One of the biggest concerns when making homemade preserves is to keep the kitchen clean, the instruments with which we make the preserves, and, of course, the containers. Within this concern, plastic lids for canning containers may be a good idea. Is it true? To better understand the answer, we must think of the home food preservation process as the origin of industrial food packaging as we know it.
Industrial food packaging arises from old home preservation practices. Subsequently, industrial improvements were incorporated, starting in the middle of the 19th century. Initially, canning containers for home canning were varied and, in some cases, rudimentary. Later, they began to be manufactured in a specific way. From the beginning, mainly with glass containers, the problem of sealing the canned food arose.
The lids of home-canned food containers
There were many attempts, such as zinc lids, lids created by wax seals, etc., until they gradually evolved into the usual models of today. A quick method might be using plastic lids when making our preserves. But, as we will see, this has some very important considerations you should appreciate. It’s a clean and quick way to cover the canning, but is it safe?
It can be practical, fast, and cheap, but plastic lids are only sometimes recommended for the containers of homemade preserves that you can make at home.
When presented to us in industrial canning, you must think that this lid is designed for product storage. In addition, they have been placed on the containers through industrial processes in which correct sealing is also guaranteed. However, in homemade canning, this sealing is much more difficult to achieve. Plastic lids are less airtight than traditional systems based on metal lids with sealing elements and fastening triggers.
We can appreciate that these plastic caps are much more prone to mildew and leakage. Therefore, they are less secure and clean than other airtight models.
Another issue is whether you want to use a plastic lid for dry storage. For example, it is not appropriate to use a plastic cover for a homemade jam preserve, but it is perfectly fine for the same jar (once opened) you want to keep inside the refrigerator. In addition, plastic lids are also suitable when you want to preserve dry products: for example, glass jars with legumes.