Harvest Guard Reusable Canning Lid Review

A while back I purchased some reusable canning lids from Harvest Guard and this past week I finally had a chance to try them!

I have been reusing canning jars and bands for many years, however I had always used one-use lids.  Enter the current canning lid shortage and I found myself looking into other options.  I saw an excellent review about them and I ordered both wide and regular mouth Harvest Guard lids as well as rubber gaskets.

I used water to experiment in my first batch.  I used half pints, and processed for 10 minutes with 5 minutes rest time in the canner, which is the same as a batch of jam.

The lids are a hard plastic and the rubber gaskets come as separate pieces.  I made sure to read the directions thoroughly as the process was slightly different than a metal lid.

The biggest difference is that you simmer the rubber gaskets in hot water so that they flex more easily.  This time I had those simmering on the stove, however it would seem like pouring hot water over them in a pot off the stove would be ok too in order to save valuable burner space.

The rubber gaskets and hard plastic lids come in two separate pieces.

I went through the exact process that I would with a batch of jam.  I heated the jars in the canner.  I poured the boiling water into the jars.  I put the gaskets and lids on the jars.  I screwed the bands on top.  One of the best things about these lids is that you can use normal bands with them!

I also experimented with different headspace to see if they would still seal.  Normally headspace needs to be exact, however for my experiment I wanted to see if they would still seal with 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, and 1 inch headspace.

The method to check if they sealed according to the instructions is to lift the jars by the lids.  If they come off, they have not sealed.  If they stay on, they have sealed.

I let the jars sit overnight and then did this test to see if the seal had worked.

To remove the lids, you take a dull butter knife and slide it underneath the seal to pop it open.

Overall I was quite pleased with how this process worked.  Though slightly different than canning with one-time use lids, it was not difficult to do.  Due to cost, I expect I will continue with one-time use lids for products that we sell, however I am excited to use these lids in our products that we put up for ourselves!