How To Open A Canning Jar

We have many jars in our homes. Some are for storing perishable items, while others are for preserving other kinds of food. The canning jar, aka the “Mason Jar” is one of them. There are also moments when these jars can be used to bake too because they can withstand high temperatures. Whichever purpose they serve in your home, the contents wouldn’t come at by mere wish, would they? So, you need to open the canning jar to let out the contents. But, things might not be as easy as you anticipate. Read on to find out why and the solutions to it!

What Is the Canning Jar?

What is this “Canning Jar” that many homeowners seem to have on his or her shelves? The canning jar, which is also called the “Mason Jar,” is the brainchild/innovation of John Landis Mason. He designed and patented the glass in the year 1858. The aim is to model a glass jar that would be used for many purposes in the home, such as preserving and heating food, if need be. The jar can also protect other perishables, such as fruits and vegetables.

How To Open A Canning Jar

How To Remove the Stuck Ring and Open the Canning Jar

The lid screwed to the threaded-glass tip of the jar is the most significant feature. Although some of these jars do not come with rings at their top for opening them, the chances are high that you would come across one that has a stuck ring. In such an instance, you may have a hard time removing the ring that had cemented into the jar.

Whether the stuck ring came about because the opened jar was stored in the refrigerator or because of some brine/food residue that cemented the ring onto the jar, you can always remove it without breaking a sweat. Below are some of the ways to open a canning jar.

  • Brute Force

There may be no way that the residue that glued the ring to the lid of the canning jar would prevent you from opening it. The only thing to do here is to try harder. You can achieve success at that by adding brute force into the mix.

First, try opening the lid of the canning jar with all the might you’ve got. When that doesn’t seem to pay off, you may want to use a rag or some kitchen cloth to twist the lid until it gives way.

  • Tap the Lid with a Spoon

This attempt at opening the canning jar is only advised if the jar had been stored in the fridge after being opened for the first time. The idea is that some food particles might have made their way up to the lid of the canning jar, and after staying there for some time, caused the cover to get stuck.

If that is your suspicion (that may be true anyway), then you may want to tap the lid of the canning jar with a spoon. Doing that helps to dislodge the food particles into the pot while you now have it more comfortable to open the cover.

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  • Heat the Ring with a Hair Dryer

We know that the hairdryer aids in the removal of moisture from the hair after washing. A similar trick can be achieved when it suctions some of the glue or residue that forced the ring tightly onto the lid. Also, heating the ring with the hairdryer is ideal for breaking off anything that could be pushing the lid from opening.

The rule of thumb is to channel the heating to the lid of the jar. That way, the lid (metal) heats more than the glass because that is the primary target.

  • Run the Lid Under Warm/Hot Water

There is no end to how to open a canning jar. If the other methods didn’t go as you expected, then you may want to use the most utilized way – running the lid of the canning jar under warm or hot water.

The general idea here is that by turning the lid of the canning jar into any of the warm or the hot water and leaving it for some time, the particles forcing the lid from opening would then begin to give way.

On the other hand, there are some exceptions when using this method. It should be noted that running the lid of the canning jar on warm or hot water is exclusive to those canning jars that are not refrigerated. If you have opened and placed the jar in your refrigerator, then this option isn’t the best way to open a canning jar. That is because a canning jar that has been in the freezer tends to be cold. In that instance, it would be an arduous task for the particles to give way. Instead, the coldness of the lid tends to overshadow the inputs of the warm/hot water.

  • Break the Vacuum Seal

This option is feasible only if the bottle hadn’t been opened. Also, you should be sure that the canning jar is new, and that the vacuum is still sealed. Once all those have been confirmed, you can then proceed to open it.

Breaking the seal in this instance demands that you use a bottle opener to pull the lid away from the jar.

  • Heat the Center of the Lid

If every other effort at opening the canning jar failed, this option here might not fail. Worthy of note is that metal, which is also used to make the canning jar’s lid, has higher rates of thermal conductivity. The implication is that it would heat faster.

That said, you should be aiming to channel the heat to the center of the lid. When you do that by running hot water around the ring or at the center of the lid, the heat will make rapid spreading to the ring and the edges of the canning jar. When you’re satisfied, twist the lid, and it would come off.

Open a Canning Jar with Ease

You don’t have to beat yourself up when your canning jar refuses to open. Just use any of the ideas above to open it without hassles. If you have any other ideas on how to open a canning jar, we would be glad to know them. Share them via the comment section!