In my years of canning, one of the things I’ve found is that most of my favorite canning tools weren’t made specifically for canning. They are simply kitchen utensils that are well made, sturdy and just happen to serve a useful role in my preserving practice. From the bottom left corner and moving clockwise, here are some of my current favorites.
- This six-piece set of stacking measuring cups
by RSVP is fantastic. They are made from solid stainless steel and have a nice heft in the hand. I use the one-cup measure to portion jam into half-pint jars and the half-cup one fits neatly into my larger storage jars.
- I’ve long been a fan of a serrated edge peeler. It’s particularly handy during marmalade season because it allows you peel off the outer zest from citrus without taking any of the pith along with you. What makes this particular peeler so nice is that it had dual blades, one smooth and one serrated. Makes for less clutter in a crowded utensil drawer. The one pictured above is from Williams-Sonoma. Kuhn Rikon
also makes a version.
- Thermapen
is simply the best instant read thermometers out there. I’ve bought two in recent years and just love them for minding the temperature of my jams, jellies and curds. They’re pricy, but worth the money (and make sure to check the end of this post for a Thermapen giveaway!).
- I first found this potato masher
at a Tuesday Morning and it has supplanted all my other mashers. What makes it so awesome is that the tines are bladed. They’re not sharp, but they have just enough edge to make it perfect for breaking down cooking fruit. It’s a fantastic tool.
- A good, fully encased silicone spatula. The one pictured above is from GIR and is quite nice. However, it also costs $22.50, which is more than most people want to spend on a spatula (disclosure! this one was sent to me for review purposes). For a more sensibly priced version (under six bucks), check out this one from Orka
. According to Amazon, I bought mine in 2009 and it’s still going strong.
- A good paring knife. I like the ones made by Kuhn Rikon
, but couldn’t find one in the kitchen when preparing to take this picture. The most important thing is that it feels good in the hand and holds an edge.
- If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, you’ll know that I am crazy for my 4th burner pot
. Also made by Kuhn Rikon (they don’t know I exist, I just like their products), this skinny pot has a spout, a heat-proof handle and is fitted with a rack. This means that it works as a small batch canning pot, a pot for heating pickling liquids and syrups for canning whole fruit and even as a tea kettle in a pinch. On Thanksgiving, I used it to heat up the gravy. It is a genius piece of equipment and I love it so much that I own two.
- I bought this Cuisinart stainless steel wok
at Macy’s last summer on a whim. It was on sale and I had a feeling that it might be a handy size and shape for making small batches of jam. And I was right. The flared sides encourage evaporation and it holds a bit more jam than a 12-inch skillet. It’s lighter than ideal for a true wok, but is quite nice for jams, jellies and chutneys (and it just costs right around $30, which makes it highly affordable).
- Finally, flour sack towels
. I finally got smart and started buying them in colors instead of in white. No matter how much I bleached them, the white ones just never get clean. The deeply colored ones don’t show the stains as much. Amazing the difference these little choices make in my quality of life.
As promised, I have an orange Thermapen to give away to one of you nice folks. Here’s how to throw your hat in the ring for chance at it.
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your current favorite kitchen tool.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
- Giveaway open to everyone (the shipping is on me, no matter where you live).
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post. I do not accept submissions via email.
I’m loving my garlic press! I will never mince garlic again!
It is fun to read the comments, its kind of like a kitchen gadget suggestion list :). My current favorite is my new Swiss Diamond pan – it is the most non-stick surface I have ever cooked on.
I LOVE my immersion blender. I really don’t know what took me so long to bring one into my house, but I use it for everything (nearly daily). I often use it in place of a food processor to make dips, mix batter for baked goods, homemade nut milks, “banana soft serve”, smoothies: you name it, it gets quite the workout!
I could not do without either my Kitchen Aid mixer or my Henckels knives!
I’d give up pasta for a month if I could win that Thermapen! I’m going to hold my breath until you choose a winner! 🙂
This is one of the hardest questions you’ve asked! I love my kitchen scale, and a really old citrus juicer my mom found long ago. It is mounted to a cabinet and the reamer spins around via a handle at the bottom.
Hard to pick one, but I’d have to say my chef’s knife, especially since I just had it sharpened recently (long overdue). I just got an immersion blender in the mail last week; maybe once I try it out that will be my new favorite kitchen tool. Thanks for the giveaway!
My favorite is my paring knife. It gets used at nearly every meal and snack time!
I love a lot of the tools that you mentioned in your post. Like many others, I can’t live without my Microplane grater. Thanks for the giveaway!
stainless steel measuring cups
Food mill in apple sauce season.
My favorite thing in the kitchen is a set of stainless steel bowls. I use it every day for washing leaves for the salads, making bread, peeling fruits for jams, mixing cake batters… The list is enormous! Just can’t think of a kitchen without them.
I think I have to go with the ancient cast-iron skillet I got in college (ahem, many years ago) at the Salvation army! I still use it almost every day, and it’s so seasoned I can scrub it or soak it or whatever, no problems and nothing sticks anymore.
love my silicone spatulas that double as mixing spoons too!
I adore my spoonulas too. Both a spoon and a spatula. How can it get better?
I have so many favorites…but, I don’t think I’d be able to live without my kitchen scale.
I don’t know if I could decide between my Henkel chef’s knife and my cast iron skillet!
My favorite kitchen tool is my bread maker that I use to make my doughs.
I couldn’t live without my kitchen scale. Great for exact measurements when baking (I bake all my own bread), and great for eating exactly half of that can of soup!
I love my toaster oven.
I love using my zester. I works on fruit, cheese and nutmeg and is so handy to have around.
immersion blender fo sure
While it may not be my *favorite* tool, I’m living abroad this semester without a microplane grater, and boy do I ever miss it.
My mandolin. I love that I can slice onions so fast my wife’s sensitive nose doesn’t know until I have the onion skins in the trash and the onions in whatever is cooking! Makes life so much easier for both of us!
My current go to tool is a mini spatula. It’s small enough to fit everyone. Works well for when I’m cooking for just my husband and myself.
To be honest, the tool in my kitchen that gets the most use is the old crock pot my grandmother gave me when I got my own place. She had received a new one for Christmas that year and gave me her 70’s one, saying that it would do until I was settled enough to buy a nice shiny new one of my own. Eleven years later and I haven’t even looked at new ones; not only does it work simply and well (two settings: high and low, and an on/off switch, that’s all) but it makes me happy to see it on my counter, considering how many years I saw it on my grandmother’s counter growing up.
I am loving my Cutco knives use them every day !
My favorite is a chef’s knife. It was free (donated for the nutrition education classes I taught years ago) and probably was never top of the line, but it was made to last and has the perfect balance for my small-ish hands.
My favorite tool is one I bought at the outlet center near Milan Italy a couple of years ago. It is a pasta pot with a lid that locks AND has holes for draining the water. I love it!
My favorite tool has to be my Cuisinart immersion blender and all its attachments.
I’m loving my Kyocera ceramic chef knife and paring knife. Light, sharp and thin! So easy to slice whisper thin slices, or not so whisper thin kumquat skins for marmalade.
My favorite kitchen tool… would have to be my cast iron. I use it for everything from pan frying to baking. I really need to get a second one so I can make cakes and such in it. But i just haven’t done it yet. :/
And I want to get a small 6 inch one too, I just haven’t found one second hand yet. I refuse to buy brand new cast iron when I know there are good sturdy used ones out there in the world.
Believe it or not, I have a hand crank beater that I use constantly!
Last year I bought a Zyliss 4-in-one grater to slice pears from our tree for drying. I am almost amazed at home much I love that thing. It fits in a drawer with no problem (a huge plus in our small kitchen)and it’s easy to switch between the graters and the slicers. I use it even more than I thought I would (and I was pretty sure I would use it quite a bit).
Thanks for the recommendation on measuring cups. Now I won’t have to re-weld yet another handle back on my current set.
My go to kitchen tool is my wok tool. Actually it’s wok tools because I have two of them. They are great with woks, of course, but work really well in other applications. They are excellent at scraping the bottom of a pan, say when pan frying potatoes and they are usable as small spatulas as well as generally pot stirers.
I think it’s my Salter kitchen scale. I rarely use measuring cups anymore for dry ingrediants. It’s so handy.
My favorite kitchen tool is my bread maker. There is nothing like smelling fresh bread as you walk into the kitchen and you barely did any work. We make at least one loaf a week and it has been the best Craig’s List purchases we ever made.
My favorite kitchen tool lately is my Calphalon grill pan; I’ve been almost everything I can in it.
Right now, I’m loving my one Silpat. I’ve been making a lot of apple chips with the apples that are getting a little past their prime, and the Silpat is SO much better for not-sticking than parchment. And I love that it’s reusable. I’m hoping to get more for Christmas so I have one for each cookie sheet I own and can make multiple batches of chips or other sticky items at the same time.
My chef’s knife is my right hand!
My new Lodge griddle. I just figured out that I can keep and use my bacon grease for so many things! I love when I find tips and tricks for things I use to just dispose of.
my new favorite is the can opener that cuts from the side not the top of the can. before that, I was obsessed with a garlic shaver thing.
A grapefruit spoon for deseeding squash!
My favorite kitchen tool is a little orange and white Tupperware plastic cutting board. When it got too beat up and stained to use, I discovered that it’s no longer made, but I found a new one on Ebay. Gotta love the internet!
My favorite kitchen tool is my miscroplane grater! I am a zesting fiend!
My Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker. For quick rice, split pea soup and canning stocks.
I’m currently loving my Chef’s Choice electric knife sharpener. It was a house warming gift when we moved this summer and it has totally revitalized all of our knives.
I go for the basics – my trusty 6″ Kershaw chef’s knife and the ever-present KitchenAid!
My favorite kitchen tool has to be my KitchenAid Mixer. It’s just so efficient and makes everything to do with baking easier!
My favorite kitchen item is my scale — good for baking, Alton Brown recipes, and my waist!
I think I have to go with my Kitchenaid mixer! It just barely edges out the enameled cast-iron dutch oven (which I really wish was a Le Creuset, but sadly, it’s a Target special).
My favorite kitchen tool currently is actually probably the jar opener in the Crate & Barrel canning tool set that I got after the post here a few months ago about the sale they had on that set. I know it’s possible to open jars other ways, but this is really use to use and somehow satisfying, plus it helps me get at the delicious jar contents that much more easily 🙂
I have a question about a couple of these recommendations–I’m not quite sure what the benefit of an all silicone coated spatula is over the kind that has a wooden handle is? Not staining the wood bit? Also, what do you use the paring knife for? I have one and use it for things like cutting up small blocks of cheese, but for most thing it’s usually just the chef’s knife. I haven’t ever actually used it to peel anything the old-fashioned way, I’m not sure I’m skilled enough not to cut myself with that.
I love the fully encased silicone spatulas because nothing can get up under the head. With the wooden-handled ones, you inevitably end up with food particules and mildew under the head. You can pull it off every time you clean it, but I find that to be a royal pain in the butt. I also like this one because you can run them through the dishwasher. Do that with the wooden-handled ones and they won’t last more than six months.
I use paring knives every day. It cuts citrus. Cores apples. Easily removes bruises from peaches and pears. I use them to remove inner membranes from peppers. Once a paring knife has gotten past the point of being useful for food, I use it to scrape between the stove and countertop to remove grease and crumbs.
All that said, not every tool works for everyone. The things I love might not float your boat. Mileage varies and that’s okay.