Weck Jars vs. Mason Jars

Weck vs. Mason: WWIII?

I have been doing research into canning....there isn't a lot out there. Americans love Jarden Home Brands (Kerr, Ball) and Europeans love their brands. All of them work. The questions boil down to this:

1: Access to ready supplies
2: Cost per unit
3: Ease of use
4: Personal preserving preference (I love alliteration)


So why even look outside the tried and true American mason jar? Well, the lids used to have BPA and since we decided that to save money and make our winters easier we would preserve as much as we could, we needed something scalable and reliably safe. I don't like the idea of hormone disruptors in my carefully made food. According to JHB:

They began production/release of their BPA-free lids in January 2013. To identify a BPA-free box (they are not marking it on their boxes, according to the company spokesman), look for a production code printed/stamped on each box that is One Letter Followed by 10-11 Numbers. On Ball boxes, you’ll find the code next to the flag on the bottom of the box. On Kerr boxes, you’ll find the code on the back of the box, above the text. It won’t be a particular code, but only BPA-free boxes will have these (or any) codes like this stamped on them.

For a visual identification guide check out this page:

BPA aside, I know the world well enough to know that even if they removed BPA it had to be replaced with something. What did they use? Good question. One blogger wrote that they were corny, another that they had other hormone disrupting chemicals, just not BPA. So what to do? Look elsewhere. I looked around and found Weck jars.

Weck jars are made in Germany and are the Bundesrepublik's original mason jar. Instead of a screw band to hold the lid down, they offer a rubber gasket and glass lid secured by two clips. Once sealed, the clips can be removed. When opened, the rubber gasket can be set aside and the lid sits on nicely to make a great refrigerator lid. Optional are plastic lids for easier cold storage. They are also a very durable glass so you can bake in them. There is a great YouTube video of a man making a cake in one then preserving it.

For processing, the sizes are more flexible. Instead of a dozen sizes, there are nearly 30. Everything from carafes the fish tank sized behemoths. The option to have any size and shape desired is wonderful. I found that carafes are great for storing almond milk, syrups and juices. The 1L wide mouth size make great peach preserves. The tulip shaped containers in the small size are wonderful for jellies and the large size for soups and stocks.

Cost: Well, that goes two ways. They are more expensive per unit but they seem to hold up better, look better, have the kitsch factor and most importantly...no parts need to be replaced. The rubber gasket is infinitely reusable. The mason jars call for a new lid each time and the bands rust with washing.

This is a little shape sample. Tons of shapes and sizes. 

Additional cost factors: Sourcing them. If you buy them locally you have to have a Cost Plus/World Market and you will pay a premium per. You can also find them at Williams Sonoma. Same problem applies...expensive per unit. Amazon, like with mason jars, does not offer any deals. Best way to purchase them is online. WeckJars.com is the US distributer. They have wonderful customer service and your jars arrive lickety-spit fast. They do not send you an email that they are shipping...they just arrive. From my experience there is just one nice lady in an office that fields all calls and processes orders. Having said that, she is fast! I was surprised to receive a phone call apologizing for the the weather causing her mail not to be picked up that day which would delay my order. You certainly won't get that from Jarden Home Brands. Afterall, the company is so large that they used a marketing company to pick a name that sounded the most friendly...Jarden...like the french word for garden. It's all marketing.  Different tools are required. You will need a jar lifter made just for Weck. Not a huge expense but something to remember for batch canning. You will not need a magnetic lid lifter, a constant replacement of lids, a band tightener or any other special items.

Price comparison: This is the jar I used for making sliced peaches. The Weck 742- a 1/2 Liter open mouth, straight sided jar. It is fabulous. No issues filling and you can make the peaches stack beautifully with little effort.

742 - 1/2 L Mold Jar - $18.40
Includes: 6 Jars, 6 glass lids, 6 rings & 12 clamps
Height: 4 1/8" Opening: 3 7/8" Volume: 19.6 fl oz

Ball® 16oz Wide Mouth Pint Jars are about .47/Liter

Set of 12 for $12.99. 

Obviously the cost of Mason jars is much better per unit. $12.99/12=$1.08 per jar

The Weck Jars are $18.40/6=$3.06 per jar

Additionally, you have to add shipping costs for the Weck. 

Additional products offered from Weck: The electric water bath.

This beauty is my favorite thing in the whole wide world (domestically). My kitchen is nice but it is not huge. I also don't have a ton of stove space thanks to an overhead microwave. Canning was always cramped and took way longer than the time I had available to do it. Solution? Electric canner. This beauty lets me sterilize and process jars wherever I have access to an outlet. The cord wraps away nicely and it has an optional juice maker to sit on top.  I did not buy the one with the tap in front (no longer available) but I wish I had. It is the little things. For the price, it was a splurge but thankfully it has gotten every penny's worth of use this year alone.

Another slight hiccup in switching brands: the language barrier.

You have to be creative to find Weck recipes and help. It is a German company but the Dutch seem to have the majority of information online. If you use the Google translate there are lots of fun recipes online for things we would never think of like pine cone juices. There is a serious darth of information in English for using their equipment and for recipes.

Overall review?

1: Access to ready supplies- Ball wins for sure. Anyone every heard of Wal-Mart?

2: Cost per unit- Again, Wal-Mart? Ball

This is my storage are so far this summer.
A few more months to go! It has a nice mix
of the two brands. Preservationists will cringe at my stacked
jars. I know. I need to move the rest of my cameras
out of the way so I can properly store them. 
The bands are loosened so not to ruin the seal.
That is another win for Weck, no problems there. 
(NEVER STACK JARS)

3: Ease of use- Actually Weck wins. Great seals that are visible to check. No rusting bands and have their own storage lids once opened.

4: Personal preserving preference- Weck. They look good, feel good and leave me confident in their health. I don't worry that the BPA has been replaced with something equally disturbing.

Having written all of that, what do I use the most? Mason jars. (sheds a little tear)

One of the great parts of canning is sharing. I don't like giving away money and Weck jars are an investment. I tend to make my personal supply of foods in Weck and a few in Mason jars for gifts. The problem with that is making sure there is a nice supply handy. So, when I got the opportunity to make huge amounts of something, I need the jars fast and I need lots of them. I head to the store and buy flats of mason jars. In the future, I would love to keep investing in Weck. Someday I will also rule the world and my cats will clean their own cat boxes.

As for the lid chemical problem? I just have to take my time and switch my collection over or invest in the alternative lids, mixed reviews aside.

In the end, my canning closet is filled with a mix of the two. I prefer the Weck but I can afford the Mason jars. I use the Weck canner the most of anything and it works with both brands. That seems to get the gold star above all products in my home.