Following on the heels of yesterday's post, here's a canning tip for you: remove the rings for storage. Yep, that's right. The rings are really only necessary during processing. After that, the seal is doing all the work, so they're unnecessary. Leaving them on often results in unwanted rust in the grooves, a result of water from the processing just sitting there for a lengthy period of time.

So, go ahead. Let your jars go topless! Yes, it looks weird. But think of the money you'll save (okay, it may only be a few dollars, but still). You really only need enough rings to fit on however many jars you'll be processing at one time. And, they'll last virtually forever since they won't be accumulating rust in the grooves.