Masor Jar, Oxy Absorber, Dry Canning How to

[techguy]

This is a work in progress. It looks like I am going to have to copy and paste all the pics and text.

I am not sure if I can lock the thread or not, if not, please respect my work area until I give the all clear.

[techguy]

Finally got my 1/2 gallon mason jars washed, dried, filled, vacuumed, and sealed.

During the process we weighed all ingredients to make sure we can accurately estimate how much dry goods to purchase in order to fill our jars:

Black Eyes Peas: 3lbs
Lima Beans: 3lbs
Kidney Beans: 3lbs
Pinto Beans: 3.25 lbs
Green Split Peas: 3.5 lbs
Rice: 3.5 lbs
Small Red Beans: 3 lbs
Light Brown Sugar: 3lbs
Lentils: 3.5 lbs
Penne Pasta: 2lbs


Now for the process:

1. Washed all jars in dishwasher on high heat, heated dry, with 1/2 cup bleach and normal dishwashing detergent

2. Dried jars thoroughly

3. Fill jars as full ass possible leaving enough room for oxygen absorbers

4. Boiled Lids

5. Dried Lids

6. Placed oxygen absorbers in all jars (we used 2 because they were very small, even though rated at 500cc, this should be MASSIVE overkill)

7. Placed lids on jars

8. Vacuum sealed all jars with foodsaver and mason jar sealer.


The last pic is of my oxygen absorber test using 2 small oxy absorbers from MRE depot and a small mason jar. We inserted 2 oxygen absorbers and tightened the lid. We will check it tomorrow to see how good the resulting seal is. So far it seems to have sucked down the 'bump' in the lid, so they appear to be working. The oxygen absorbers that we sat on the counter also got a little warm, so I am assuming they are working for lack of a more thorough test.

We will most likely not buy these absorbers again, I will buy from the LDS website in the future, as their absorbers are much larger, cheaper, and get quite warm when you open the bag. They are usually made in the US as well.