09/08/2026
āMy lids didnāt seal, what happened?!ā
There are a few reasons why your lids donāt seal after processing, so hereās what to look for:
1. HEADSPACE & SIPHONING. Did you allow enough headspace? For meals in a jar or thick food, you need to allow room for it to expand. Thatās usually why youāll see a 1ā headspace rule. Sometimes if the mixture is very thick, Iāll even leave 1.5ā of headspace.
Jar contents that are all liquid (like broth) also have a higher risk of siphoning just from being brought up and down from temperature. Drastic temperature changes can cause siphoning.
When a jar siphons, the food gets between the lid and the rim of the jar and may prevent the lid from sealing, or could create a false seal.
2. RIM RESIDUE. Whenever I can something sticky or greasy, I wipe my rims with vinegar. This helps clean the edge of the rims, allowing my lids to get a strong seal.
3. YOUR LIDS. This is the #1 reason I advise everyone to use quality lids. There are a handful of brands out there and I exclusively use ForJars lids. I would not recommend using the off brand generic lids - youāll usually find these on jars already from the store, dollar tree lids, etc.
I do understand budget constraints, so if thatās all you can use, itās better than nothing! But just know, if your seal rate is low or your lids are popping off after just a few weeks or months - it might be your lids.
It is very frustrating to spend all that time preserving just to lose the food to a lid.
If youāre interested in checking out ForJars, you can use my discount code āļø ASHLIE10 āļø (without the stars š) for savings on their website.
What other reasons would a lid not seal that I havenāt listed here?
