Finding home canning supplies has been a challenge these past couple years. Jars were hard to find, collars and lids were even more elusive. Jars come with collars and lids, but I do not need any more jars.

As a long time home canner I have jars and collars a plenty, however, new lids must be purchased every season. They have been in short supply these past couple years. The brands I use, Ball or Kerr, was no where to be found in any local stores, except on truck delivery days. At which point only one or two boxes were sold to customer. It was a challenge.

Late in the season at a hardware store in West Virginia I found a supply. Hastily I drove there, where I found a brand name I had never heard of before. PUR was the name. Odd as it’s name was, I purchased several boxes of lids and collars for both regular and wide-mouth jars. I could share the collars with my canning friends, I thought, if they needed some. Collars need replacing every few years as they wear out.

The initial problem with this PUR brand was the collars did not fit my jars. What? All canning supplies are the same size, and as such I have not ever had an issue with them prior to this. May I just give a hint of the surprise and anger when in the last stages of the hard work of canning, in the final stage and collars don’t fit!? They would not screw down onto the jars. Let’s suffice to say I was very nearly rabid!

They were all thrown in the trash. Probably one in six of them screwed onto the jars. Thankfully I had a good supply of old collars, and the canning project was completed.

I heard all the lids make their wonderful PING! the seal is complete. Or so I thought…

Last week I opened a jar of tomato sauce. Something in the sound of the pop when opened caught my attention. To my utter astonishment there was corrosion all over the underside of the lid! I scraped it off and to my dismay, I found a tiny pin hole in the lid! This has not ever happened in all these years I have canned. It was shocking!

So please, please be careful with your home-canned goods if you have used this awful PUR brand. They are an inferior product and cannot be trusted. Take Care. I am throwing out any left in my supplies, and telling every home canner not to use them.

P.S. I just noticed I said the ‘lids’ did not fit. I meant ‘collars’ The collars would not screw onto my jars.