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
. They are four ounce jars fitted with sturdy, locking shaker lids. I’m liking these herb jars for several reasons. I appreciate how large the holes are in the shaker lid (they’re akin to the ones you find on Parmesan cheese canisters) because they allow chunky things like kosher salt and red chili flakes through.
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.
Spices have found homes in already used, cleaned store-bought containers but mostly in jars with reusable plastic screw lids. Though I love repurposing jars, unscrewing the lid and trying to add only a bit of spice for a recipe can be tricky (and who wants to dirty another spoon!). The shaker lid on these are sure to solve the problem!
I’m following your spice board on pinterest! So great!
I always use canning jars. These look amazing!!
I store my spices in jars! I love these new little jars with the lids!
empty mason jars, empty glass jars, the bulk bags from Penzy’s…everything goes in my spice cabinet.
My spice storage is a complete mess — baggies, old spice jars, old jars, etc. reside in multiple parts of my kitchen. Love your inspiring spice rack!
Sad to say, I use the baggie method for my spices that I buy in bulk….
I would love to have these jars.
I try to use jars as often as possible. My spice cabinet is overloaded.
I am currently storing my spices in the plastic bags from the bulk section and shopping for a new system!
I keep my herbs in little glass containers that I find or in the bulk plastic bag I bought them in. Not the most efficient method for sure!
One of the benefits of diy kitchen renovation – we now have an enormous spice drawer. No fancy system – we’ve got all sorts of glass, plastic and metal containers in there. And, like many other commenters, a few of those plastic bags from the bulk section.
I bought a large and a small decorative glass plate at a Hospice thrift store, and a short glass candleholder at a dollar store, glued the three together with a super adhesive, and those two plates, now separated by the candleholder, are holding many of my spices on my kitchen counter! I would rather it held cupcakes, but it is what it is, because I ran out of cabinet space! I have more spices in plastic bags in the freezer, too! I can put a photo of my setup on my Pinterest page if you want to see!
I really love the look of the jars. Especially like that they will stack!!
Canning jars, previously used store bought spice jars and sometimes plastic baggies are used.
I reuse the spice jars that are empty to refill my bulk spices from Penzeys. I agree on replacing the quilted jars with these ones!
I store my herbs & spice in glass jars & in a dark cool area in my cupboard ever since I read that exposure to direct sunlight “ages” the herbs! These jars would be a perfect addition! Thanks for hosting this giveaway!
My spice storage is embarrassing…;)
I don’t use mayo, but my hubby loves it. I make him buy the teeny-tiny glass jars, so I can re-purpose them for spice jars. He uses so much mayo, that I have enough to use the jars to sort everything from screws in the garage, to buttons and notions in my sewing basket. But, the shaker top on those Ball jars are to be envied!
my store bought ones are in the jars they came in. the ones i whip up are in canning jars too 🙂
I’m currently storing all my spices in the containers I bought them in, but looking forward to transitioning to more bulk spice purchases once I figure out the best way to store them.
Regular spice jars, but in an old coke crate hung on the wall
I’ve been using old glass spice jars for my herbs, these look like a step up!
Thanks for showing these to me. =)
We store them terribly. In a pile in the store jars. It’s a goal.
Love these jars!! Ball Jars are THE best – my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother trusted your products to put up food. Generations of farmers:-)
Wow these look great. I can’t wait to try them. And yes I would love it if they offered these smooth jars for canning in this size too. Heaven! Currently my spices are stored in old jars or repurposed spice jars from commercial stores. It allows me to have a little bit on hand while storing the extra bounty of fresh dried spices and herbs in the closet under our stairs (the coolest, driest, darkest spot in the house). 🙂
Old mason jars or glass baby food jars mostly. Sometimes other jars from store-bought items (capers, mustards, etc) Thanks for the giveaway!
Ooh, I saw these in Walmart recently. I love to grow fresh herbs (I must have 5 different varieties of basil alone); I either cook with them fresh or I hang them to dry and then crumble them into old jars. Little itty bitty matching containers would make my heart go pitter patter every time I saw them.
Mine are in a double-door over-counter cupboard. The jars are a mishmash of things I’ve bought for bulk herbs (spice jars of varying styles, jelly jars, spring-rubber lidded large glass jars) and the typical spice bottles in which I purchased the herb.
I am somewhat organized in the storage, though – I have a pull-out basket each for Mexican, Japanese, and Indian flavors. Beyond that, savory herbs are alphebetized on the left bottom shelf and pastry herbs and flavorings are alphabetized on the right.
But it would be great to be able to stack bottles because they currently don’t take up anywhere near the height of the shelf on which they are stored.
I place dried herbs in old jelly jars. These look so neat and useful!
I use old spice jars and buy new ones whenever I’m at the spice store.
My son and I just spent a lovely hour bonding over spice cupboard reorganization. These shakers would be great for our home dried seaweed, sage, mint, oregano, thyme and parsley.
Mine are mostly in plain glass spice jars and some old used jars. Would love a set of these for some for the baggies of spices from the bulk bins at my coop that are up in the cabinet.
I’m storing bulk herbs in washed jelly jars and I also reuse the Spice Island glass jars when I happen to have them. These new Ball jars are awesome!
My spices are stored in a variety of 4-oz Ball jars, old Penzey’s glass jars, little plastic bags, and old McCormick glass jars. I keep thinking that someday I’ll chuck everything and start over, but I’m just too much a tightwad to do that – if I’m spending money on spices, it’s not going to be for the containers. 🙂
(and if you come back to the Chicago area with the next book tour, we have three different amazing spice shops to visit!)
Old baby food jars make good spice holders.
I don’t organize at all (the shame!) But I would if I had cute jars like these!
Wow these are so awesome would love to have a set or three.
When I used to work at a preschool I asked the parents for clean baby food jars, so I have a pretty good collection of little glass jars for bulk spices. Since I’ve moved so often they usually live in a cardboard box! Some friends have agreed to help me build a real rack for them soon though.
i store mine in the freezer, in their original jars. I’d really love to try out the ball jars though!
I reuse as many glass jars as possible but they all roll around because the drawer I keep my spices in is too short. These look cool and the larger holes will be perfect for some dried ghost chili flakes that I don’t have a jar for yet.
My spices are stored in all sorts of ways: old Penzey’s spice jars with new names written on them, in Tupperware containers for larger amounts picked and then dried and in the odd resealable bag. These jars look great!
We’ve usually used ours up before we had any left to store! I had planned on just storing in extra jars this year from canning. These would be wonderful!
I have a lot of Tupperware spice containers that I’ve had for 20+ years. It’s time for something new!
Yes, I guess we all use canning jars to store all sorts of food items ( I also use pint-sized jars for beans ) – they’re all lined up in one corner of my kitchen counter so I can reach for them quickly. Not the neatest but….. that’s all I can do until I get organized. I also have some herbs in plastic bags in the freezer.
These jars look lovely – I hope I win!
A few years ago I was so disgusted with my disorganized spices. I had several spice racks and tried to separate the spices according to sweet, savory, or ethnic flavor. I realized that some spices could fit more than one catagory so – yep, I found I had more than one jar.
I found a delightful countertop unit with 3 drawers – each drawer could hold 9 jars (unless I had the little jars that are about an inch and a half tall – they’d fit double). I bought 3 of the units so now I have space for 81 different spices.
Who needs that many? I guess I do because all the spots are holding a jar. Recently a friend ‘shopped’ my spice rack when she had decided hers were all old. We both win – my jars will get empty sooner and not get stale and she has fresher spices for free. ;>
These jars would be so perfect for the herbs I grow and dry. Thanks for bringing them to our attention and offering the give-away.
I use older spice jars or canning jars.
I like to mix up my own spices. Taco seasoning, steak seasoning, etc. I love the concept of these little jars. What a wonderful addition to my pantry. I would love to win these!
willy-nilly and that ain’t good. Kudos to Ball for coming up with a great solution. now to make it excellent and sell by the dozens…like you said.
We use a variety of storage containers for spices/herbs at our house ranging from plastic containers to Ball jars to tupperware and glass. I agree, Ball should sell these by the dozen!
I recently re-organized my spices I had crazy duplicated because I couldn’t see into the cabinet!
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!
These jars would fit perfectly into my spice cabinet since I currently reuse old jelly jars and such to store my spices.
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!
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!!
Would love to try these.
These look fantastic! I need to work on my herb drying skills this year.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
My storage system is pathetic- either in old spice jars or in the bulk bags I get them in. I could really use these!
Hi! I store my herbs and spices in a combination of small canning jars and tins.
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.
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 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!
pint jars
I buy bulk, store them in small glass jars and put the extra in the freezer.
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 usually store them in the bottles they come in except for my homegrown dried herbs and these would be great for that!
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 buy bulk, so put spices in recycled jars I collect. Very untidy.
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 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.
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.
Just the jars they come in!
My herbs are stored in a haphazard collection of jars they came in or plastic baggies – my spices could really use some organization!
The original jars. I wish I could do something more interesting…
Alphabetized in the jars that they came in in a lower cabinet with a child lock. The glass jars are my toddler’s favorite : )
In any plastic container
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.
I purchase my herbs and spices. I would like to try growing my own.
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’ve been storing my herbs and spices in ball jars for years. These lids seem great! I’ve been using the white ones.
I reuse Penzeys jars, jelly jars or any other small glass jar. These are really nice, I may have to buy some.
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 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 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 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 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.
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 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 🙂
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 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…
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.