Quart jars have their place. It would be difficult to put up dill pickles in a pint jar. That said, I remember when my mother put up scores of quart jars of vegetables and fruit..early on it was a wax seal. Once in a while, a jar didn't seal right, and we lost a quart of peaches. Better to lose a pint!
Another consideration is how much you would need in a recipe. For example, you would probably need more than a pint of tomatoes to make chili or spagetti sauce...might as well put them up in quarts.
Fish, meat, apple butter,jam etc would be better in pints. I make my own maple syrup and I put it up in jelly jars.
Excellent points, thanks! I'll keep on doing my thing then, because you are absolutely correct, better to lose a pint than a quart! Today I was a busy bee. I canned chicken soup, pasta sauce, and green beans.
On a side note, I used wide mouth pint jars for pickles. It worked okay, although I had to trim the ends. Instead of wasting the ends, I made what I am calling "Pickle Bites", lol. I hope they are crunchy. I'm waiting a couple weeks to try them. If they aren't cooked to mush, I might even fry them: "Fried Pickle Bites". People keep telling me fried pickles are good..... I'm not so sure... :p
Edit to add: For us pet owners, you can even use bits and scraps from meats and whatnot to can your pet's food! I've started collecting the scraps in a ziplock in my freezer so I can do a big batch at a time. (Also people edible in a pinch!)
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