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.
We keep our herbs and spices in a variety of jars. I wish it was more organized! These jars look amazing.
My husband and father made me the best spice racks for my cabinet door that is longer than a standard door.
I store herbs in all kinds of things…glass jars, the plastic ones the ones from the store came in, bags for some bulk stuff, it is a big old crazy storage mess in my spice cabinet! Actually it is pretty organized, but it isn’t all matchy matchy or pretty….
Someone had told me about these already and I’d love to try them. I also recently learned that a parm cheese shaker lid will fit on a mason jar! Now I need to get my friends who go through those jars to save the lids for me. I might end up with my own little spice jars if I don’t win 🙂
I store my herbs in old spice jars, just mis matched jars, some small canning jars – all glass. I’d love to have a set of these new jars!
I use a series of Ball jars, and for a lot of things I actually use the glass jars that Starbucks iced coffee comes in at places like 7-11.
Hodgepodge of old canning and recycled store bought jars. Like the lids.
It’s all a mish-mosh, with excess from bulk buys in tubs scattered hither and yon. Oh, my poor herby babies, you are too old, I only like them NEWBORN *salivates over spice deliveries*
I bought a wall hanging spice rack from Costco years ago (though it never actually made it on the wall!). Additionally, I have a huge shelf in my cupboard filled with spices in their original containers. I would love to have some of these cute little jars!
my bulk spices are kept in a cupboard that i also keep my infusing whatevers. the jars are mismatched but functional for my needs. the convenient cupboard in kitchen is on the other hand quite a mess of grocery jars, small jelly jars, etc. then nifty little beauties just now showed up in some stores here and are quite expensive, so it would sure be wonderful to win a first set
Oh…I would so love these! I currently store my herbs in old spice jars. But, these…oh…so much nicer and more practical.
My messy little herb drawer holds a small collection of small glass jars I fill with bulk herbs from the health food store and an assortment of can’t-do-without-herbs I buy. For the most part I grow the majority of herbs I use in my year-around-garden here in Hawaii. I love the new herb jars – they’d make great gifts. I’m going to look for them immediately.
I use a mix of jars for my herb storage: old spice jars from the store for smaller quantities and past-their-prime canning jars for large quantities of home grown herbs.
My plan is always to reuse spice jars that I’ve saved after emptying them. But really? I have a disability to accurately judge volume. 1/4 cup of dried parsley from the bulk bin doesn’t look like much at the bottom of the plastic bag so I add a bit more, then a bit more. And then when I get home, I have to store it in a pint size mason jar because nothing else will fit it.
I’ve been using the original spice jars, some milk white spice jars that came with a spice rack I inherited from my grandmother, some small canning jars…..these would be cool to have!
I have spice jars I got a yard sales, small mason jars, old jelly jars, you name it I have spices or herbs in it. It’s a mess.
Right now I usually store my herbs in the jars they come in, refilling from bulk packaging when necessary. My dream pantry would include all my spices in matching jars!
My spice shelves are filled with a messy collection of purchased plastic and recycled glass jars, and even a few plastic bags. I’d like to be buying spices in bulk — just what I need and can use before it loses its flavor — and these jars would be wonderful! Thanks for the giveaway chance.
I mostly have spice jars from purchased spices. I have a few of the magnetic kind on my fridge, and for the random spices purchased in bulk when I didn’t have a spare jar, they’re in old prescription bottles.
I’m a mess. I store in glass jars, plastic jars, plastic bags…you namei, I’ve got it.
I am totally guilty of storing bulk bought spices in the plastic bags that they come in. Or.. if I bought already jarred spices, then they stay in the plastic shaker jar. Basically our spice storage is a mess..
I too wish Ball would sell smooth sided 1/4 pint jars in 12 packs. I hate those quilted things, even if I am making jellies or jams. ugh.
We use mason jars too for the grains and larger quantities of herbs.
Most herbs are just sroed in the bottles from the grocery, but I do store some in my jelly jars too. 🙂 Thanks
I often use recycled jars, too.
i use recycled jars, i love to keep them in glass! these new jars are sooooo cute!!
I was just about to order these so I can get rid of my hodgepodge of mismatched jars…now I’ll wait to see if I win!!!
In any kind of jar….What a great idea!!!
I have always loved to grow my own herbs but had a hard time keeping them alive. I finally did some reading and am in a place where my herb garden is actually producing. Now I can finally start harvesting! The only problem is that I don’t have anywhere to store all my fabulous herbs and they end up all over my kitchen in rolls of paper towels.
I use the quilted 4 oz jars but it is a pain to unscrew the lids when I’m using a number of spices in a dish. I like the look of the top. I’m going to see if my local jar store is planning on ordering these. They might just fit the bill. Do you know if the lid fits a standard 4 oz or are these jars different from the 4 oz jelly? It’d be nice to be able to just buy lids and convert what we have.
The lids are a standard size, so they’ll fit any regular mouth jar.
I wish you many years of happiness. I have my spices in two different areas of the kitchen. One is closer to the stove. I seem to divide them between baking and cooking.
After years of buying herbs in bulk and keeping little baggies all over the place, I finally broke down and bought about empty 50 jars from Penzeys. But of course, I’ve since expanded my spices, and often make my own mixes. I also reuse old glass spice jars. I’m so envious of your spice rack. My spices are in four different places in the kitchen. Every day stuff next to the stove, used a lot stuff in a drawer, used less in another drawer, and hardly used in a pantry in the hall (stuff like file). Would love to have a set of these spice jars.
I mainly use the original containers the spices come in, but I store them in those clear shoe-box sized plastic containers, broken out alphabetically so I can find them more quickly. I have over 80 jars of spices, so I need that convenience!
What a great idea…I’m lazy with my herb storage and typically use the containers that they came in 🙂 but would love to utilize jars this way!
I bought a house built in the 40s, complete with bread and root veggie drawers. But since I don’t stock potatoes and onions regularly, the spices are in their original containers all jumbled in that drawer. With these little jars I’d feel compelled to display them!
We just started drying our own herbs from the garden last year. I had taken to using some of the other ball jars as my “bulk herb” containers. For day to day use, I had started to save the old glass spice jars and would refill them from my bulk containers.
I store my most used herbs and spices in little glass jars with white caps in a drawer next to my stove, the rest are in their containers in my cabinet.
This is a fantastic idea. I often keep herbs in mason jars as well (especially home-grown/dried ones) and this is a nice neat way to store and stack them!
recycled glass jars all the way, including old spice bottles. Thanks for the giveaway, these look terrific.
I buy store-bought herbs and keep them in my spice cabinet. If I won these, I might actually use my dehydrator to dry herbs and store them myself!
I store the bulk of my spices in 4 ounce canning jars or Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter jars. The Smucker’s jars are good for herbs with stems or larger quantities. They have straight, clear sides and continuous threaded lids which make a tight seal.
Sometimes it can be difficult to get the label glue off the jar. I use the cheapest fat I have (many jar labels use a glue that is more soluble in fat) and a green pad and it comes right off.
I use my old spice containers for storage and just relabel. These are cute!
I keep my fresh herbs now in the fridge in jars; dried in their original jars. These look awesome! I’ve started two herb gardens this year on my back deck…they are doing very well. Could use these lovely Ball jars.
My most recent apartment solved this for me: there is a small shelf just 6″ under the kitchen cabinets and both run all the way around my kitchen. This shelf is just the right size for two rows of spice shakers or tins, or the tins turned sideways. I’ve had all kinds of fun arranging them to look pretty and show off fancier or more exotic spices, and it is ridiculously convenient. I may not be able to go back to a drawer/cupboard system when I move out, but I will be moving again soon, so I suppose I’ll have to manage.
I store my spices all over my kitchen both in jars and bags. These look like they would help keep things much more organized.
It’s kind of a hodge podge at my place — jars that they came in, recycled jars, and a few little spice jars that I picked up at IKEA.
I use jars, too. But I also use old tins. I don’t like to crush my dried harvestings so I usually store whole leaf (and sometimes even whole stem) which means I need something that holds bulkier items – vintage German candy tins do the trick and they are pretty to boot. They don’t store neatly, however, – there’s always a trade off.
jars for the herbs I grow and dry myself and plastic containers the herbs arrive in (I buy most herbs from our local feed store!).
I typically get all my herbs from growers at various farmers’ markets I’ve been lucky enough to be able to now call my friends. I’ve been hanging mine from anything I can find in the kitchen, they then collect dust until I deem them unusable. I find it truly shameful when I finally end up throwing them out. These jars look fantastic!
I store a lot of my spices in little metal tins that perfectly fill one drawer of my kitchen in a pleasing grid… but I also keep some right by the stove because they are used every day – and this is where the shaker top would be perfect. The recycled spice jar that I have my herb salt in (the base is kosher salt, so it’s chunky) doesn’t always let the stuff through the holes. Oh, I wish they sold the lids separately, too!
not nearly as consistent as your system, my herbs and spices go in any and all used glass containers: tiny canning jars, old herb jars, baby food jars.
My shelf looks just like yours 😉 A mix of different sized masons with some store bought bottles. I’d love to have it all looking the same but buying spices in bulk or on sale doesn’t allow for prettiness!