The Story of Superb Canning Lids

Here at Lehman’s, we frequently talk about the journey to a simpler life and how to be self-sufficient. But if there is one lesson that we’ve learned over our 65+ years of serving our community, it’s that you need the right tools to do a job right.

You can’t grow a garden without a source of water. You can’t cut wood without a sharp axe or saw. And you can’t can your food without canning lids you can trust.

That is why we’re so excited to introduce you to Superb Canning Lids. Made by an Ohio company in our area (Superb Industries), these high-quality canning lids not only provide you a means to can your food at home, but they also work impressively well. Arguably better.

Creating Superb Canning Lids

Superb Industries makes highly engineered components for automotive and appliances, from hair dryers and air conditioners to water heaters and more. They ship their parts all over the world, and now, they manufacturer some of the best canning lids we have ever tried.

The creation of Superb Canning Lids came from a need to help their surrounding community. In 2020, canning lids became increasingly difficult to find as popularity in gardening and food preservation grew. Home canners all over the country were suddenly scrambling to find lids as retailers’ shelves became empty.

In November 2020, John Miller of Superb Industries received two calls in the same week: one from Galen Lehman, son of Lehman’s founder Jay Lehman, and the other from Mark Coblentz, Walnut Creek Foods. They both asked John if he could help with the shortage.

“Can you make canning lids?”

After looking into the issue, John decided that yes, Superb could make canning lids. Hence, began Superb’s mission to create a lid that is as good or better than the leading canning lid on the market.

They began to look at the problems canners face, like buckling (when the lid becomes distorted and does not seal properly). This required in depth research and a lot of testing. Thanks to the connections Lehman’s and Walnut Creek Foods had with the Mennonite and homesteading communities, they sent their lids to over 400 home canners across the country leading to thoroughly testing over 18,000 canned jars.

More Sealing Power

During their research, Superb noticed immediately that not every canning jar was created the same, specifically with pint jars. Some had thicker or thinner walls. Others were flat at the top while others were rounder. Their solution to the discrepancies was to use more sealing material to conform to every jar out there.

Their trademarked BluSeal is softer and contains more sealing material than the leading canning lids on the market. Pick one up and you’ll immediately see the difference!

Distinct Popping for Assurance

“Pop”Lok is another trademarked feature of the Superb lids that helps ensure your canned goods have properly sealed. You’ll hear a distinct “pop” that is a little louder and deeper than other lids.

The lids are designed to withstand the high temperatures of pressure canning and to generate more vacuum. This is important because the length of the seal depends on the amount of vacuum in a jar. (More vacuum gives you a longer-lasting seal!)

This popping feature also helps protect you from processing errors. The lid will pop back up if it didn’t properly seal.

(Helpful Tip from Superb: A common mistake in canning is overtightening the ring of the jar, which will not allow the jar to seal properly. An easy way to ensure that the ring is tight, but not too tight, is using the three-finger method. Using only three fingers prevents you from over tightening the ring.)

Five Layers of Corrosion Protection

To finish off their lids, Superb wanted to thoroughly protect them from corrosion. This led to the trademarked QuinTek Protection. Each lid has five layers of protective coating that is BPA free and FDA compliant. This is 25% more food-safe coating than other canning lids!

Today, Superb Industries is able to produce 100 million canning lids per year using German and Swiss automation technology. They thoroughly test their canning lids every time they manufacturer them, testing hundreds of lids per day. This helps them produce safe, high-quality lids you can rely on, so you can continue to ‘put up’ the harvest with confidence.

And even better, they are made in the USA!