Golden Harvest brand jars work fine. They are all made by the same company. ;)

The classico jar - USDA canning rules and I say don't use anything but regular canning jars. I had too many cracks and/or poor seals whenever I tried. But I know many do use them. Your choice. ;)

The seed saving - it's not the ideal way as they need pulp to ferment in for several days and often aren't as ripe as a seed-saver tomato needs to be (over-ripe). But if you want to try saving seed, just squeeze them out of a couple of tomatoes (assuming they are OP varieties and not hybrids) into a small container before running the rest of the tomato through the mill.

Can't help you with the citric acid as I prefer the lemon juice. Some claim a taste change from the lemon but I don't see any and I think it keeps the color of the tomatoes better. JMO. ;)

Good luck and enjoy your produce! ;)

Dave

To use citric acid, 1/2 teaspoon. per quart and 1/4 for pints. I have hundreds of all makes of canning jars. Kerr, Ball, Bernardin as well as Golden Harvest. When I need extra I buy Golden Harvest and find no difference in quality and use them to pressure can. I like the price also.
Seems all the canning jar manufacturers are owned by the same big conglomerate. Jarden. This doesn't assure all jars are made of the same quality. The factories are still doing it their way.

Jarden is very big. Thsy just recently aquired Oster, Sunbeam, and also Food Saver, Seal A Meal, and of course Villaware.. They also supply all the playing cards at gambling places.

I have a Tila Foodsaver :) I love mine too as it saves me money. I buy bunches of meat when it is on sale and freeze it using my foodsaver.

Each model is different, but the extended seal may not squish stuff as much. Some models have a button that you can press as you are sealing and when you get to the point where you want it to seal you push that.

I bought the canisters for cookies and stuff like that, but you need to check them as they do tend to lose their seal after a few days which I find annoying.

All in all I love my Foodsaver and highly recommend it over any other brand.

I hope this helps :)

Wow, lots of questions. The lemon juice called for in canning recipes is the bottled kind - green bottle - not fresh, because the bottled is a standardized acidity. You can't sub vinegar in equal amounts because it's not as strong and if you added sufficient vinegar to equal the lemon juice the taste would be way off. You can sub bottled lemon juice for vinegar, though (as in canned salsa).

Golden Harvest jars are fine. I agree they work just as well as others. The old Classico jars worked for canning but the threads on the new ones don't fit as well as you think. They've been modified and you'll probably see seal failures if you use them.

I have a FoodSaver Pro that allows me to set a lighter vacuum. I do use it for frozen raspberries. I haven't had any problems at all with vacuum canisters losing vacuum, even over months. I have the older canisters, so maybe that makes a difference, I don't know. But I doubt it. Those canisters should hold a vacuum as long as you want.

Carol

I think a lot of jar manufacturers changed the threading on their jars to keep people from using them for canning. Maybe liability issues? I have lots of old Classico jars and don't use them in the pressure canner, but do a lot of my HWB canning in them. I love them, but they have a smaller capacity than the standard quart jars. And that's perfectly fine for some things I don't really need a full quart for.

I use lemon juice for tomatoes as well. Am satisfied with the taste. If it tastes too sour, you may add sugar safely. It masks the acidity, but supposedly does not affect the acidity of the product at all.

I have never been one for electric kitchen gadgets, but the rationale behind the vacuum sealing for freezer products is very valid. If you are using zip lock bags for irregularly shaped products like breads, where you cannot get the bag to fit them without air space, there is no reason you cannot wrap the product in plastic wrap first and then bag them. Freezer burn is such a wasteful thing.

Wow!...thanks for the help ya'll. I thought my computer ate this message before it actually posted (I couldn't find it for several days :grrr:)

Anyway, the clasico jars, after I pulled the lables off, I noticed they say "Atlas Mason" on it. I'm guessing that they will be ok to use...for BWB anyway. I'm too chicken to use them for pressure canning...well whenever I get a pressure canner anyway :D

Since the Golden harvest are well used...I'll see if I can go stock up before they run out ;)

I'm working on getting enough sauce to make it worth canning (it takes *SO* long to get water boiling at this altitude). I'm making plain sauce and freezing it right now.

The "Atlas Mason" on the Classico jars is irrelevant. It doesn't mean they're suited for canning. But it's your call.

Carol

I haven't had any trouble with them in a bwb. But I haven't used the newer ones.

Just curious, where did you find the jars on sale?

I've found them on sale for a reduced cost at both Walmart and Kmart (they don't sale them at any of the BigLots around here - I've checked several)

They carry them at the grocery stores, but they don't mark them down round here :(

I've canned for years, and keep an inventory of probably five to six hundred jars of all sizes. I've given them to my kids, used them for things other than canning (like making chicken waterers for the peeps), and don't feel bad giving away my home-canned products knowing full well that the jars seldom return.

If you auction, these are common in the inventory. So many auctions are from estates. Ditto estate sales. Another good place to look for perfectly good canning jars are charity shops, like Goodwill. Home canning was so common for housewives in rural (and not so rural) areas, where home gardens were the norm, and also during the depression and war years. When young folks clean out their parent's or grandparents homes, the jars leave there in boxes for a song.

One more question.
Does anyone know where to lids for the Golden Harvest Canisters made in the 1980's. The opening is 4 inches and jars were sold with both metal and plastic lids.
I need 3 of them. Most wholesale lid companies want you to buy several thousand of them - not practical.
Any ideas for a source???
Jim in So Calif