We got to it and bottled 15 jars of apricots yesterday,I process, hubs is in charge of the “cooking” process ( we use a pressure canner set up in-the shed ) use Ball Mason jars. . I have Weck brand jars as well however they can’t be or at least we’ve not had any success canning in the pressure canner , as the lid blows off despite have clamps o them. I’d normally” save” the Weck jars for when I buy pears but with the ongoing pandemic I can’t buy replacement lids for my BM jars ( just the flat disk part of lid ) .so I have to use them for the apricots. Giving the apricots a break today while waiting for more apricots to be “just right” for bottling because it quite a bit cooler we are waiting for the remaining fruit left on tree to ripen a little more which should be only a couple of days . We have the selected drying apricots reserved but sitting on the bench for a day or two to be just right for drying in half’s ( sometimes we dry as slabs rather than half’s ) but seeming our apricots are huge and mostly blemish free we thought we’d do them in half’s this year Intend drying 20 kg ( fresh weight ) which yields about 3-4 kg of dried fruit which we mainly use for snacks . Photos to come latter
The apricots we processed yesterday Our drying “tables” hubs made from old sliding screen doors are set up ready for action
Kate, I have some lids left over from last summer that I could send you but you would be through canning before they could get there. I wonder if I should order some more for myself now if they are hard to find. What's a weck jar?
The lids are available in the US as I could buy them Amazon however a $40 spend on lids will cost me approx $60 in postage . I believe the lids may be made in Canada ? ? I’ll look on the empty box I have to check . Weck jars have a glass lid and a thin rubber sealing ring @Shirley Martin
They come I all shapes and sizes @Shirley Martin I made our Christmas puddings in a squat bubble shaped one. No the rubber bands are NOT reusable but they are pretty cheap ..like $3 for 10 .. I might be forced to change over to that brand
They are no more expensive than ball mason jars if you buy them at he right place The big WECK ones like I used for pears are $6 each for a I Lt. jar. ( you would know as a quart jar in BM brand ) and that usually includes a rubber band and clips. Here the cheapest BM jars ( I used to be able to buy ) was at a variety chain store clothing / homewares it cost me $30 for 6 500 ml jars = $5 .00 each ( the smaller ones in photo)
Here's a dumb suggestion from someone who doesn't know what he's talking about...could you reuse something like pickle jars for canning after the pickles are eaten?
No question is a dumb ?? In my opinion …. Yes my friend preserves in similar jars in the microwave I’m yet to try the method my dear friend supplied to me . I might try this afternoon @Ed Wilson
Our apricots we’ve put out this morning to dry .it will take about 4 days depending on how hot it is . We used to dry them in full sun but now days we find part shade is better result for softer dried fruit . This is 20 kg of fresh fruit . I was using this same method years before meeting hubs in 1986 . I’ve had so many ask me if I sell the finished fruit but it’s a no I keep them in-the freezer for our own use mainly for snacks