Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello,
I am after some advice reference kilner jars. I have been given a load of pears and want to lay them down in syrup. I see kilner jars with screw lids and some flip top ones. Can I use both?. I had a look around the shops and have seen the flip top ones for sale from £1.50 to £3. My wife thinks they are not suitable for what we want to do and they are meant only for dry goods. Any advice would be most welcome.
thankyou in antcipation
Lez

I havent seen screw top ones for years. I should think flip top are the same working principle, so long as they have the rubber seals.

Hello Lez
I'm afraid I can't help you with the jar bit - we have all screw type jars. With these the lid is gently tightened before the preserving and then screwed up really tight at the end of the process while the jars are still hot. Not sure how you would do this with a flip lid.
You say you are going to use syrup for the pears though. If it is any help to you we simply use water (boiled then allowed to cool) for preserving apples or pears in jars. A month or so after processing the liquid has developed a lovely natural sweet syrup of its own from the fruit.

John

I've just bottled my pears in syrup in flip top kilner jars which when filled were water bath/steam sealed. They seem fine.

To all
Thanks and I will give it a go. John. I like the idea of just adding water and the fruit making it's own syrup I will try both ways I now know. Chantal. excuse my ignorance but when you say steam/bath sealed I am not sure what you mean. Nice to know you use the flip top jars aswell. I went and purchased 4 jars last night and was suprised how fast they have disappeared off the shelf. Must be a good buy.
thanks to all
Lez

I use both. Look out for them at the Pound shops - bargain purchases!

Hi Lez

I had to do this with passata bottles as they were too big to submerge, so did it with kilner jars too.

Filled my maslin pan half full of water. Hand tightened the lids and stood the jars on a trivit to keep off the direct heat and put a dishcloth between the jars. I then put a plastic bucket (small one) over the top of the jars and submerged the edge into the water. Bring the water to the boil and keep there for around 40 minutes. This apparently pasteurises the contents of the bottles.

Seems to work, so far.

[quote="Chantal"]Hi Lez

I had to do this with passata bottles as they were too big to submerge, so did it with kilner jars too.

Filled my maslin pan half full of water. Hand tightened the lids and stood the jars on a trivit to keep off the direct heat and put a dishcloth between the jars. I then put a plastic bucket (small one) over the top of the jars and submerged the edge into the water. Bring the water to the boil and keep there for around 40 minutes. This apparently pasteurises the contents of the bottles.

Seems to work, so far.
In Modern English ?

Sorry, what?

Chantal wrote:Sorry, what?

Merely my attempt at humour. I have never heard those expressions before; can you explain,please.

Hi Ron

If pictures are woth a thousand word...


Maslin pan



Trivet

Or, jam pan and metal thing

My trivit is in fact just a metal coiled mat without the little rubber feet, which fits neatly into the bottom of my jam pan.

Thank you,both.

To all
Thanks for the advice and the piccy's coz I had no idea what a maslin pan or trivett was. I had a go at the preserving of pears at the week end but they are going brown. Back to the drawing board and try again I suppose. Any tips on this would be gratefully recieved. Thakyou to all.
Lez

Hi Lez

When you peel the pears, put them into a bowl of water with a smidge of salt and some lemon juice and leave them there for half an hour.

When you pack them into the jars, just drain the water, no need to rinse and this stops the discolouration.