Here’s a quick post to answer a question my sister had: How can you tell the difference between used and new canning lids? There are a few ways to tell. First, the new ones are in a box and second, the used ones have the date sharpied on them :) However, if you used lids on freezer jam, they aren’t in the box and have a date sharpied on them, but they are still not USED. And sometimes new lids get mixed in with old lids in the sack/box/wherever you keep your canning goods. And sometimes you might not have marked the lids. So here’s a better method. Turn them over and look at the gummy stuff around the rim. If it’s smooth like this one, it has not been sealed and is good to use to seal a jar.
If it has a deep jar rim indentation in the gummy stuff, like this one, it has already been sealed and cannot be used again.
Sometimes if the lid has been on a jar like for freezer jam, or if you store your empty jar with a lid on it and the gummy side has been against the jar rim, it will have a slight indentation in the gummy stuff, but it’s still good to use. It will not be as deep an indentation as a lid that has sealed. Hope that helps!
Keep preparing! Angela
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Ah, I see it now! Thank you!
This is very helpful – I haven’t started canning yet so this will be very helpful to know when I do!
Also – just so you don’t have to go dig through the comments on my blog :-) I’m glad you liked the links in the “reading assignment”. I’m still working my way through that third one too. He’s got a LOT of stuff there. I haven’t been going in and checking out the workbook pages yet either – I suspect that will take a long time too! Good stuff though and good for a chuckle here and there too.