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Mason jars are beautiful and are very useful containers for storing small things. Households have been using it to store food, coins, and buttons. However, can you use it in the microwave? Are mason jars microwave safe?
For the most part, newer mason jars are microwave safe. You can check under the lid of the jar to see if microwave-safe symbols are on it. However, you may want to be careful after using mason jars in the microwave, as they can become hot.
This article discusses if mason jars are microwave safe. Aside from that, we also discuss if mason jars are safe for dishwashers, ovens, or boiling water. We also explore mason jar sizes.
What Are Mason Jars?
Mason jars are glass jars often used in home canning to preserve fruit. It is also known as canning, fruit, Kerr, or Ball jar. The jar is made of glass, and its outer mouth has screw threads. A suitable disc-shaped lid can then be twister or pushed down to cover the jar.
Mason jars are glass jars often used in home canning to preserve fruit. However, mason jars are also used to store non-food items, such as coins, buttons, or other small items.
A Mason jar basically consists of two parts. The first part contains the glass jar. The jar may come in multiple sizes to store things or food. The mouth of the jar tends to have a screw thread on its outer perimeter so that a lid can be screwed down to it.
The other part of a mason jar is the lid. It is often made of tin, stamped steel, or other types of metal and usually has a band with screw marks on the inner side. This means the lid band can be screwed down to the mason jar mouth, closing it and forming a seal. Some mason jars may also use plastic lids.
The Mason jar was named after its inventor John Landis Mason, a tinsmith who patented the Mason jar in 1858. However, he later lost the patent, resulting in the jars becoming widespread as other companies copied his invention.
Mason jars were particularly appreciated in rural farming communities, allowing them to preserve fruits and produce. As a result, you tend to see many fruit jams and pickles in mason jars. Mason jars are also associated with recycling, as people reuse mason jars from grocery shopping.
What Are The Types Of Mason Jars?
Mason jars come in many types. It may have sizes from 4-ounce jars to large 1-gallon types. Mason jars also may come in different shapes, with round and square jars most common. Mason jars can also differ in mouth size, with regular and wide-mouth openings common. Different materials can also be used on mason jar lids.
In general, mason jars can come in many types, sizes, and configurations. However, the essential concept remains the same, the container jar must be glass, and the lid is usually screwed or twisted into the jar.
The differences may be in size, shape, mouth size, and lids. As a result, some mason jar configurations may suit different uses.
Size
Mason jars can come in sizes as small as 4-ounce (119ml approx.) to as large as 1 gallon (3.79L approx.). However, common mason jars are usually in 4 ounces (119ml approx.), 8 ounces (238ml approx.), 16 ounces (476ml approx.), and 32 ounces (958ml approx.)
These jar sizes may also come in different dimensions, with some jars being taller and wider and vice versa. Mason jar height usually ranges from 2 inches (5cm approx.) to 9.5 inches (24cm approx.)
Shape
Mason jars can come in many shapes. The most common mason jars tend to be rounded, with squares coming second. There may also be custom-shaped mason jars, usually designed to fit the product they carry. However, these are not common.
Regardless of the shape of the mason jar, the mouth usually remains round to allow the lid to seal the jar by screwing it down.
Mouth Size
Mason jars also may come with multiple mouth sizes. However, most sizes tend to be either regular or wide-mouthed. Wide-mouth mason jars tend to be used to allow easier retrieval of larger objects inside the jar, such as pickles.
Lids
Mason jar lids are usually rounded and made of stamped steel or other metals. The inside of the lid band has screw lines to allow the lid to be screwed down to the jar. However, lids can come in multiple shapes but remain the rounded band. Lids can also be made of materials such as plastic or wood.
Are Mason Jars Microwave Safe?
Newer mason jars are likely microwave safe. You can check if your jar is microwave-safe by checking the symbol under the jar. If you see the microwave safe symbol, you can use it in the microwave. However, the jar may be hot once microwaved, so you want to handle it with care.
Generally, newer mason jars are made with microwaves in mind since the appliance is present in many homes. Microwave ovens have become popular at homes since the 1970s, meaning many of the jars made later than that should be microwave safe.
This means your newer glass mason jars are likely to be microwave safe.
However, if you want to be absolutely sure about this, feel free to check around or under your mason jar. You may likely find a microwave-safe symbol stamped around somewhere. If you see the symbol, you can assume your mason jars are safe.
Now, if your mason jars are heirloom pieces passed down from your grandma or something, you may not see any microwave-safe symbols. You may not want to assume the jar is good for microwaving, as it may break and shatter.
During microwaving, ensure that you open the lid before placing the jar. This is because when microwaved, the pressure may increase inside the jar. This means your jar may break, not because of the microwaves but the pressure building inside the jar.
You also want to ensure that once you microwaved your mason jar, you want to hold it with a piece of towel or gloves. This is because the content in the jar may become hot, which means the jar itself may become hot.
You may like this article: Can you Put Glass In The Microwave?
Are Mason Jars Oven Safe?
Generally, the only way you can tell if your mason jar is oven safe is to see if there is any Oven Safe symbol on the mason jar. If there is none, you may want to assume that the jar is not oven safe and may shatter when exposed to the heat in the oven.
In many cases, it may be hard to assume if your mason jar is safe for the oven. This is because many modern mason jars may be made with microwaves. Not many are designed for the oven, unlike your casserole.
Generally, oven-resistant glass is usually tempered glass, while regular glass usually will not survive high heat. Most glass-based kitchen appliances, such as glass bowls and mason jars, are usually non-tempered.
This means you want to only place your mason jars in the oven when you can confirm that it is oven safe. Mason jars that are oven safe usually have a symbol to indicate that, usually under the jar. You may even see it side-by-side with your microwave-safe symbol.
You can also check the mason jar packaging to see if they are indeed oven safe.
If you do not see any, you may want to either assume it is not oven safe or check with your mason jar maker if they are oven safe.
Are Mason Jars Dishwashers Safe?
Mason jars are likely microwave safe, provided that you position the jar securely inside your dishwasher. The key is to prevent the jars from moving around, which may break them. You also want to avoid washing your jar lid too much, as the finishing may deteriorate from the detergent exposure.
Mason jars are safe for dishwashers. This is because dishwashers do not wash with boiling water, only warm or hotter water at most. The water temperature will not be so high that it breaks your mason jar.
However, the point of concern would be the mason jar breaking from rolling and moving around in your dishwasher. This means if you intend to wash your mason jar inside a dishwasher, ensure you are able to secure it in a safe position.
For this case, you usually need to place the mason jar at the cup holders, with the jar mouth at the bottom. In most cases, this should be good enough to ensure your mason jars do not move around.
There have been situations where some dishwasher detergent has been found to cause discoloration or premature wearing down of the jar lids. This may happen if your jar lid is made of stamped metal and has a coating of paint or other metals on it.
If you are concerned about this, consider washing your jar lids by hand with softer detergent instead.
Can You Add Boiling Water To Mason Jars?
Generally, you can add boiling water to your mason jar, or soak mason jars in boiling water. However, you want to ensure the glass is at least room temperature and that you add the boiling water slowly. A sudden temperature shock may break a glass.
Generally, most mason jars are hot water safe. In fact, they can handle boiling water as well. If your mason jar has an oven-safe symbol, you can be quite sure that it will handle hot and boiling water well.
However, regardless of the heat resistance of your mason jar, you want to slowly introduce the heat to your jar. This is because sudden and abrupt changes in temperature can crack your mason jar.
This means ensuring your mason jar is at room temperature before exposing it to boiling water. Also, consider playing it safe by slowly introducing the boiling water to the jars. Dunk the jar into the boiling water slowly, or at least warm it up using hot water, before getting it in contact with boiling water.
