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Saving jars


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The pickle smell is too resilient. Baking soda didn't do the trick. I think this jar is not a keeper.

Maybe just letting it age for a few months is enough to get rid of the smell. Odors are actually volatile chemicals that will evaporate away. After a while they'll be gone. Heating should help speed things up. Perhaps a oven with the pilot on would be enough to get rid of the odor but not damage the liner of the lid.

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Would those Fluff jars fit one of the standard sized Ball lid replacements? It's a shame to lose an otherwise serviceable jar for lack of a lid...

And I've been known to eat Fluff now and again myself :wink:

If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry? ~Author Unknown

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I forgot to mention my collection of baby food jars. Have dozens, old ones, filled with screws, bolts, nuts, tacks of various sizes and materials. Also some in my studio used to hold various little things - back in the day when I was active in art stuff, I didn't know any artist who didn't have a bunch of these, usually begged from family and friends, except from one guy who had several children. :biggrin:

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Soaked it in vodka overnight. Will put on the windowsill today.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Ketel One, a perfectly good double shot, infused with eau de pickle, down the drain.

I don't think it worked, though. I'm redoing in pure rubbing alcohol for the day today.

This will wind up being a lot of effort to clean the lid of a jar that's only worth a few cents.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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. . . .

This will wind up being a lot of effort to clean the lid of a jar that's only worth a few cents.

What?! You're not going to invest in some activated charcoal?

I've never heard of alcohol removing scent from things, although I tried it once or twice (in desperation, after trying out fragrances that turned out to be so awful I wanted to chew my off my lower arms).

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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I like to take my own homemade salad dressing to work so I save the jars from Cento capers - they hold about a quarter cup, I think, and are (relatively) tall and narrow. I just put all the ingredients in for one serving of dressing (oil, vinegar, wet or dry mustard, a bit of honey, salt & pepper & freeze-dried shallots) and I'm good for 1-2 salads. And I trust a screw-on lid in my purse much more than I trust a plastic to-go container.

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Ketel One, a perfectly good double shot, infused with eau de pickle, down the drain.

I don't think it worked, though. I'm redoing in pure rubbing alcohol for the day today.

This will wind up being a lot of effort to clean the lid of a jar that's only worth a few cents.

But a fascinating experiment which we are all following...

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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When you live in a very old, rickety house which is a mouse magnet, you save any usable jars. Every grain, pasta, etc is put into a jar as soon as it comes in. I'm gonna starve 'em out.

I have never been sure of this but it seems to work. Put the plastic piece where it can get sun on it for several days. My sister swore by it.

The horseradish that we used in the restaurant came in plastic quart jars. These were the ideal size for some food for back packing. I would wash them and leave them out for several days and no more horseradish smell.

Edited by BarbaraY (log)
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Mouse House reminded me of how I started my jar fetish in the first place -- I had a landlady that demanded I keep all of my food in jars so that I wouldn't bring a roach problem into her house. I had a pet mouse at the time, and she made me get rid of it. On my way to the pet store (he was going to become one with a reptile), I pushed his glass aquarium into the garbage can on the street and cut my hand so bad I could see the "bottom" under the skin . . . Mouse was in a paper bag, I put him on top of the trash and got in a cab to go to the emergency room. Mouse and bag were gone when I got back. Broke my heart, I'm an animal lover. I like to imagine something good happened to that mouse.

I digress. All of my food at that time went into generic applesauce jars. Reagan was president, and generic food was new and everywhere . . . there were entire aisles in the grocery store with white labels and white boxes . . .

Been jarring it ever since, but not every scrap.

And totally forgot why.

I like to bake nice things. And then I eat them. Then I can bake some more.

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1 qt+ jars for grain products, to foil the dastardly pantry moths.

Chili sauce jars 'cause they are cute for homemade jams etc.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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Ketel One, a perfectly good double shot, infused with eau de pickle, down the drain.

I don't think it worked, though. I'm redoing in pure rubbing alcohol for the day today.

This will wind up being a lot of effort to clean the lid of a jar that's only worth a few cents.

But a fascinating experiment which we are all following...

I admire the tenacity on display here.

We must persist until the odor is no more!

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I just took it out of the alcohol bath. I need to wait a bit and check again but, preliminarily, it seems to have worked.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I hoard mason jars, so I don't save many other types. I do hang on to pretty jam jars and any jars with wire closures. I'm more of a bottle saver though - alcohol bottles, lemonade/sparkling juice bottles with the wire closures, things like that. I've been known to buy the little four packs of wine in glass bottles (mostly dreck to drink, but it's nice to have on hand if I only need a cup of wine for a recipe or something) and I always save those. They're all great for home made vinegars, schnapps and sauces and such.

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Good to hear we are making headway in the battle of EG vs the Pickle Jar lid.

Never surrender!

Makes me wonder if I can ever rescue the pickled herring jars I like - so far the smell has never, ever left the lids so into the garbage they go. They are small jars that are straight sided and would make great containers for all sorts of things but pickled herring is pretty damn potent. :biggrin:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I put the white plastic lid from the large creamed herring jar through the dishwasher and the whole thing was fine to hold carrot and daikon pickle, which has its own particular aroma. And rusts out metal lids on other jars.

I believe the suggestion to use a plastic lid for that pickle came from somebody here on EG. :wub:

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I love glass jars, and keep all with which I come in contact. And so what if those little pantry weevils and moth larvae can get into them? What are a few bugs when you can have a pretty jar?

Excellent thread. I want to see pictures of people's reused jars. Any blue or green ones out there?

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I have a big cardboard box in the storage room,that is full of various glass jars and bottles...

Whenever the need arises I rummage thru it to usually find a suitable jar/bottle for whatever ,,,

its really handy,,,

Bud

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Inveterate jar hoarder here. My favorites are the HEB store brand pasta sauce kind (they have nice, deep lids) - unfortunately the product inside sucks.

Currently stocking up on empty Wild Goose bottles. I like them because the lid screws onto the glass rather than the plastic pouring thing, which I can pull out and discard. Is it wrong to pick an everyday scotch because you might use the bottles later?

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

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These are a few of my favorite.

HPIM4082.JPG

An old "high-shoulder" round Ball jar, with blue tint, that in 1938 (the year before I was born) held pineapple chunks produced by Hawaii Cooperative Pineapple Farms, the only competitor that Dole had at the time. One of my aunts held onto it and several others from that era and gave me a couple, her daughters got the rest.

The "quilted" jar originally held Jewel Tea whole coffee beans - also in the 1930s. Living on a farm, the Jewel Tea man was a very popular visitor. My grandma saved it.

The other round Ball "Perfect Mason" jar was another that came from my grandma.

These bottles are of more recent times, saved by me. The pitcher type came from the Italian market, held olive oil.

The one with the snap bail top held a French "lemonade" drink. The black cap jar/bottle held caperberries. The square bottle next to it held heavy cream.

The chile sauce jar is self-explanatory. The square blue tint bottle held a very old balsamic vinegar and the squatty round jar held some kind of jam or fruit butter.

HPIM4087.JPG

This is a fairly large "jar" and originally held antipasti from the Italian market.

I have found it is perfect for holding dried mixed fruits that have been steamed and hydrated.

HPIM4084.JPG

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Inveterate jar hoarder here. My favorites are the HEB store brand pasta sauce kind (they have nice, deep lids) - unfortunately the product inside sucks.

Currently stocking up on empty Wild Goose bottles. I like them because the lid screws onto the glass rather than the plastic pouring thing, which I can pull out and discard. Is it wrong to pick an everyday scotch because you might use the bottles later?

I meant "Famous Grouse." Where the heck did I get "Wild Goose" from?

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

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