Preserving jars in the UK

Where do people in the UK buy their jars from? I want to learn how to pickle and maybe preserve some jam over the next couple of weeks and I want to try to find a good deal on jars.

I know most people in the US use Ball jars and I've found a few companies that sell Le Parfait over here though they seem more expensive. I try to avoid Amazon as I don't like how the company treats its employees but they seem to be the cheapest that I can find so far. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Addy,

We got our jars for free by putting a request out on Nextdoor - I don't know if you have that in your neighbourhood but it's a kind of low-key, local social media. A lovely old lady gave us her collection of old Kilner jars, some of which are about 100 years old.

In the process of cataloging them (to understand what we had been given and to find spares) I built a little website: Vintage Kilner Jars. If you end up with old jars, you might find it useful.

I have also had success buying cheap Kilner and similar jars from Wilko. I imagine they still sell them - although I did hear that they might be going into administration, so perhaps best to try them soon!

We tend to 'can' preserves in reused jars that we save ourselves, ask for on Facebook/Nextdoor or save on recycling day. With a good wash (a dishwasher would be ideal, as it gets so hot, but we don't have one) and a stint in the oven (start from cold, set to 120 degrees, leave them in there for 20 minutes) they are perfectly sterile. We make sure the lids are sterilised in boiling water and add the contents whilst it and the jar are hot.

A final thought is that honey jars come with screw caps and you can buy these, and spare lids, from honey suppliers (e.g. Thorns or Maisemore). They jars aren't cheap but the replacement lids are too bad and I suspect you could get a few uses out of one before the seal fails.

If you find any good sources, do let us know!

Buy jam jars!?

I actually do use almost exclusively reused jars and lids. which 9/10 work perfectly fine as long as they are sterilised properly. Are you wanting to water bath treat your preserves (as in the US?) in which case you may need canning lids etc.

Lakeland would be the obvious place to go for new jars. It looks like they do mail order too. In my experience they are not particularly cheap, but generally pretty good quality.

There are various other mail order companies, but I've never tried any. If I ever do get my kitchen certified I would have to investigate because the expectations are different for jam for sale.

I've not had much experience with pickles however. I do make chutney and the acid in these can affect the lids for reuse, and sometimes leaves a smell in the jar too. Jars do tend to be in standard sizes and it is possible to buy just the lids if you know what size/style you have (which is where buying new gives an advantage).

Hi, yeah - same. I reuse jars where possible but for canning in the pressure cooker I use Kilner. I’ve been buying mine from Dunelm - wait for the sales - and I buy replacement lids through eBay.

I've saved jars over the last couple of years, but most of them are being used to store my herbs and spices or make oil infusions. There's also a part of me that's a bit worried that I won't sterilise them properly as I don't have a dish washer. I'll research it more and also try out the oven technique Luke mentioned.

The cellphone covers work really well. Create an airtight seal but you need to use the jam or other preserve fairly quickly after opening https://www.lovejars.co.uk/shop/catalogue/jam-making-equipment/jampot-covers/

https://www.greedygourmet.com/condiments/equipment/wax-discs/

I also reuse jars and lids, and I "can" after a fashion:  using my stock pot with a cloth folded underneath, I'll put my sealed jars in and fill it with boiling water up to their shoulders (about 3/4 of the way up the jars) and boil them like that for 10 minutes.  I take the jars out and let them cool on my counter;  the lids usually all pop as they cool to show they've sealed--any that don't I will put in the fridge to eat right away (though this doesn't happen most years).

I'm kind of paranoid about botulism, so the only preserves I make this way are jams and whole fruit preserves;  I know that the acid and sugar content is too high for botulism to grow in these, and any other spoilage is easy to see/smell.  

Oh yes, and for pickling, I got some kilner type jars from ikea;  they are 1.8L capacity and hold about a dozen gherkins each :)  I also bought two 3.3L glass jars with separate lids too--one is full of a mixture of veg and spices, fermenting on my counter.  Obviously these don't seal like the jam jars, but I only expect them to live in the fridge and get eaten this year.  I've had a couple of the larger jars for several years now, and went and bought several more this summer.

I re-use jars for jam and chutney as much as I can, but if not I buy from the local farm store.  I used to have some kilner-type jars, but found them too awkward in use and filling.  Ordinary jam jars, well washed, filled with boiling water and left to stand on the draining board, then emptied and put in a warm oven to dry out before filling, and the lids are boiled in a pan.

If you need to buy jars I would second lovejars and also add https://www.glassjarsandbottles.com/ for reasonably priced jars. Both companies also sell replacement lids as they do wear out or become unreliable.

If you covet the fabulous Weck jars, and want to buy more than a hand full, and want choice of all shapes and sizes, it would be cheapest and best to get them from a whole sale company in Germany. Unfortunately, Weck does not send jars to the UK, but the company Gläser und Flaschen do. They sell any quantity, with discount for greater volumes. They have occasional sales on with, on average, 25% discount. They do individual jars, lids, rings and clamps, but also sets of 6 with all parts included. If you get them on sale, and some models at any time, they are not much more than buying directly from Weck. It would appear that jars don't incur duty. In any case, they only send parcels up to 15kg which usually brings the sales value to well below the duty threshold. The item description actually tells you the estimated weight (including packaging) individually, but if you just dump them into the cart, it works out the total weight on the fly. You can then adjust the quantity inside the cart. The biggest expense is the postage. A parcel up to 15kg  is €27.83 - at current conversion rate £23.33. VAT is all sorted their side. It's really quite painless going through the buying process, except for being spoiled by choice. Alas, it would appear that they only have a German text website.

Weck jars are quite versatile. I use them for fermenting (lid of next mouth size down will fit into a jar as dunker, though they may tilt as being on the thin side) and storing dehydrated goods with a vacuum. The Weck jars form the most reliable vacuum with an improvised vacuum chamber and a hand pump. I also apply a vacuum to fermenting jars. Has many advantages. Just repeat a couple or so times a day during the more vigorous phase, then ease off. The downward position of the pull tap will tell you if the vacuum is lost. The clips will hold the lid in place and if the fermenting is still going on, no air gets into the jar. Yet, the clips and rubber ring allow enough flexing to allow air to to be pulled out with the pump, and gases to escape. If you let them build up too much, that may cause a little mishap, though not one I've experienced so far. Vacuuming the jar also takes out trapped air from pockets and produce is more likely prevented from floating, very important in the early stages.

Oh, couple more thing about Weck jars, there are no parts to rust in our damp UK climate. The clips are S/S. The rubber rings are reusable until you actually see degradation. If handled gently they will last a fair few times. Excessive stretching is one enemy, so dab them dry, don't pull a cloth along. For the 100mm mouth jars you can also get oil resistant rings if you bottle any fatty things like meat, which is no good for natural rubber. They may also last better with fermenting. My Kilner rings disintegrated rather fast in that environment. For fermenting in Wecks, however, I made some rings from a 1.5mm thick sheet of food safe silicone. It doesn't hold a vacuum as well over a longer period, but for fermented goods it's not as critical as for bottling when a small amount of air will ruin your preserves. The oil resistant rings are made of "Thermoplastische Elastomere (Rottolit)"  (info via request).

Here is the Weck jar page (without bottles) https://www.glaeserundflaschen.de/weck/weck-glaeser/?p=1&o=11&n=60
.

Also, for anyone who understands German, the former owner of this company (now CEO of it) has a great YouTube channel ("Steffi kocht ein") about preserving. She has some microbiology training and is very knowledgeable on risks such as botulism.  

I agree, having used the Kilner jars for preserving and fermenting I have noticed how the Kilner lids become rusty very fast and I don't feel confident to give them away as presents.  I'll look into Weck jars, and I also found these jars in my recent search for Kilner replacements:
https://www.pearljars.com/en/products/canning-starter-kit?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=976974733&pr_rec_pid=8586653663567&pr_ref_pid=9473972142415&pr_seq=uniform

Judith Pi wrote:
Weck jars are quite versatile. I use them for fermenting (lid of next mouth size down will fit into a jar as dunker, though they may tilt as being on the thin side) and storing dehydrated goods with a vacuum.

I second the Weck jars. I used to live in Germany, and I still order Weck if I need more jars for canning. I keep Ball jars for storage, but nothing beats Weck for canning. I found that the rubber rings have lasted me through 5 years or so for the most part.  

Bess Saunders wrote: I also found these jars in my recent search for Kilner replacements:
https://www.pearljars.com/en/products/canning-starter-kit?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=976974733&pr_rec_pid=8586653663567&pr_ref_pid=9473972142415&pr_seq=uniform

Wow, those are fabulous! Thanks! The classic Mason jar without the downsides, the jar I had dreamed of with everlasting neutral lid and band and long-lasting neutral rings. A pity about the distance, price and limited range (the range may still improve with some customer feedback). Also the inability to buy certain jars outside of a set. For example, the fermenting set includes one perfect jar with straight sides. Alas, you can't buy that shape separately at all. The shouldered jar is no good for keeping down floaters. And what if you want to ferment a bunch of things? End up with half a dozen pounders?

One other little criticism is the lack of certain information. If anyone is thinking of getting those jars, here are a couple bits of information hard to come by on the website, or is not obvious. The only reference I found on mouth size was on the canning starter set page: 70mm OD. The dimensions given for Mariposa jars are "diameter = 81/97mm". I assume the 81mm is the mouth? It is also not expressly stated that the "Storage" range has solid screw lids, whereas the "Luna Preserve" has the typical Mason type lid with band. The former is not suitable for vacuum sealing. At first glance photos of the screw lid could be of a band with the disk still inside. Last, but not least, they bury an amazing feature of the "Luna Preserve" in a blog post. Unlike the typical flat edged Mason lid, the Luna lid has a rim to go around the sealing ring with a gap for pushing against the ring to release the vacuum with minimal effort or distortion of the ring. That rim also makes the lid more rigid. Releasing a vacuum on a Mason lid can easily deform the lid, and is quite awkward from what I've seen.

The one thing for which I still use twist off lid jars is frequent access foods. The clipped Weck lid is too awkward, and the various push on lids are not air-tight enough. Those lids mean spoilage of dry goods in our damp climate. That is where the Mason type jar would be ideal.

I'd say this jar is one for TEOTWAWKI.

Suzanne Jabs wrote: I found that the rubber rings have lasted me through 5 years or so for the most part.  

Thanks, that is good to know. I've only had Wecks for about 2-3 years. When not in use, I try to store the rings in an airtight container, flat and dark. I think that would help prolong life. But whatever composition their natural rubber is, it is a lot better than Kilner's.

Hi everyone, here is Lukas, the person behind Pearl Jars (www.pearljars.com). I am so grateful for reading your comments about our closures, you really understand the whole concept. I always felt strange that we are still using the same systems as 70 ago and so I thought it might be time for something new. I love that we are still using great systems such as Weck, but I also felt the need for a reusable canning lid in the Mason Jar style.

Just to address a couple of points directly from this discussion:

You're correct about the lids, our Luna Preserve jars (https://www.pearljars.com/en/collections/canning-preserving/products/original-luna-preserving-jar) indeed feature a specially designed lid with a rim, making vacuum release easy and protecting the integrity of the sealing ring. We're working on making this information clearer on our website!

Regarding the availability of jars separately, we're actively gathering customer feedback to better adapt our product offering, including more flexibility in purchasing individual jars or specific shapes.

Lastly, I'm excited to share that Pearl Jars are now more easily accessible in the UK through our partnership with Glass Jars & Bottles. You can browse and purchase the range directly here:

https://www.glassjarsandbottles.com/collections/pearl-canning-preserving-jars-and-accessories

Thanks again for your insights, they help us continuously improve!

Ah and if you want to know more, you can always follow us on our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pearljars/ or follow our Newsletter under https://www.pearljars.com/en

Cheers,
Lukas
www.pearljars.com

Hi Lukas, thanks for commenting and for developing Pearl Jars!

I've just caught up with the comments about them and they look fantastic. I love the stainless steel rings on them as that's my biggest gripe about my (very) old Kilners - rusting metalwork.

There are some fantastic comments, particularly by Judith, and I second the views about more purchasing flexibility and detailed technical specifications (dimensions, etc.).

I'm glad to learn that they are available in the UK and I'll be picking some up when I next need some jars.