Things I Hang On To - Glass Jars

There are some things that come into my home that don't go in the garbage or recycling. That is because they are not garbage, or recycling. In my house, they are useful resources.

Glass jars are in this category. I am happy I have a few stored up since there aren't too many glass jars coming into our home lately. 

That is because we are now making some of the things that we used to buy at the grocery store. Things that come in glass bottles like a wide variety of pickles, and jam.

Case in point are pickled jalapeños. Why buy them (unless you don't have a jar to put them in) when they are SO easy and fast to make? The same goes for all pickles, and lots of other things, too.

We pickle 2 small jars of jalapeños at a time, which will last us a few weeks. The recipe is for refrigerator pickles, so they do not need to be water or pressure canned. See below for recipe.

I find it very satisfying to make as much of my food from scratch as I can, and pickles of all sorts are an easy way of fulfilling that goal.

I did not taste an excellent cucumber pickle until I made them myself because I like spicy pickles and the store bought variety don't cut it in that department. 

About the only good thing about store bought pickles, in my opinion, is the glass jar they come in. I like the jars more than the pickles inside.

The best part for me is that by reclaiming self-reliance skills, I can reduce my dependence on the conventional economy. You know, the one currently breaking down. 

Reducing dependence on the system is always my overriding goal, and always has been. That is more important today than it has ever been in my lifetime.

Glass jars are things I have always hung on to, and now I can see the wisdom of that, with pandemic shortages affecting availability of official canning jars, although I know they aren't equivalent.

Has anyone out there tried hot water canning with reused store-bought jars?

I saw a video recently of an Italian family that has been growing/making and canning tomato sauce for generations. I noticed that none of the jars they used were official canning jars. 

All the jars they used were reused with reused lids. They had a humungous pot of boiling water on a fire out in the yard, and just tossed the tomato sauce jars into it haphazardly for processing. 

According to all official information, these people were definitely rogue canners.

We are told we should worry about botulism and breaking glass when using ordinary reused jars, but the grandma in the video had been using the same method for 40 years and was still around to share her tomato sauce with her grandkids.

I always hang on to glass jars, and they are very useful in many ways, but can they be used for canning? 

Is that Italian grandma crazy, or does she just like living dangerously?

Or are mason jar manufacturers overstating the importance of their expensive and now hard to get product?

Recipe

Refrigerator Pickles: Jalapeños

Ingredients

- 4 or 5 medium/large jalapeño cut into disks

- white vinegar to fill jar half full

- water to top up jars

- optional ingredients include a pinch of salt, sugar, spices, or garlic.

Directions

Cut jalepenos, place in squeaky clean jars. Fill half way with vinegar. Top up with water, and add any optional ingredients.

Close jars, agitate gently for a minute or so. Set on kitchen counter for 24 hours. After that time, turn jars upside down for another 24 hours. Then put in fridge and enjoy. 

Good in fridge for up to 4 weeks. 

You may never buy pickled jalepenos from the store again. Unless you need a 250ml glass jar.