Quick Response Needed re: freezer jar breakage

[northcountrymamma]

ok...so a couple weeks ago i made pumpkin soup, made enough to can and freeze some extra. Once the soup cooled, I put it into my large widemouth canning jars leaving 1 inch of headspace (below the shoulders). However...I just went to take them out of the freezer for a harvest party tomorrow night and one of the jars cracked. I'm sure I just filled it too high unmindfully...however, now what?

is it toast? there is a large continuous crack around the base of the jar that goes up one side. I have taken the lid off and it is currently sitting in my fridge in a pot...

anyone have any quick ideas for me?

many many thanks!

[Magelet]

I threw my stock out when it cracked the jars to be safe. don't know if it's needed, but glass shards aren't something to mess with.

[mamadelbosque]

I'd pitch it. An thats what I've done when I frozen in glass. And largely why I stopped. It sucks to pitch otherwise good food... but I don't feel inclined to eat glass, personally.

[serenbat]

same!! I do all plastic and square saves more space than round--we don't want to eat glass

[ErinBird]

I've thrown out stock in similar situations. I find it better to cool the soup, put it in jars, put the jars in the fridge to chill, then the freezer on my fridge and THEN in the super cold storage freezer. I think gradually lowering the temp helps.

[Essie]

I would say to toss it. You don;t want to be paranoid that someone could get a glass splinter in their throat! sorry!

[Essie]

For the future, leave lots of extra room for expansion in the freezer.

[traceface]

sorry about your pumpkin soup!

that's so sad when you make something from scratch, happily freeze some for future use... and then you have to throw it away in the end.

[Essie]

Originally Posted by traceface

sorry about your pumpkin soup!

that's so sad when you make something from scratch, happily freeze some for future use... and then you have to throw it away in the end.

I know! it also really sucks when you forget to put leftovers away and they get ruined from being out all night. But that's a different story than freezer glass breakage.

[northcountrymamma]

Thanks for the responses...I ditched it in the end...dp was too worried about glass shards. Back to cooking today, need some more soup in the freezer.

Will leave double headspace next time...definitely don't want to experience that again. Such disappointment.

[koru]

I've had mason jars crack in the freezer that were only filled 1/2 way so I'm not confident that proper head space is the answer. I cool to room temperature before putting it in, too, but maybe the fridge-to-freezer technique would work, like a pp suggested.

Why doesn't anyone make thicker, glass freezer jars??

[Llyra]

The best jars for freezing are ones with sides that taper to the top of the jar, with no rounded shoulder. The ones with the rounded shoulders, even the wide-mouth ones, seem to crack on me all the time-- when I tried freezing in glass, I lost roughly one in four jars to cracks, and that was with leaving a HUGE amount of headspace. But the tapered jars do okay- unfortunately, I don't think anyone makes them in quart sizes, which is annoying.

[Essie]

Sometimes I turn the jar on it's side or slant it in hopes of more even "air" space. It seems to work

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by Essie

Sometimes I turn the jar on it's side or slant it in hopes of more even "air" space. It seems to work

That's a good idea-- I"m going to try that.

[Essie]

Originally Posted by Llyra

That's a good idea-- I"m going to try that.

Yeah, it defrosts more quickly too!

[Addie]

Originally Posted by Llyra

The best jars for freezing are ones with sides that taper to the top of the jar, with no rounded shoulder.

This is what I read when I was was researching freezer canning. You shouldn't use jars with shoulders for freezing. Use straight-sided jars. I made several batches of freezer jam in straight-sided jars and I haven't had any crack.