Garage Sale Treasures

Along with work, I have kept busy with canning and baking, and yes, I am extremely behind on posting my successes and failures. Hmmm..perhaps its the latest failure of "over-set" jam that has slowed my urge to type.  Actually, I need to experiment with my latest "pectin" research soon. But until then I thought I'd share with you the treasures I stumbled upon.

Ok, so its Monday...garage/yard sales are usually relegated to the weekends. I was driving down main street to purchase a soda and noticed a sign for a garage sale at some old cabins near the south end of town. I stopped after the mini-mart run as I was desparate for that caramel colored chemical fizz they refer to as Diet Coke. Yeah, I know, not healthy, not good for a person, but I didn't care...I wanted some in a bad way.

So this garage sale...it was a large one room cabin that was LOADED with stuff....treasures of all kinds. All I can say is that it's a good thing I live in a one bedroom flat or I woulda been "hauling", if you know what I mean. I don't know what it is with me and old things, but I love 'em. These items belonged to the towns' librarian of years ago, Mr. Bob Moran.

The first thing I came across was the wide mouth zinc lids...five of them along with a clear glass regular mouth bail top lid. Its not very often that a person even runs across zinc lids, much less wide mouth.  Yes, there were lots of neat things, but again, I have to limit my purchases, so when I asked the person selling the goods what I owed him, he immediately told me I needed to buy the boxes of jars. Of course I went and looked.  Three apple boxes to be exact. The jars were mainly regular mouth pints and quarts, of which I already have. And yes, there were some oldies in there. I sorted through and found four wide mouth pint jars and three regular mouth half pints. Again though, on my way to pay the gentleman my eyes caught more "goodies". I found a clear glass, regular mouth, half gallon bail top jar, minus the lid. Oh, but wait, I had found a lid on my first swipe through...sure enough, it fit perfect.  This jar was made by The Liquid Carbonic Co. with a patent date of July 14, 1908. I performed some online research and came up with this link. A soda fountain business started during prohibition.  The oldest of the screw top jars was one of the Kerr pint jars with a Patent date of August 31, 1915, again in mint condition other than being dirty.  I also came across a set of two vintage Ekco muffin tins. They're not mini size, nor regular size...just in between and cute to boot. The last, and perhaps one of my fondest, is a 1938 copyright Ball Blue Book Canning Book. It is in relatively great shape. What's neat about the book is all the pictures of jars from that time.  I'll peruse the recipes this evening when I get home from work. This "short" was printed on the inside cover of the book:

They shall rise up and call her blessed-

this woman, who-loving and thoughtful of

future joy and health-secures the goodness

of Nature at her best, and cans against the

barren sameness of the Winter months. Well

does she look to the ways of her household.

♥ it!!!!

New Find on Old Jars

OK, its not midnight yet. I've promised that today I would post my antique/thrift store purchases, so I'm here to deliver.

This adventure starts out innocently enough.  I happened across a fellow bloggers' (Chiotsrun) photo on Canning Across America "photo of the week". This photo had canned food put up in vintage bail type jars! I was mesmerized by the beauty and had to know more! I immediately went to the corresponding blog post and commented on her photo asking for "how-to" details. I received a prompt reply directing me to another bloggers' (FoodinJars) post regarding canning in vintage jars. I read the post with great earnest.

I personally own several vintage jars, but I've just relegated them to storage of bulk items such as quinoa, poppy seeds and the like. This is where the shopping part comes in. I decided I needed more pretty vintage jars. On my first outing I came home with a few half pint screw top jars, a few bail jar glass lids, a few glass seals for zinc lids AND...wait, wait for it, ta-dah...a french style glass rolling pin. Yep, pretty cool.

I initially held off telling you about it because I was trying to search online for more information about era of production, etc. Suffice to say I have exhausted my research capabilities and know nothing more than when I found this gem...I assume it is made out of tempered glass, it will make a great tool to use when rolling pastry because of its ability to be chilled, and well, I just love it...plain and simple!

After reading my first blog post, a fellow co-worker was inclined to give me this vintage jar. Thanks Taffy!

On my second outing I came across these vintage beauties. While the bails are a bit rusty, the glass lid and jar sealing surfaces were perfect in that they had no chips or imperfections...aka perfect for actual canning. Notice the jar in the lower left of the photo. It actually has a purple hue, made during a period when magnesium was added to the glass making process.



I have since talked at length with my Aunt Karen regarding using these jars for canning. She is an avid canner and processes all her food with a pressure canner. She is a wealth of information and this what she had to say:

• Bail Type Jars-fill jar with food, add rubber gasket and glass lid. Secure upper bail on top of glass lid and process as usual. After processing, secure lower bail. This tightens the top bail and increases the pressure on the seal between the glass lid, rubber gasket and jar.
• Zinc Type Jars-fill jar with food, add rubber gasket and zinc lid. Secure lid, but do not tighten during processing. Tighten afterwards.

While this information for bail type jars differs from that which was found online, I have no doubt my Aunt's method works as well.  The rubber seals needed for these jars can be found at our local True Value hardware store. I was able to find a few online sources as well and have listed them below:

Pressure Cooker Outlet

Lehman's

Due to cost and availability I will not be putting up all of my food in these vintage jars, but you can bet I'll be giving them a try. Oh, and on that note, I also found an online source for reusable canning jar lids for today's style (screw top) of canning jars. They are bpa free and made right here in America! I'll be giving these a try as well.

So for all you folks who received jams and pickles at Christmas time, start eating and get those empties back to me for refilling this summer!