Tattler Canning lid review

Tattler Canning Lid

Review

I purchased the Tattler a few years ago with the hopes of having a nice stockpile of reuseable lids handy "just in case".  In case of what?  I don't know, economic collapse, war, etc. etc.  You just never know!

Long story made short is that I used to be caught up in the prepper movement and have since abandoned that viewpoint, but it made me become very astute at some basic survival and self sufficiancy skills- and I still stockpile, it's just not done in fear anymore but in necessity because we live 30 miles from a grocery store.  I am not new-bee to canning, I've canned for 11 years- I would say I'm an "intermediate" level.  The ones who've done it for 30-40 yrs have earned the title "advanced".  I've canned various things, and enjoy it.  In the entire 11 years of canning I have never ever ever ever had a lid seal fail- and this includes the "no no" of reusing the metal lids (which I've done a few times I'll admit- but only for jams).  After running out of the conventional Ball metal lids this winter- I dug out a couple boxes of Tattler lids stored in my closet and figured now was the best time to cut my teeth on them.

First attempt was in December for strawberry jam.  I had filled an entire 7 cubic foot chest style deep freezer with frozen strawberries from my patch last summer and wanted them out of my freezer.  I didn't have air conditioning last summer so I froze them to can in the middle of winter when nothing is going on and it isn't hot.  I pulled them out and processed 7 half pints of delicious jam and went to bed.........

the next morning, I unscrewed the metal rings off and too my utter disappointment and anger found every single lid hadn't sealed!!!!!!!!  They were just sitting on top of the jars with no adhesion whatsoever to the jar.

Well, the jam went into the fridge and I was boggled, I had followed the directions to a "t".  Here's what I did:  Filled my sterilized jars and wiped the rims off with a paper towel soaked in vinegar water.  I had the Tattlers soaking in near boiling hot water while I was filling jars. I had already done my homework with the Tattler's, I had read the directions several times on the box as well as watched several YouTube videos about them for the few days prior to the canning.  I then placed a rubber ring and plastic lid on the jar and centered it, put the metal ring over and with my finger in the middle of the lid putting slight pressure I screwed the ring down only finger tight and placed them in my water bath canner (half of the jars were done this way).  The second half of jars I screwed the ring down hand tight and then backed the ring 1/4" off (some YouTubers had recommended this way).  I processed them according to the elevation and when I brought them out of the canner, I gently and carefully took a towel and tightened down the lids which were loose.

Next morning- fail on all of them

So I tried a second time this week (I have gotten an air conditioner this year- yeah!) and here's what I did: I filled my sterilized jars with delicous raspberry jam from my raspberry patch (12 cups of raspberries picked and more are ripe now waiting).  I wiped the rims of the jars off with a wet paper towel.  I placed the rubber ring and plastic lid on top (which were soaking in hot water).  Once I centered them on the jar I placed the metal ring over it, held my finger on the plastic lid while I went ahead and tightened them hand tight (pretty good tight too), same as I would with a regular metal lid.  When I pulled them out of the canner, I immediately with a towel attempted to tighten them more, but could not- they were still tight.  I processed 14 half pints.

I canned in the morning, so by about 3-4 hours later my jars were completely cooled and I apprehensively unscrewed the metal ring- Out of the 14 jars I processed, all but the last 2 had sealed so I stuck those 2 in the fridge and was still slightly aggravated.  I didn't want to bother with reprocessing them.

 I went back on YouTube and read various reviews from many different websites and blogs and realized that I'm not the only one. These lids are a lot more finicky then the metal lids and are less forgiving.  I realized that people either love them or hate them.  I am thinking that I am leaning towards the hating them camp.  Honestly it is not acceptable for me to lose any seals especially when I've never had lid seal fail with the metals.  After all the hard work you put into canning, a lid seal fail is very disappointing.  If I'm going through all the effort and hard labor to can, then I want the product sealed.  I have already traded my neighbor (who claims she likes them) out for regular metal lids- which is a money loss on my part.  I have about 15 boxes left to try and talk my nieghbor in trading out for.  I still have a small "glimmer" of hope inside of me that maybe the 3rd times the charm?  But I don't want to even attempt doing vegetables or meats with the long processing times and have lid seal fail!!!!! So, if I do give them another chance I am still sticking with jams/jellies because the processing time is the shortest.  I had put up 22 quarts of cherries two weeks ago and am sooooo glad I used the metal lids-  I would of been a very cranky woman had these things been used.  I knew better though and stuck with my metal lids.

It does bum me out- one would like to save and reuse lids- but not at this failure rate.  I had wanted to smoke some salmon and process them in half pints but not with these.

Since I am on the canning subject in general, I have noticed the past 5 years that I have experienced a lot of jar nicks and cracks- which I don't know why.  It's happened with pressure canning and water bath- and I am not allowing the water to boil so hard that they are clanking around together and causing breakage.  I am wondering if maybe these jars are being made in China now and are not as tempered?  One may never know.  I alway buy Ball or Kerr brand lids and jars.  I did notice Walmart makes their own brand mason jars and lids now, and I never tried them even though they were cheaper than Ball or Kerr brand.  A friend of mine uses them and she had no problems.  I have always wondered when they would outsource them to another country and if that would compromise the integrity of the jar or lid.  I make sure at the end of every use of jar I inspect them when I wash them before I put them back in the cupboard to be reused so no chipped ones make it through to the next canning job.  Just something I've noticed here recently which somewhat bothers me, but not as much as the lid seal fail.

For the first time this year, my local Bi-mart was carrying the glass lid with metal clamp style of canning lids similar to Weck.  I didn't purchase them but thought that was interesting, there must be an uptick on home canning, which is good! I think people are becoming more conscious about the quality of their food and where it is coming from.

Also as far as pectin goes- Sure-jell is the best.  I have used Mrs. Wages and it isn't as potent, I've had to double up on the boxes sometimes especially with the jellies.  Also Mrs. Wages seasonings for pickles and salsas isn't the greatest either.  An elderly lady who is a stockpiler and hoarder gave me 24 boxes of Sure-jell she had from (dated March 2002 as expiration) and I opened them up and used them and no problems- they were good still.  This woman also fills containers with water and stores them in her basement.  She had water containers from 10 years ago that were still crystal clear and smelled fresh- so I don't know?