Sterilizing jars

[Eman]

My wife cans a lot of food and when I talked about bottling honey she asked if the jars need to be sterilized before filling. She said this is standard procedure when canning even with new jars.

[Michael Bush]

Some people in Europe still use honey to dress wounds. It has been used as an antiseptic for thousands of years. Just make sure they are clean. The honey will "sterilize" them.

[dandelion]

What good would it make to sterilize the jar (by boiling it for so many minutes presumably) when what you are about to pour into it the honey that went through the extractor and sieves or filters, etc. I would say that as long as the jars are as clean as your extractor, and the rest of utensils that were involved in the operation, you should be fine. The honey will take care of itself inhibiting the growth of bacteria and "whateever" as long as the moisture level is low enough. Mostly it's acidity and very low moisture content (and perhaps other stuff I ignore) make that posible. This conditions are not present in the stuff your wife is canning (like tomatoes or jellies). That's why she needs to sterilize the jars and we beekeepers don't.
Alejandro

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[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited June 21, 2003).]

[ChellesBees]

It is standard operating procedure, when canning, to sterilize jars before using them, unless the processing is long enough to do the sterilizing. Honey is different, the spoilage issues aren't there.
That being said, I make sure that everything I use is as clean as possible, I usually run everything through my dishwasher on a hot wash/rinse, and then keep them in there until I use them. I do this with the plastics too. (Top shelf) The only thing that can't go in there is the self seal tamper proof things.