In the year that I have been blogging, my Dad has sent me exactly two emails about Big Binder. His first was to tell you all how to get inexpensive spices.  The bi-annual Grandpa Binder email arrived today in response to my earlier post about canning.  I’m just going to cut, paste, and post. And then say, aww! Thanks Dad!  I’ll have to get the details of the pickle frenzy later, apparently it’s a childhood memory I have repressed.

I think you need to put a note into your blog cautioning people not to buy old canning jars at a yard sale. Glass hardens and gets brittle with age. For instance, if you try to cut down a 20-year-old piece of window glass it will usually fracture instead of a nice clean cut. Canning jars, from their “water bath” become more brittle each time you heat them. Having a jar fracture during a water bath messes up your whole batch and takes all the fun out of canning, plus is a disgusting clean up.If people buy yard-sale canning jars, they should try to determine how old they are and how often they have been used. If someone bought them a year or two ago, thinking they were interested in canning, but didn’t use them, they’re probably okay. If they were the seller’s grandmothers jars, they’re only good for putting beans and lentils in for decoration purposes. Been there, done that, in a one-year pickle-canning frenzy. Dad.