How are you supposed to remove the lids?

stefinmotion- unscrew them. The sealed piece is stuck to the jar til you break the seal but the ring like in the picture is just screwed on.

This is interesting and I'll be sure to do this from now on. I still get iffy about spoiled jams. I know they say a year shelf life for most but I've gone way longer- sometimes with good results sometimes with some nasty. Wonder if the lids could have contributed.

Good advice! I'm so excited for canning season to be here again:) When shuffling things around in the basement, I found a jar of peaches from 2009. Not going to chance it, but really would have loved them during Feb 2010!

I've always wondered why my mom usually gives me the bounty from her canning efforts with the rings off but never thought to ask her-now I know why.

Stefinmotion: The rings unscrew, but the lid of a home-canned jar is sealed tight by a vacuum seal in the hot-pack or pressure-cooked process. The lid itself is nearly impossible to take off by hand (or should be, if it's properly sealed). The traditional way to open a vacuum-sealed jar is to use a "church key" (google it); the flat end of a church key is used to leverage open the lid of a canning jar. Before pop-tops came into fashion, the pointy end of a church key was used to punch a hole in can of beer, juice, motor oil, etc. Actually, it's best to punch two holes-- one big one to drink or pour from, the other smaller to let air escape so it's easier to pour. If you don't have a church key, you can open the lid of home-canned foods with the edge of a blunt knife.

great, now i'm fighting the urge to start jam tonight...!

Humm....wondering if removing the ring leaves the jar lid at risk for being bumped and accidentally losing it's seal? Wouldn't it be better after canning to remove the bands, clean the jars and the area and replace the bands with new sterilized and oven dried ones? It's an extra step, but then it would removed all the risks of moisture or food residue, leading to rust, mold, and vermin.

And I completely disagree with the comment "Rings may prevent you from knowing whether the lids are still sealed properly. Spoilage may cause seals to break, so you always want to check that lids are intact before opening jars from your pantry. " The band doesn't interfere with you knowing if the jar is sealed. If you attempt to open the jar and the seal is broken, you will know it with or without a band because the characteristic gasp or inhalation sound sill be non existent.

I will be keeping my bands on. Call me old fashioned, but I think you shouldn't mess with a good thing. The band is there to provide pressure on the seal to prevent it from be accidentally bumped and inadvertently weakening the seal. Maybe I'll do an extra wipe down under the band with a sterilized wash rag before replacing the canning band with a sterilized, dry band before putting my goods away in the pantry.

My feeling on this- no scientific validity.

Everyone I know who has done this regularly has (at some point) had a jar explode. If they haven't (so far) it isn't because they won't ever have an imperfectly processed product blow up on them; it just hasn't happened YET.

The rings (locking the cap down, while pressure builds up inside the jar) are the things that cause the "explosions"- and the broken glass.

Without the rings, the pressure makes the seal pop. Grody stuff may spill out. The difference is the extent of the damage. Would you rather dump out a bad jar of fermented jelly-goo and clean a spot of leakage on the shelf; or would you prefer to clean up <u>all</u> of the contents of an exploded jar- including the shards of broken glass- from the shelf, floor and all other jars in the immediate vicinity.

Anyone who has done home winemaking knows of bottles fermenting improperly and popping their corks. Would you put a metal seal on the bottle to prevent the cork from blowing out?

Up to you. Your mess; your cleanup.

Aside from exploding jars, a real concern, there is also the prevention of the possibly rusting ring getting so stuck on the jar and lid that you can't remove it.

My mom taught me to loosen the ring a half turn before putting the goods away in the pantry, which prevents the exploding issue. Also, every year at the beginning of canning season it was my job as a knee high kitchen helper to go through the bushel basket where we keep our used canning rings and toss all the rings with rust. I think in today's world of disinfecting every surface and cutting down a million trees just so we can wipe our counters and every other surface with paper towels, that this advice is just another symptom of our over-eagerness to be super freaks with cleanliness. I read something the other day that said not to eat any canned goods you didn't can yourself, even if it was from your friend. Really?! That's just going too far. Not everything has to be monitored by the FDA to be safe, and I think I will trust my friends and their little gardens over Monsanto operated farms any day.

I too bring the ring back a quarter-turn after the jar has cooled completely. It also helps loosen any goo in there so you can get the ring off later.

I leave the rings on most of the time (unless I run short in a particular vigorous canning season) because I give so much away, and you can't give someone a jar of jelly or pickles that they can't reclose. I train them to give back the jar and the ring, so it's no loss.