When researching this article I realized that types of canning jars and canning lids are not universally available around the world. In fact some folks do canning in re-used grocery store glass jars, mostly because they can’t get ahold of regular canning jars and lids where they are. There was a heated discussion recently on Reddit about the safety – or lack thereof – of reusing these grocery store jars. This sparked my interest to find out more. And boy oh boy, did I go down a rabbit hole!

In the US we can rely on USDA recommendations for types of jars, lids, processing times and pressures depending on what food we want to can. A lot comes down to how much acid is in the food – or if you can add acidity. In the US the the most common brands of canning jars are Ball, Mason, and Kerr.

Two Piece Lids

Two piece canning lids are fairly ubiquitous now days. And when you think of canning these are probably the first things that comes to mind.

The flat lid part comes with a rubber gasket built right into it. After the canning process is done the lid will stay on until you want to get at the contents of the jar. The dimple in the center will depress downward – and stay pressed down – when there is sufficient vacuum within the jar. If you grab a jar from your cupboard after a few months and find the button has popped you need to dispose of the contents. Something’s growing in there you do NOT want to eat.

The ring part of this system in only supposed to stay on the jar during the canning process, as well as the cooling period. After that it can be taken off and used for other jars.

The downside to the 2-piece lid is that the inner flat part can only be used once. Some folks do try and use the lid more than once, but the rate of failure is significantly higher than a first time use.

The upside to using them once is that they’re recyclable.

One Piece Lids

The once piece canning lid is a popular option if you intend to sell or gift your canned goods. Once the jar is opened you can reuse the lid until the contents of the jar are used up. This is very handy if you have something like jam or jelly.

Unfortunately, there are no official recommendations by the National Center for Home Food Preservation on the safety of these lids for home canning. It’s not that they don’t work, it’s that there has not been funding for any official study of these lids. They can’t make a recommendation for OR against them until they’ve done that study.

Unofficially it appears like these lids function in the same way as the 2-piece lids. From my reading it does sound like it’s trickier to get the right tightness on the lid before it goes into process. The lid still has to be loose enough to allow venting during processing, and then to be tightened sufficiently in a short period of time after removing from the canner.

Tattler Lids

Tattler lids are an interesting alternative to the standard metal 2-piece lids. The big upside with these is that they’re reusable – for a very long time. The company doesn’t have an official recommendation on HOW long, but they imply that it could be “indefinitely”. Of the 2 parts the rubber gasket ring will be the first to go.

There are actually 3 pieces to this system. The plastic lid, the rubber gasket, and the ring to hold them on during processing. The continuous thread rings from the 2-piece system above can definitely be used here.

Using these lids takes a little more practice in knowing how tight or loose to fasten the ring. It sounds like over tightening the ring, even by a little, is very easy to do. And if the ring is too tight and the jar can’t vent appropriately during processing there’s a risk of blowing the jar out.

Lug Lids

Lug lids are what we most commonly see in the grocery stores. They’re very popular for commercial canning. They’re a once piece option that stays with the jar once opened. Lug lids don’t have any official recommendations from the USDA yet, but if you have past experience with canning you could potentially give these a try.

The plastisol gasket that’s integrated under the lid can only be used at lower heating temperatures. So that means only water bath canning for 10 minutes or less. And water bath canning means high acid foods.

If you’re intending to try these with pressure canning be careful to use the high-heat plastisol lids. Only those can be used at higher temps for longer processing times.

Clamp Lids (aka Bail Lids)

These kind of racketing lids are really only appropriate for pantry storage, and not a canning operation. They LOOK like they could be used for canning, but the manufacturers of these kind of lids and jars largely say canning is not an approved use.

Bail lids jars, as these are also known as, and their close cousin Lightning Jars, were at one time used for home canning. But they’ve actually been recommended AGAINST use for canning for at least 25 years now.

They do make a nice decorative addition for storage of dry goods. Air tight, but not vacuum sealable.

Weck Jars & Lids

Weck jars are a unique alternative to metal canning lids. Their idea is very similar to Tattler lids, where you have a rubber gasket under a separate top lid. In this case it’s glass. So you won’t be able to see if there’s a vacuum by way of a depressed lid.

Instead of a metal screw-on band to hold the lid down during processing there are 2 clips that need to be applied. These stay on through processing as well as the cool down phase. After that they can be removed.

There are two ways to determine if your lid is sealed properly with Weck jars: 1) lift the jar carefully by the lid (with clips off) and it should stay in place, 2) the “tongue” of the rubber gasket should be pointing slightly downward.

Even though these jars have a certain attractive esthetic about them my main concern would be what to do if you’d like to reattach the lid once opened. Sure it can rest gently on the rim between times that you need to get into the jar, but that seems prone to be knocked off in a full refrigerator. I’d personally want a screw on lid to make sure the content don’t get accidentally spilled.

Too Many Choices

So there you have it folks, five options for canning jar lids. There are upsides and downsides to all of them. If you’re just getting started in canning you might want to stick with the common 2-piece lid option until you have a solid understanding of safe canning principles.