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[rayzentz AT aim.com]

Ma Zentz, who canned anywhere from 1500 to 2000 quarts a season, never reused 
lids for anything except dry storage, which I found interesting, 'cause she 
re-used everything... I mean everything! Usually, they were bent, but she 
even tossed the "good" ones. She had had a bad experience with botulism once, 
and was justifiable paranoid.

I have experimented with reuse a bit. I will examine a lid carefully, and if 
there is no breaks or severe discoloration, I will then boil the snot out of 
the little suckers, rubber side up in the boiler, to soften the rubber. This 
will get rid of the little "pressure lines" that are impressed into the 
rubber, and give it a smooth surface, "just like new". I have reused them 
with good success, but I don't reuse on meats and such. Fruit, jellies, 
applesauce, etc, seem to work well.

Ray