How to sterilize your glass bottles and jars

Sterilizing the jar prior to filling your newly made strawberry jam, pickles, condiments in the jar is important to avoid contamination by microorganisms. Besides sanitizing, sterilizing also helps remove any dust or foreign particles in the new jar that may have collected during transit or the traditional jars collected in your store.

If you are thinking of throwing away your bottle or jar next time, you can reuse them and apply these sterilizing tricks. It is a thorough process to ensure there’s nothing left behind for bacteria to latch onto, fully ensure that your glass bottles will be as good as new and save you money too! Let’s get to it.

There are several alternative ways to sterilize glass bottles and jars, and they are all incredibly easy. However, it’s important to remember that, whatever method you decide to go with, you should remove the plastic or rubber lids inside of the metal lids, making sure there is none because sterilizing requires the glass bottles and jars to be exposed to high temperature. Therefore, make sure to handle the glassware with care and take precautions so you won’t burn yourself better put on oven mitts to handle the robust process.

So let’s get started. Here’s how to guide to sterilize glass bottles and jars.

In the Dishwasher

This is the easiest of methods so if you have a dishwasher however it might use up much
water.

1. Fill your dishwasher with jars.
2. Set your dishwasher steam function to a high temperature of 80°C or 176°F and put them through the cycle.
3. Leave to cool inside the dishwasher and take it out.

In the Oven

1. Preheat the oven to 130°C (266°F). Do not get higher than that or else it will shatter the glass.
2. Wash and rinse the jars with warm water
3. Place two layers of newspaper on a baking sheet and place the glass bottle or jar together with the lids on top of it, arranging it so the jars don’t touch each other.
4. Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven, close the oven door and start sterilizing for around 20 minutes.
5. Protect your hand oven mitts, take the glassware out of the oven.
6. Place them on a folded tea towel or heatproof mat and fill them with hot jam or syrup.

On the Stove

If you do not have an oven or dishwasher, you can practise this method. It’s extremely easy, and quite fast too.

1. Place your empty glass jars, bottles and lids in a large pot.
2. Bring the water to boil over high heat, make sure the jars are completely filled and submerge in the hot water.
3. Once the water is boiling, put the timer on and set it for about 10 minutes,
4. Turn off the fire, let the bottles in the bottle until the temperature goes down.
5. Discard them with your oven mitts, rinse with water, set aside and leave them to dry standing at the clean surface.

Canning

Remember precisely it whenever your palatable jam, syrup or homemade pickles are ready to be canned, make sure you fill them in when the jars are still warm. The most favored glass jars for home canning are conceivable. There are many other choices to pick too, take a look!