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 did not know that Ball makes spice jars!
I have a double-decker, lazy-suzan type spice rack which I inherited from my grandparents. I store most of my spices there, above my microwave, in the jars they come in. I have home-grown tried herbs stored in reused glass jars (honey, spag. sauce, etc.) in the pantry. This includes basil, parsley, peppermint, and spearmint. It would be nice to have something better.
As I submitted my comment, I saw that I mistyped my email address. Sorry. Correct one his here.
Nice! I keep my herbs in the jars they come in, for the most part, with bulk in the freezer. My kitchen is sunny yellow vintage-y style with red accents, so I love classic McCormick spice containers!!
I store my herbs in Ball half-pint jars. They fit perfectly in a drawer and I stick labels on them so I can quickly identify my herbs and spices.
Please add my to the Pinterest board. I’d like to share my spice organization after I post about it on my blog.
These jars look great! Right now all our spices are in tall jars in the drawer next to our stove. These would be much prettier to take to the table.
My spice collection is crazy. Right now, they live in the top drawer of a rolling plastic drawer thing in our kitchen. I have a bunch of uniform metal containers & rare earth magnets that will someday be turned into a magnetic spice rack, but….that day isn’t here. These jars look awesome!
I use little quilted Ball jelly jars, and love them! I would like to try these, they look so convenient with the shaker on top!
I store my herbs in a mismatch of different size mason jars, spice jars, and paper bags. Always looking for more ways to store the excess garden bounty!
I store my spices in mason jars in the pantry that my husband built for me. It’s just wide enough for a jar to fit which is perfect!
My spices are stored in the jars they came in, in the empty spice jars they sell at the supermarket, in Ball jars, and in some pretty airtight jars I have found here and there. Just like lots of others who have posted, it’s a mess! Still, it’s worth the mess to have the bulk spices. Much cheaper and often much better quality than the little jars at the store.
I like those lid designs, but 4 oz is way too small! I buy whole spices in bulk, and they’d never fit.
Most of my seasonings come from my various garden efforts, so I usually end up with quart or gallon quantities of dried herbs, dried peppers, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, anise, coriander, dill, fennel (an aside–harvesting your own fennel pollen is so much cheaper than buying it, and you have stems, fronds and seeds to harvest as well!)…
Some years some plants do better than others, but my friends and I have a “spice” party where we trade our homegrown excesses and plan a group bulk order–buying in bulk as a group gives us price and shipping discounts, so we’re able to afford organic/fair trade/sustainably wild-crafted spices, teas and herbs we can’t or don’t grow. It saves us money, allows us to support a company we like, and makes it possible to cook with very high-quality ingredients (with appropriate storage).
Those are awesome! Right now, I’ve just got my spices on a lazy susan in the cabinet (still in their plastic bottles, no less). Time for an upgrade.
I store herbs and spices in lots of different containers, but they are alphabetized and on turntables.
I mix my own seasonings (ranch, taco…) and store them in the Ball Dry Herb Jars! Love them!
I tend to repurpose glass jars the most for spice and herb blends, so it’ s not uncommon to see an old jelly jar marked “Cajun Seasoning” in my cupboard LOL.
Most of mine are in a stadium type rack in their original jars. The others are stuffed wherever they fit in Tupperware containers.
Those Ball spice jars are the bomb!!!!
I use so many different methods of storage and like others posting, my spice ‘shelf’ is a wreck! So many things just crammed in there – there is an avalanche of jars on a regular basis.
I use old mason jars!
a mishmash of jars, plastic containers that bill spices come in at the farmer’s market, grocery store spice jars… in short, it’s a mess! By te way, the parm cheese lids atent water-tight but they actually do fit mason jars (regular mouth) and can be repurposed that way! Thanks for the giveaway!
Unfortunately in the jars they come in. I am gradually looking for a better system and LOVE these. I think I have found what I have been looking for.
I store my herbs and spices in a collection of unmatched jars on a shelf in my cabinet. Mostly reused jam jars and the jars that spices came in, but no Ball jars so far!
Herbs are stored chaotically in a variety of glass containers… but that doesn’t stop us from using them regularly! Neat product!
I’ve been making my own herds and spice rubs for awhile now and I find I’m using old Ball jelly jars and recycled spice jars to put my handy work into. When you open my cabinet doors, you’ll find all different shapes and size jars. It will be nice to finally have uniformity and stackable jars for ease of finding those creations! Plus, they would make a lovely gift to give 🙂
Holy crap, I am PSYCHED about these jars, as I store mine in 4-ounce Ball jars anyway. The shaker tops are genius. And your spice rack is awesome — thanks for sharing your home with us!
Wow, these are so cool ! I’d love to try them. I wonder if the Ball website will say where we can get these in stores?
I store my spices in the large bottles that they come from (I try to buy from a local spice store). I am growing a bunch of herbs this year that will be great dried for the winter, so will need to consider how to store them.
I keep my herbs in the containers they come in. This year I started my own herb garden so these jars would be wonderful to store the dried herbs in.
We also have a herb shelf built into the wall by the previous owners. It is more cobbled together than yours. I re-use glass spice jars and fill my spices from the bulk section. I keep extra in the freezer.
Love to be able to shake or measure from containers near the stove.
I have spice jars all along the walls on my kitchen counter, a spice rack (way too small) in the pantry, and I still find random spices in other places. This is the first year I planted enough herbs to actually dry some, so these jars would be perfect for storing those!
I try and store them in glass spice jars, but am also using masons! I love your kitchen – mine is a bit of the same 🙂
I have long used Ball half-gallon and quart size jars to hold all sorts of dry goods from grains to pastas to brown sugar and coconut, etc. etc. Would love to try these for my herb storage, though some of my herbs like dill go right into freezer bags and into the freezer for great storage. Wonder if the lids on these jars would be freezer-approved.
I still store my spices in the spice rack we got as a wedding gift. The jars are awful, and I am not a fan of how much space it takes up on my kitchen counter. I have been too lazy to figure out a new solution 🙁
Tupperware spice containers. I do love those jars!
What a great wedding gift! I store spices in the jars they come in, or in the plastic bags from the bulk bin. Not ideal, I know! I’d love these spice jars!
Most of my herbs store-bought and still in their original jars. I do have a few jars of seeds from gardens past.
Love these new Ball spice jars — as well as their new plastic containers. Currently, store my spices in my kitchen pantry. Have been looking for ages for new spice storage ideas.
I am also varied and old fashioned as I use all of the above and mason jars too!
These are great for storing dried herbs and the stackability is definitely a plus. I haven’t seen them in stores around here yet, but keep looking for them!
I have a drawer where spice jars lay flat. It’s not big enough for all of them, so in the pantry I have two tiered shelves where I stock extra and spices and herbs that used that often.
Since I have virtually no organized storage of spices, I would love to get my hands on some of these jars! As it is now, all my spices are shoved into a cabinet in their original containers, and I’m always hunting for what it is that I want/need.
I have a terrible system for my spices. I just started looking last week on a better storage system. Currently, they are all just stacked and crammed in a cabinet. Not functional at all.
I mostly use the ugly containers they come in–but these are so much prettier, take up less space, and they stack! Hurrah!
Sigh… a mishmash here …store plastic jars which I do not like at all! And plastic bags…which I do not like! Love these spice jars!
Love it! Hoping to dry some is my own herbs this summer!
When we moved into this house (hopefully our last), there was no apparent storage for spices. There was, however, a laundry room (more like a corner), off the kitchen, and in the laundry room was an ironing board which dropped out of a small cabinet. I knew without a doubt that I was NEVER going to use that little, odd-shaped ironing board, so
we took it out, installed shelves, and that’s my spice cabinet! Works great. We measured the shelves to accomodate both commercial spice jars and our own.
I store my herbs in mason jars and upcycled glass jars.
Love these little spice ball jars! Currently, I use small square tins to hold the spices that I use regularly, and then use different sizes of jars to hold the bulk spices. When the tins start running low, I refill them from what is stored in the jars. These little spice jars would be great to replace my tins!!
I always use canning jars for my spices. They seal up for the tightest fit and my long handled measuring spoons work great with the deeper jars. I even made a special shelf area for the shallow commemorative ball jars, which are handy for smaller spices and look rustically cool, too! Thanks for a chance at these jars. I was hoping they would come out with a shaker top.
I’ve used & refilled Spice Islands jars over and over again for years now!
I cannot WAIT to try the new Ball herb jars. How fantastic to have se uniformity in my spice cabinet!
My herbs spice storage is a train wreck. Some are in an actual spice rack, some are in a cupboard in either the jars they came in or a hodgepodge of various containers, and many others are in the plastic bags they came in from Penzeys. In my fantasy world, I have everything in smooth-sided 8- or 4-oz. canning jars and a lovely open rack to display them. Someday…