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4.5
These work well for pickling of almost any vegetable that you cut into chunks. They wouldn't work for finely cut or mashed vegetables, such as sauerkraut or salsa.They work in any wide-mouth jar that flares out below the neck. That includes the most common types of quart and half-gallon wide-mouth jars. I don't think they'd work in the tall types of wide-mount pint jars that taper inward towards the bottom instead of flaring outward below the neck. The Canning Buddies hold themselves in the neck by pushing outwards just above and below the narrowest part of the neck. They don't rely on the food to push them up, or on the lid to push them down. Forget the applicator - you don't need it. With a bit of practice these become second nature to insert with just your hands: put one side of the Canning Buddy in the neck of the jar and hold it there with two fingers. Then push the other side down into the neck with your other hand. I recommend running them under hot water before folding them the first time, to reduce stress in the plastic at the folds. Without doing that, I'm afraid the plastic will weaken and eventually break at the folds. After repeated use they mostly hold their shape. Insert them into the jars before adding the brine, and you won't get your fingers in the brine.I've used these for a few years now on many jars of lacto-fermented cucumber pickles, carrots, and kimchi. They barely pick up any odor from the food, they are fairly easy to wash, and they seem to be holding up to repeated use. They have picked up some color from the food.I use Canning Buddies to keep foods below the brine, silicone lid inserts with pinholes to act as airlocks and keep out the oxygen, a mini-fridge as my fermentation chamber, a temperature controller, and a heater. I've yet to have a bad batch.
