limited quantities, and production will continue through the summer of 2021.
Are Kerr and Ball the same company?
If the Kerr jars and their packaging looks eerily similar to that of Ball jars, it's because they're basically the same: Both Ball and Kerr brands are now owned and manufactured by the parent company Jarden.
Who bought out Ball canning jars?
Newell BrandsToday, the Ball brand for mason jars and home canning supplies belongs to Newell Brands.
Is Ball still making Mason jars?
Interestingly, Ball no longer manufactures Mason jars, but has expanded and grown into a worldwide company that makes everything from metal containers to aerospace parts.
What happened to Ball canning lids?
The shortage in supply of home canning lids, also known as 2-piece canning lids, flats, or lids & bands or rings that began in 2020 is not over. Unfortunately, this shortage created a vacuum for some fraud in the production and sale of canning lids.
Who owns Ball and Kerr?
NewellNewell makes canning products under the names of Ball, Kerr, Golden, and Bernardin, which is the Canadian canning jar company. Products with the Ball name are sold mostly in the eastern part of the United States, while Kerr is found in the West.
Who makes Bernardin canning?
A leading brand there, Bernardin, is also manufactured by Newell but is more widely available north of the border, Bregg said. "I feel really bad because these people are new to canning and they're getting into it," and they can't continue because of the shortage, said Sharon Peterson, who runs the website SimplyCanning.
What is the boom in gardening?
The boom in gardening "meant that people for the first time are going to have either their first-time crops or bigger crops than they've had before. They're going to have to do something with it," said Joel MacCharles, who writes about canning and co-founded the website Well Preserved.
Can you use glass jars over and over?
Most of the demand is for the two-part lids necessary for canning, because they are single-use, whereas the glass jars can be used over and over. The lids have a disc that sits on the mouth of the jar with a ring that screws on around it, but after one use, the seal around the disc breaks down and can't safely be used again.
Is canning jars in short supply?
By Melissa Gray, CNN. Updated 2:03 PM ET, Wed October 7, 2020. Jars used for canning foods are in short supply this year . (CNN) The increase in the number of people cooking and trying recipes during the pandemic has led to a surge in canning -- because experienced canners are doing it more and novices want to give it a try.
If Pinterest weddings aren't to blame, what is?
We've faced a lot of shortages this year. Toilet paper, Clorox wipes , pepperoni , beef, and serotonin are just a few of the things that were depleted in the wake of COVID-19. Now, we're facing a new crisis: Mason jars -- those beautiful, versatile, pudgy little glass containers that we've grown to love so dearly -- are low in supply.
What's the point of canning in these modern times?
Canning your own food can be cheaper than buying all of your canned goods at the store in the long run, plus you can decide exactly what you're jarring. This is useful for people with allergies, people who are health-conscious, and anyone who likes to know where their food comes from.
Why the sudden spike in demand?
As you can imagine, canning requires time and expertise, and not many people have that level of devotion to the craft. COVID-19 changed all that, though. Now, people are home more often, bored more often, and looking for meaning in the randomest places.
How bad of a shortage are we talking?
Newell Brands, which manufactures the recognizable Ball and Kerr jars, claims that the entire canning industry has been experiencing demand like never before.
Is a mason jar shortage a strange concept?
By no means. We’ve seen it already before. In 2020, interest in food production absolutely went through the roof. Roughly 51% of Canadians actually reported growing at least one fruit or vegetable that year. Gardening went mainstream as people realized just how fickle the supply chain truly was.
And 2021 was no different
The newfound interest the world found in self-sufficiency did not disappear overnight. Canning supplies did. Even in 2021, the supply of canning supplies could not keep up with demand. People weren’t able to preserve their harvests as a result.
Seed shortages are likely as well this year
Seed shortages were commonplace throughout both 2020 and 2021, and now seed distributors are predicting a shortage of products this coming summer as well.
What are canning jars?
Canning jars are pretty straightforward. They’re glass jars that you use in your canner to preserve food, and they come in several sizes. Different Sizes & Kinds of Canning Jars. Canning jars come in many different sizes (most commonly pint, quart, and half-gallon). I used quart jars for years, until my children left home.
Why use wide mouth jars for canning?
Personally, I use wide-mouth jars when canning meat, because it’s easier to clean wide-mouth jars after removing the food. (Meat leaves a residue inside the jar that dishwashers can’t remove.) I also use wide-mouths for canning peaches.
Can you put canning jars in hot water?
Yes, it is because the canning jars may break if very hot food is added to a cool jar. And yes again…you may certainly put them in either a sink or pot of very hot water. I’ve even used the jars just room temperature, cautiously added a small amount of my hot food to each jar, and then gone back and filled them.
Can you use old mayonnaise jars in a pressure canner?
According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, you can use recycled jars like old mayonnaise or pickle jars from the store, but you’re better off going with actual canning jars. Don’t use them in a pressure canner, but it’s possible to use them in a water bath, though you can expect a higher failure rate.
Can you warm jars in the oven?
Just enough to warm the jars. Place them in a sink of hot water, of course the water may cool off. Just run fresh hot just before you fill them. I’ve seen it recommended that you place your jars waiting in a warm oven. However I’ve checked into that and jar manufacturers don’t recommend any oven heat for their jars.
Can peaches be canned in a jar?
When canning peaches, you’re arranging the peaches cavity-side down, and it’s easier to arrange fruit in wide-mouth jars. Wide-mouth and regular-mouth canning jars are most common here.
Can pop bottles survive processing?
1 – The pop bottles would not survive processing. It could be he is not planning on processing the bottles in a canner. He may be going to simply fill the bottles while the tomato sauce is hot. I have more information on this type of canning here.
