Food Jars Guide

Glass Jars: How to Sterilize Glass Jars

Why should you sterilize Glass Jars before using them to store preserves and jam? This is because sterilizing tanks is critical to the success and longevity of your product. Sterilization is an important part of food preservation and aims to eliminate fungi, yeasts or bacteria. This helps protect the food stored in the jar. Jars that are not properly cleaned can contaminate food, causing it to spoil quickly. Here are some effective methods.

Things to Note Before Disinfection

Here are important reminders to note before sterilizing glass jars.

Do not Boil the Metal Lid and Its Rubber Ring

Never boil a jar’s metal lid or its rubber seal. Before sterilizing jars, be sure to check the inside of the metal lid to see if there are any rings inside. Although the rubber or plastic will not melt completely, the lid will no longer sit properly on the jar.

The heat of extremely boiling water can damage the lid’s rubber ring, causing the seal to rupture. This may lead to contamination of the contents of the jar. Simply soak the lid and ring in boiling water for ten minutes to clean them thoroughly. You can also use the water used to sterilize glass jars to clean the lids and rings after the water has cooled slightly.

Make Sure Your Disinfection Area Is Clean

There is no point in sterilizing glass jars if your workplace is not clean. Even if you have cleaned the jars, they can easily become contaminated by bacteria from the surrounding area. If you place the glass bottle on a rag to dry, make sure the rag is clean.

If possible, preserve the jam immediately after sterilizing the glass jar. If the sterilized jars have been sitting for an hour or more, you should sterilize them again before canning the product. If possible, do not put hot products into cold jars or cold products into hot jars.

Use Oven Mitts

Sterilizing means exposing your glass jars to high temperatures, so you need to make sure you handle them with care. Also, use oven mitts to avoid burning yourself. If you are going to be a wholesaler, you would be better off using a pick and place robot in your factory as it eliminates the risk of burning and saves costs.

How to Sterilize Glass Jars?

Use a Microwave

This is ideal for regular glass jars, but not for jars with metal lids and Kilner-style jars. All you have to do is clean the jars and then rinse them. Make sure they don’t dry out when you put them in the microwave. Microwave for 30-45 seconds depending on the size of the jar.

Use a Dishwasher

This sterilizing method is useful if you have a steam dishwasher or if your machine has a high temperature setting. You can use this method with Kilner-style glass jars and jars with screw tops, rubber rings, and clip-on lids. The dishwasher sterilizing method is a simple one, but it uses a lot of water.

Use Oven

This is the surest way to ensure that the jars are thoroughly cleaned before filling them with preserves. But it takes longer compared to other methods as the process takes around 30 minutes. The oven method also works with jars with rubber rings and clamp tops.

Use Vinegar

Distilled white vinegar kills germs more effectively than commercially available disinfecting solutions.

Boiled

The standard way to sterilize glass jars is to immerse them in boiling water. However, the altitude of your location affects the boiling point of water. If you are at a higher altitude, the boiling point is lower, so you will need to adjust the time the jar is in the boiling water.

Sterilizing Glass Food Jars is a simple and important process, so there’s no reason to skip it during the canning process. Pay attention to health and safety issues, starting from our side.