We know that having such a fondness for an inanimate object is a little strange. But growing up with a mom who pickled every vegetable in sight and spent entire days during the summer months turning lugs of fruit into gleaming jars of strawberry, apricot, and boysenberry jam — well, we can't help ourselves. We love Mason jars. And from making your own kombucha to growing your own alfalfa sprouts, there are so many ways to love them. We're rounding up a quick list after the jump (please add your own!)
In Praise of the Mason Jar
And All the Ways We Use Them ...
Here are some of the ways we use Mason jars around our home:
- Vases
- Pencil holders
- Filled with colorful beans/lentils for decoration
- Drinking glasses
- Dry good storage
- Loose change receptacle on landing strip
Here are a few ways we've seen other people use them:
- To brew things (kombucha, iced tea, cold brew, etc)
- To grow things (alfalfa sprouts, ect)
- Lamps
- Piggy banks
- Gifts (filled with dry mix for cookies, cocoa, breads, etc)
- At weddings (we just saw pictures of a wedding where the jars were used as vases and the lids were used as escort cards)
Resources for more ways to use Mason jars:
• Make a Mason jar terrarium
• Use a Mason jar with your blender
How do you use your Mason jars?
(Top Image: Flickr member methyl lives licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Comments (4)
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I too worship at the altar of the ring and dome lid. ALL HAIL MASON JAR! I use them to:
* make large ice cubes (wide mouth pt, wide 1/2 pt, regular 1/2 pt and 1/4 pt)
* bake muffins or mini cakes (wide mouth 1/2 pt),
* mix homemade mayonnaise and salad dressing,
* scramble raw eggs,
* measure ingredients (Ball brand wide mouth pt, qt, and 1/2 gallon have graduation marks!),
* store food under vacuum (for a *long* time),
* buy bulk groceries (with stickers of measured tare weight),
* ship anything that may leak-- nothing seals like a mason jar,
...and more later as I remember-- my mind boggles at the marvel that is the mason jar. It's not a container-- it's a *machine*. I dream of a gallon mason jar-- does one exist?!
view salsa's profile
@salsa--there may not be a gallon mason jar, but if you ask at local restaurants and delis, you may be able to snag one of their empty gallon jars. Hint: try places that use pickled peppers and olives. I have some that I've used for years for dry storage, liqueur-making, and brewing sun tea. Downside: the lid isn't as reliable as on masons, so I wouldn't trust it to be leakless if tipped. It's secure enough to keep out pantry moths, though.
view water_bird's profile
Check out the Mason Jar web page. They do have a 2 gallon
jar but it not a screw type ring and lid. I think it is a O ring type.
I am doing the fall kitchen therapy cure to get your kitchen in order and I am using all mason jars for anything I have to store in the kitchen. They come smaller than the half pints with the quilted glass, the only thing is they don't stack!!! The bottom of the glass is wider that the tops.
view KitchenNooknCook's profile
Salsa, they do have a gallon mason jar, but it is not the screw top kind, it has a flip lid with a O ring seal.
view KitchenNooknCook's profile