Ishkabibble
05-13-2012, 02:25 AM
It's time for another product review! I've now officially sealed more than 300 mason jars with my Foodsaver and the wide-mouth mason attachment. I've learned a little which could help some fellow GIMMERS. If you haven't seen one yet, there's a pic below. You put it on your jar with the lid (no screw band) and run the Foodsaver. Your jar seals and you take it off to use on the next jar.
1. Yes, I LOVE the device and it works very well. It is worth the $25 or so because it's reliable and well built. The price felt steep until I put it through the paces.
2. You will occasionally come across a jar that will not work with the attachment. This happens because the attachment uses the jar's sealing band to form a vacuum. The sealing band is a thin ring of glass that sits right below the screw on lid. Some jars have a damaged sealing band (chipped, glass defect) and some have a sealing band that barely protrudes. Those jars won't work. In my experience, about ten jar styles have been good and two have not. The ones that were not had very obvious issues with the sealing band.
3. If you ever find that good jars aren't sealing, your vacuum hose isn't plugged far enough into the port on the Foodsaver.
4. There is another brand of vacuum storage sealer that competes with Foodsaver. It too has a vacuum port and works with the attachment. It has a setting for fast or slow, which is wonderful if you are processing dusty powdered foods... the ones that really kick up dust after a pour. However, the fast setting is still much slower than the Foodsaver. I use my Foodsaver 90% of the time, and the other when I have something light like powdered spinach.
5. The vacuum from the Foodsaver is VERY strong, much stronger than the vacuum from pressure canning. I don't know how much air is left but I do know it's a LOT less.
6. I've used several types of sealing lids and had no problems getting the attachment to work with any of them. This includes the Tattler reusable canning lids.
7. No, they don't make a GEM version of this device.
8. Surprisingly, the capacity of the jar doesn't seem to affect performance. I expected large capacity jars to seal better, but the small ones did just as well.
9. If you are processing something light and powdery, it helps to put a round piece of waxed paper over the product. This will help prevent the dust from getting out when you suck air from the jar.
I hope that helps a few of you out. I'd recommend this device in a heartbeat, in fact I bought a second for backup so that I'm never without it.
1. Yes, I LOVE the device and it works very well. It is worth the $25 or so because it's reliable and well built. The price felt steep until I put it through the paces.
2. You will occasionally come across a jar that will not work with the attachment. This happens because the attachment uses the jar's sealing band to form a vacuum. The sealing band is a thin ring of glass that sits right below the screw on lid. Some jars have a damaged sealing band (chipped, glass defect) and some have a sealing band that barely protrudes. Those jars won't work. In my experience, about ten jar styles have been good and two have not. The ones that were not had very obvious issues with the sealing band.
3. If you ever find that good jars aren't sealing, your vacuum hose isn't plugged far enough into the port on the Foodsaver.
4. There is another brand of vacuum storage sealer that competes with Foodsaver. It too has a vacuum port and works with the attachment. It has a setting for fast or slow, which is wonderful if you are processing dusty powdered foods... the ones that really kick up dust after a pour. However, the fast setting is still much slower than the Foodsaver. I use my Foodsaver 90% of the time, and the other when I have something light like powdered spinach.
5. The vacuum from the Foodsaver is VERY strong, much stronger than the vacuum from pressure canning. I don't know how much air is left but I do know it's a LOT less.
6. I've used several types of sealing lids and had no problems getting the attachment to work with any of them. This includes the Tattler reusable canning lids.
7. No, they don't make a GEM version of this device.
8. Surprisingly, the capacity of the jar doesn't seem to affect performance. I expected large capacity jars to seal better, but the small ones did just as well.
9. If you are processing something light and powdery, it helps to put a round piece of waxed paper over the product. This will help prevent the dust from getting out when you suck air from the jar.
I hope that helps a few of you out. I'd recommend this device in a heartbeat, in fact I bought a second for backup so that I'm never without it.