Blue Ball Canning Jars

13 years ago

Many years ago I was given several boxes of canning jars from a friend who was cleaning out her storage shed. So I put them in my garage because I was not into canning at that time. Now I am!

So this is what I found -- about 2 dozen blue quart size jars that say

Ball Perfect Mason on the front with rounded shoulders at the top.

They don't have any nicks or scratches and the rims are smooth.

Can I use these jars for BWB canning by today's standards? I was told

NO but I don't know why. They are in the dishwasher right now and I really want to use them. The only thing I can think of is that the finished product might not look appetizing through the blue glass.

Should I go for it? Or just use them as vases as was suggested?

--gloria

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Comments (11)

digdirt2
13 years ago
Did you check to see if the rings and lids will fit them? Some do but some of them used the old glass lids and rubber rings and some required the old metal ceramic lined one piece lids.

If they don't fit then your question is answered. If they do fit then there is no reason you can't use them. EXCEPT they are very valuable as a collector item. Most consider them too valuable to use for routine canning. ;)

Dave
Linda_Lou
13 years ago
They may break due to age.
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Ball bought Kerr about 15-20 years ago, and then started to market the Golden Harvest jars about 7 years ago, for those who want to pay slightly less for the the generic brand. I don't know about HD jars, but there were many makers of all glass jars with wire bails and glass domed lids. These used a rubber ring for the seal. Only problem, you can't tell if they are under vacuum or not once processed. Today, no one should be using the all glass bail wire types anymore. The addition of the small embossed 'dimple' at the center of the metal lids was first introduced by Kerr many years ago. They used to call it the 'Magic Button'. The dimple goes concave once there is a vacuum inside the sealed jars. The ever familar 'plink' sound is heard while cooling. Even though home canning has increased a little in recent years, the makers of these jars have not expanded their product lines. With Ball as the only maker still in the US, we are at the mercy of their designs and marketing ploys. In Canada, they are known as Bernardin. In England and New Zealand, there is a Foster brand.
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Sorry, didn't mean you needed to list them all. :) Just meant give us a couple of specific recipe examples where your results have been way off so we could look up the recipe and maybe help ID what may be the cause. Surprisingly, based on posts in the past, most seem to find they get more jars than less and so prepare more jars rather then less. But some examples of general causes of a big difference between the recipe's predictions and results of much less: 1) as with coralb's post above - using the wrong size of jars 2) accidentally leaving out an ingredient and not realizing it - happens more often than you might think especially for new folks and some recent posts here on just that issue 3) mistakes in measuring as Linda Lou mentioned 4) chopping/grinding/dicing - all those terms mean very different things to some folks and particle size can make a BIG difference in the end result. This is especially common with chutneys and relishes. Chutneys are typically a very coarse chop while relishes are a very find chop or a grind. So if you grind chutney ingresients you'll get less jars. 5) over-packing the jars with solids and not enough liquid (the most common cause by far and the only one that poses a potential safety issue). People tend to over-cram either to make it look like store-bought to to avoid having left overs. Especially common when doing tomatoes whole or in halves. 6) over-cooking before jarring results is softer, more compact food particles - BIG effect on tomatoes. 7) the food quality/juiciness controls the amount of liquid A point about Sure Jell vs. the other pectins. Sure Jell is a much harder set than the other brands, especially the Ball Brand pectins. So with Sure Jell's rock-hard set you will often get less 1/2 pint jars. One reason why many of us don't like to use Sure Jell and prefer Ball or Pomona. Personally I'll use Certo if I have to before I'll use Sure Jell. But the important issue is safety of the foods and when done properly the foods should be safe even if it is a jar off. Hope this helps some and if you haven't, consider purchasing the Ball Complete Book of Home Food Preserving. Dave PS: is your BBB the new edition? There have been many changes.
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dirtundermyfingers
13 years ago
This year when canning, my 7 year old was helping me get jars and she handed me a blue jar, I thought what the heck and when ahead and canned in them, and they turned out just fine. A plus is they make a special gift!!

Stacie
girlbug2
13 years ago
Personally I'd at least try them. Unless of course you'd rather sell them on Ebay or some such. Who knows how much you'd actually be able to get for them, plus packing and shipping glass requires care. But since you are into canning, wouldn't it be more satisfying to use them?
gardengal19
Original Author
13 years ago
Dave -- The rings and lids fit just fine. Some of the jars looked like they were never used ----- before I even put them into the dishwasher and now they all look so sparkly clean....maybe it's the blue color. Anyway, I will enjoy using them!

They might be somewhat of a collectible now--- but, I consider them my
"Garage Sale" find!
If I don't break any along the way, maybe the grandkids will enjoy them too!....someday -- when they grow up!!

--gloria
readinglady
13 years ago
Those "collectibles" won't bring you enough money to worry about, so you may as well use them.

In 1976 Ball produced a commemorative series of blue jars, so they may not be all that old anyway. (Well, not from the perspective of an oldster like me.) In every respect except for color they're a standard canning jar.

Carol
busylizzy
13 years ago
Blue Perfect Mason Jars are worth $2.00 if you can even get that around here. They were all over at yeard sales this summer.
I like the perfect mason series, they seem thicker glass.
Have never has one break on me in the HWB canner.
The only place I know where they cannot be used is in canning competitions.

Now, if you find a Amber colored Globe Lightening Jar, lemme know.
digdirt2
13 years ago
Only $2.00? Down in this neck of the woods the old blue (not the commemorative ones - Carol's right, I forgot about those) sell for $10-15 dollars each.

The ladies at the Thrift Shop joke about how they can sell one of the blues and get enough to buy 2 boxes of new jars to use.

Glad to hear the lids fit on yours. ;)

Dave
annie1992
13 years ago
Wow, here you can't even get $2 from them. I have a bunch in my pantry that I use to keep dried beans, multi grain hot cereals, rice, etc. They have the old metal/ceramic lined lids so they at least look cool and they keep me from spilling half a bag of rice all over because it's been opened.

I'd go ahead and use them...

Annie
readinglady
13 years ago
Here if you got $1.50 you'd be lucky.

We gave away boxes full and kept the rest to store glass frit. I never was wild about how food looked in those jars.

Carol
gardengal19
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm into dehydrating too and the jars will be the perfect place for them.
Thanks everyone!
-- gloria

Blue Ball Canning Jars

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Blue Ball Canning Jars

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