Baby Food Jars

[CBL4]

I have found an interesting phenomon dealing with baby food jars. It is easy to open a jar that contains vegetables and/or meats. It is extremely difficult to open any jars of fruit. It does not matter which brand it is, all fruits are hard to open and all veggies are easy.

My partial explanation is that it is somehow related to sugar content. Could anyone provide some information? Is there a way around it? Can I patent your idea?

CBL

[phildonnia]

Foods low in acid need to be heated more in the jarring process to prevent botulism. This might have something to do with it; a higher temperature could melt the seal more.

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by CBL4
I have found an interesting phenomon dealing with baby food jars. It is easy to open a jar that contains vegetables and/or meats. It is extremely difficult to open any jars of fruit. It does not matter which brand it is, all fruits are hard to open and all veggies are easy.

My partial explanation is that it is somehow related to sugar content. Could anyone provide some information? Is there a way around it? Can I patent your idea?

CBL

Not to highjack your thread but isn't feeding a baby the coolest thing ever? My boys are well past me feeding them but I always took such joy in it -- especially when I got to introduce them to something completely new. I was always so amazed at the faces they made.

My favorite was my first the first time he tasted banana pudding. He couldn't seem to get enough of it (but he proved otherwise by power-puking much of it, along with a half-digested slurry of apple juice, in my previously gleeful face)

[Beany]

Originally posted by phildonnia
Foods low in acid need to be heated more in the jarring process to prevent botulism. This might have something to do with it; a higher temperature could melt the seal more.

Is it not more likely that cooling after sealing produces a lower pressure in the air above the food? The hotter it is when it's sealed, the lower the pressure will be after it's cooled.

[Hellbound]

I dunno about the low acid theory....fruits tend to be more acidic than meat or vegetables, and fruits are the ones he is having trouble with.

Not that I know the answer, but the acidity thing (unless I'm completely wrong) would seem to work opposite to what he's describing.

[phildonnia]

Originally posted by Huntsman
Not that I know the answer, but the acidity thing (unless I'm completely wrong) would seem to work opposite to what he's describing.

Hmm, yes I hadn't noticed that. Maybe Satan is testing me.

[CBL4]

Not to highjack your thread but isn't feeding a baby the coolest thing ever? This sounds like a joy in remembering more than a joy in the doing to me.

I admit that it is sometimes great to see a reaction but the day to day messes are less enjoyable. I remember seeing my son's face when I gave him a chocolate kiss for the first time but, at this point, I remember the throwing food more than the other stuff.

CBL

[Soapy Sam]

Food jars have babies? In vitro fertilisation I suppose?

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by CBL4
This sounds like a joy in remembering more than a joy in the doing to me.

I admit that it is sometimes great to see a reaction but the day to day messes are less enjoyable. I remember seeing my son's face when I gave him a chocolate kiss for the first time but, at this point, I remember the throwing food more than the other stuff.

CBL

It's all in the set-up and resignation.

Set up the feeding area such that little, given the distance the child can toss, is not easily cleaned.

Resign yourself to cleaning that area.

Then you won't worry about it and it will be more fun.

[kk2796]

I think the air pressure slant is incorrect. If I have two plastic soda bottles, and shake one up - though the unshaken will open with less mess than the shaken bottle, I don't think you'd notice much difference in the torque required to unscrew the caps.

Explanation via experimentation: spill V-8 and fruit juice next to each other on a counter top. Let the puddles dry. 1 hour later, compare the dried residue.

My prediction: the V-8 will leave a powdery, cracked solid residue and the fruit juice will leave a sticky residue.

[epepke]

Guess: The sugar caramelizes during the heating process, squirting a sticky glop around the threads which hardens during cooling.

[JSFolk]

Have you ruled out confirmation bias? Perhaps you noticed one particularly difficult jar once, and have been misleading yourself since. I suggest a double-blind trial. :D

[materia3]

Originally posted by Soapy Sam
Food jars have babies? In vitro fertilisation I suppose?

Not so far fetched. In some parts of Africa not too long ago, Africans getting supplies of Gerber Baby Food with a baby on the label actually thought it was white human baby meat. They were used to getting what was pictured on the label: carrots for carrots, bannanas for bannanas, corn for corn, etc. So if there was a baby on the label, er, that's what they thought they were getting. It always made sense to me.

[JSFolk]

*cough*

http://www.snopes.com/business/market/babyfood.asp

[CBL4]

Have you ruled out confirmation bias? Perhaps you noticed one particularly difficult jar once, and have been misleading yourself since. I suggest a double-blind trialI appreciate the humor and seriousness of the suggestion. I am fairly sure my description is accurate.

My daughter no longer each much baby food except butternut squash (if you add them to oatmeal with cinnamon it has a nice pumpkiny flavor). I never have to use a jar opener with them. Occasionally I try to use up the rest of the baby food and each time I open pears or apple apricot, I am once again reminded that I have to use the jar opener.

If anybody would like to run the double blind test for me, I always get Beechnut baby food and generally get butternut squash, sweet potatoes, pears and apple-blueberry.

CBL

[CBL4]

Originally posted by epepke
Guess: The sugar caramelizes during the heating process, squirting a sticky glop around the threads which hardens during cooling.That sounds feasible. I have never seen glop on the threads but I have never looked either. I will check that tonight.

CBL

[epepke]

Originally posted by CBL4
That sounds feasible. I have never seen glop on the threads but I have never looked either. I will check that tonight.

CBL

I'd suggest taking two lids, one from a sweet jar and another from a non-sweet jar, soaking them in water for a couple of days, and then letting the water dry out and checking for residue.