How To Open A Stuck Lid On A Mason Jar • Jar And Can Openers

The flat lid has an indentation around its rim filled with colored sealing gasket compound. During jar processing the gasket on the flat lid softens and covers the the jar edge. When the jar cools after processing, the gasket forms an airtight seal that keeps the food in the jar from spoilage.

How to store home canned food the correct way

When I read about the trouble people were having with opening Mason jars, a lot of them mentioned that the metal screw bands were impossible to remove from the jar. The thing is that there is no need to store the jars with the metal bands on them.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation states that,

 Screw bands are not needed on stored jars. They can be removed easily after jars are cooled. When removed, washed, dried, and stored in a dry area, screw bands may be used many times. If left on stored jars, they become difficult to remove, often rust, and may not work properly again.

So, here is tip number one for easy Mason jar opening: after cooling jars for 12 to 24 hours – remove the ring bands from Mason jars before storing your canned goods.

But what if you were not aware of this tip and have a jar that has been stored for a long time with the metal band on it that now is hard to remove?

The first thing to do will be to try to unscrew it with the handy flexible rubber grip.

If the rubber grip fails – then you should use another kind of manual jar opener to remove the band.

The easiest jar opener to unscrew the band would be under cabinet jar opener with metal teeth, but it will leave unsightly marks on the band.

(Read the related article about manual jar openers).

How to open a flat lid on a Mason jar

In order to remove a flat lid, you will need to break the vacuum seal which, sometimes, is not easy.

To lift the flat lid off the Mason jar use a butter knife blade. Tuck it under the lid in the place where the jar thread is closest to the lid (take a look at the jar neck on the picture in this article) and pry to open. Alternatively, you can use the edge of a spoon as a lever to lift the lid off.

If this fails, then get a long nail or screw and a hammer and punch a small hole on the top of the lid. This will break the vacuum seal and you will be able to lift the flat lid easily.

Some people use a church key or bottle cap remover to pry the flat lid from the jar. It will work, but I must caution you that with these tools the glass jar might get easily chipped and become unusable.

Let’s recap the process of dealing with Mason jar lids.

1. Store canned food in the Mason jars without screw bands on them.

2. To break the vacuum seal and to lift the flat lid – use a butter knife blade as a lever. If the lid doesn’t budge, make a hole with the help of a screw and a hammer on top of the lid.

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Related reading:

15 can opener types

How to open a can without a can opener

How to open a jar with a tight lid (15 genius hacks)