Preserving Jars and Equipment Mostly for the Pantry

As I do a lot of preserving I am always on the look out for preserving jars of various descriptions.  I have had them all over the years  (and I still have an awful lot) including antique Kilner jars some of which belonged to my mum when I was a little girl and some of which I have found at Antique stores and off the Internet.  All are put into use wherever possible.  Most of them are in the shed but not all.  Periodically I go on the Internet, primarily Ebay and I manage to pick them up quite cheaply.   I also source  the seals so that I can use the antique jars again and again (Leifheit closures). 

Just recently I have added another 40 or so Kilner jars to the stash - especially now I have the canner and no doubt more will be added in due course.  The ones below are the medium sized Kilner jars, but now I need to stock up on the litre jars.  There do not seem to be the offers on these though and those are the ones I need for the soup and other canning.

One thing I do do, is that I am very specific and careful to only use the Kilner or Mason (or alternatives) for canning or bottling.  Jams and marmalades and curds go into jam jars.  Pickles have different sized jars which are a lot larger or I use the Sarson's vinegar jars for the pickled onions or shallots.  Sauces and cordials I use hex sauce bottles.  These are an ideal size to be processed in the baby steriliser.

I normally recycle jam jars.  Jars  (jam jars) like Uncle Ben's sweet and sour sauce, Patak's jars etc. are standard sized lids which the Lakeland closures fit.  So where I can recycle I will.  However I have also found that Wilkinsons do a nice range of jars quite cheaply and seem to have expanded their range just recently.  I need to get some of their little ones for the Harissa. 

I have also bought a few more flask jars for storing Sloe Gin or the like in.  I have several already but a few more never hurt especially with the amount of stuff I have managed to put up this year.  

As I intend to take advantage of what mother nature lets grow in wild larder for many years to come I have invested in a couple of these barrels (upright and trestle versions) for the pantry shelves.  I intend to add a few more yet, but this is a good start.   I have plans for this coming year on the wild larder front more so than in previous years so I am going to need a good stock of jars, bottles, canning jars etc.

I think the second one in particular would be good for vinegar storage but it may well be specifically for alcoholic preserves only.  I shall make a decision on that once it arrives.

I have also ordered some more of these sifters for the pantry to put the different variations of sugar in and some cocoa and drinking chocolate.  The sprinkler on top of each bottle is ideal.  I also have cinnamon sugar, rose petal sugar and lemon sugar to process.  I may end up buying a few more of these yet.

And the Sloe Gin set.

On the Kilner product I have bought the Butter Churn, a Cream Maker, a Spiraliser and a coffee bean mill.  I have also bought several of the drinks carriers as well. There  are one or two more bits I would like from the range but they will come in time.  I am looking at next to buy their what I call pate jars as I will need these in the run up to Christmas for storing home made pate's and deli items in.

I am slowly drawing together all the elements that I would like for the Pantry long term.  I have a large pot without a lid which came from my Nan's pantry which is in the unit at the moment.  It is however extremely useful for storing Walnuts in salt to keep them fresh.

I am still looking out for the sweetie jars to add to my stash for the pantry and for Victorian glass storage jars of different sizes.  So eventually I will have the majority of what I am after for a well stocked pantry, but at the moment it is a never ending process.  I also use Douwe Egbert jars recycling them for herbs and other dry ingredients as they are quite a nice size.

So it is an ongoing process but by the end of it I should have a very useful pantry where I will be able to find everything relatively easily.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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