The week Scott and I got married (nearly four years ago now!), my dad cut a giant hole in my kitchen wall and inserted floor-to-ceiling spice rack into a few inches of unused space. This had long been the wedding present plan, though looking back on it covering the apartment with drywall dust a few days before the big day wasn’t one of my better laid plans.
Still, I’ll never regret the mess, because I LOVE this spice shelf. Not only did it give me a bounty of additional storage space, the shelves are perfectly spaced to hold the canning jars that house my herbs and spices. Truly, it was one of the best presents I’ve ever received.
For the longest time, I thought I was the only one using slightly past their prime mason jars for this purpose, but in recent years, I’ve discovered that I’m very far from alone. And this spring, Ball finally recognized the fact that many of us use their jars in this way and released a product designed expressly for spice storage.
Meet the Dry Herbs Jars
I appreciate the slight rim on the edge of the lid, which means they stack with a sense of security. And finally (though this has nothing directly to do with their utility as a spice jar), I love the look of the smooth-sided four ounce jar. Would that they’d kick those quilted quarter-pints to the curb and sell these by the dozen!
Disclosure: Ball has provided these Dry Herb Jars at no cost to me. However, I am unswayed by this gift and my opinions remain my own.
I would love some of those herb storage jars!!! I store mine in tins, jars (some are old baby food jars), and a variety of other containers.
For spices I’ve grown/ picked myself I either use them right away, put them in some water in the fridge or into some metal canisters with magnets on them from IKEA and stick them to the fridge.
Since moving to my current apartment, I’ve managed to accumulated a collection of matching olive jars with black lids that store all of the spices that I buy in bulk. To my husband’s chagrin, there are no labels on anything.
Whoa! I would love a set of these. I agree, can the quilted jars and start making smooth glass 4oz jars Ball! To store my spices I reuse old spice containers, I clean them and then write over them with Sharpie. Other things get stored in extra 4oz quilted jars for quick access (like my kosher salt that stays by the stove). These would be great, I have a herb garden that will be big enough for harvesting and drying this year.
I keep my spices in my corner cabinet, on 3 spinning things. Mostly Penzeys jars, new and reused! Oh I also have the metal magnetic spice jars on a backsplash. Need more organization!
I sometimes reuse Penzey’s jars for the spices I buy in bulk. But mostly they stay in their original packaging in one of two shallow baskets, once for jars near the stove, one for bulk bags in the pantry. These are neat shakers! They look like they’d be great for that order I just placed with Mountain Rose Herbs…
Neato spice jars! I use some plain Jane spice jars I bought at a rummage sale. I typed labels that I taped on the top of each jar to identify them from above. I store them in some repurposed drawer dividers on a shelf under the counter. That way I pull out the whole kaboodle and glance at the tops to see what I want. I envy your neat shelving arrangement. I aim to store only a small amount in each jar so they don’t get stale before I use them all. The bulk of what I buy I put into bags I seal with a heat sealer so they’re air tight, which I then store in bags, in a tin, in the basement (cool and dark). When I bought the jars, I cut a notch out of the shaker top on many of them to give me the option of shaking out the bigger herbs more easily, as you note. And why am I writing all this when no one will actually read it much less care what I do with my herbs and spices? That’s the strange allure of the blogosphere, and giveways. Say goodnight, Gracie.
I store them wherever I can fit them, in whatever they come in. I’m just about to move into a new kitchen though so a new system is in order 🙂
The last couple if years I’ve been making some of my own spices and seasonings, like citrus zests and powdered tomato and would love these jars to use for their storage. Right now I use jars from ikea and they are too big.
I store my herbs in jars, of course! I had no idea Ball make shaker tops, and I completely agree with your comment about the smooth 4 oz jars. I like the way preserves look in smooth jars.
I don’t really have a system in place, I just use the containers they were purchased in. Having jars of all the same size would make it so much easier for storage though! Great idea!
I buy herbs by the bulk and store them in canning jars. I would love some little ones for using on a day to day basis. What a great idea!!
I invested in a few plain iron spice racks from the container store a while back and attached them to my kitchen wall as an art installation of sorts. The uniformity of the rows of jars with matching lids against the mish mash of different textures and colors that make up the contents is constantly inspiring to me. Every time I walk into the kitchen I am drawn to it! It was a shame to have all that beauty hidden away in a cabinet, and I could never go back to opaque, hidden storage again.
I love the look of these! We have our spices in a random assortment of jars, some old spice jars, some little jam jars… Etc….
I reuse Penzeys jars, jelly jars or any other small glass jar. These are really nice, I may have to buy some.
I’ve been storing my herbs and spices in ball jars for years. These lids seem great! I’ve been using the white ones.
I cook with herbs and spices from many different cuisines all around the world, and buy in bulk packaging whenever I can, so I’m always looking for better jars in varied sizes to keep them in. Just like you, I’m always happier when I find some that stack nicely and securely. Now that I know they exist, I will definitely have my eye out for these jars, and with any luck the lids will be sold separately too, so I can use them on larger jars as well!
I purchase my herbs and spices. I would like to try growing my own.
I keep my spices in Penzey jars….and a collection of glass randomness that I bought in college when I decided I needed to look like I knew what I was doing. No labels—so I have to sniff/and squint to figure out what things are. It is a mess…I’ll be looking for these jars on my own….I love that you can stack them and they come with removable labels.
In any plastic container
Alphabetized in the jars that they came in in a lower cabinet with a child lock. The glass jars are my toddler’s favorite : )
The original jars. I wish I could do something more interesting…
My herbs are stored in a haphazard collection of jars they came in or plastic baggies – my spices could really use some organization!
Just the jars they come in!
Our herbs & spices are stored in anything we can find to put them in — reused spice jars, metal tins, and all sorts of canning jars. It’s good we’re recycling, but it’s pretty disorganized. These jars could help us organize better.
i buy them in bulk and store them in old spice jars that have been around my house for years. sadly, i often enough leave the spices in their bulk bag; i’ve thrown out enough clumpy garlic and onion powder.
I have had my eye on these for a few weeks. My storage solution is a little of this, a little of that, all shoved in a drawer.
I buy bulk, so put spices in recycled jars I collect. Very untidy.
My bulk-bought, homegrown, or home-blended spices are in anything I can find! There are reused spice jars, of course, jelly jars of various types, zip top baggies, tins, even a clean plastic gelato jar. The miser in me loves reusing the still-useful things. The designer in me begs for the uniformity of Ball and Weck jars… Pardon the drooling.
I usually store them in the bottles they come in except for my homegrown dried herbs and these would be great for that!
mine are in the jars they came in, but it feels so haphazard since the jars are different sizes and I have to take 10 out to find the one I want. I like these smaller wider stacking jars. I’d love to win some, but I think I’ll have to search them out too cause I’m going to need more than 4!
I buy bulk, store them in small glass jars and put the extra in the freezer.
pint jars
My spices live in canning jars of various sizes, as well as the small jars they were purchased in. When I empty a store-bought spice jar, I clean it and refill it with spices from the bulk section of my favorite store. Unfortunately I don’t have enough spare jars for all those small stray zipper baggies of miscellaneous spices!
Dream come true to have a floor to ceiling spice rack! Love yours! I also love your bowls. I actually have the same Pyrex bowl with the orange and golden arches, second shelf from the bottom! Its one of my favorites! I wish I had the room to display all of my colorful bowls ~ very cool idea 🙂
My spices are in a combination of old spice jars from a long gone spice rack and the rest are in the tiny bulk bags and stuffed into an old 2 quart canning jar. It’s very organized… Just kidding, not really.
Hi! I store my herbs and spices in a combination of small canning jars and tins.
My storage system is pathetic- either in old spice jars or in the bulk bags I get them in. I could really use these!
i have small 4 ounce jars with magnets on the lids that are mounted on the side of my fridge. they are great but i have more spices than i have fridge space!
I love using Ball jars for my spices and herbs. I have slowly started transferring all of them into small canning jars! I also use the jars for storing dry goods in the pantry and leftovers in the fridge! Thanks Ball for another great product!
Home dried herbs and refills are in zip lock bags in the cupboard, spices are in a mixture of ball jars and re-used McCormick jars.
These jars are awesome! I use them for spice storage as well. I also use their larger jars for grains, dried beans, etc. I generally use a hodgepodge of ball 4oz jars and empty baby food jars (for really small quantity spices) for our spice storage. They work perfect for storage in a narrow drawer!
On a side note: Do you think Ball will ever just sell the lids at some point, like they do for canning seals/rings? I have a slew of these little jars already as they are the main jar I use for small batch, gift canning.
Thanks for the contest / offer!
I leave them in their original jars/packaging, but store them in a cool dry spot. If I go for big bulk purchases, I use small plastic bags or small jars.
Mine are currently stored in a mish-mash of re-used spice jars, and a mish-mash of old mason jars! It works, but it’s hard to get it nearly as organized looking as I’d like.
These look fantastic! I need to work on my herb drying skills this year.
Would love to try these.
This is awesome! And timely. We will be moving to a new house and remodeling the kitchen soon, and I’ve been trying to decide what to do for spice storage!!
I have always canned jams and pickles, and grow my own herbs. I have just begun to branch out and try to preserve the last of my herbs at the end of the season. Last year I tried to make my own shaker jars by puncturing lids of my canning jars, I actually found directions on pinterest great idea, but when you use up the herbs (or as I found out) drop it in a pot of chilli and its time for a wash the jagged edges make it hard to get them completely clean. I am excited to see that Ball is making spice jars! I have yet to see them in my area stores. Good find Marissa!
These jars would fit perfectly into my spice cabinet since I currently reuse old jelly jars and such to store my spices.
These spice jars are really neat. I buy a lot of bulk spices, and I have some jars from the spice store, but I like the shaker lid on these!