Yesterday a box arrived on my doorstep from SKS with a few little treasures in it.  Kate sent me 4 samples of the various products they offer.

The first was the 16oz, wide mouth economy jar with a gold metal cap.  She informed me that this jar would be great for canning jams, tomatoes, sauces and salsas. (man, I just canned 5 quarts of salsa).  Currently I use Kerr Canning jars and I have for years.  I know they are the standard in canning, but frankly I don’t care for the 2 piece lids.  I have a box of canning supplies and I can’t tell which lids have been used and which have not.  Therefore I go out and purchase new lids every year.  However, the SKS jars have 1 piece lids with a “pop” top to tell if you’ve made a good seal or not.  They appear to be nice sturdy jars that will work well for jams and such.  They are slightly more expensive than the Kerr jars, but I do like the 1 piece lid.  You can obviously use the jars from year to year and only purchase new lids for resealing.  However, what I am discouraged about is purchasing lids.  The website lists separate lids only in a case of 144 for $50.40.  It is cheaper to purchase a gross of jars and lids separate if you need that many.  I personally do not, but we are expanding the garden next year so we’ll see.  In any case, these would be great jars for personal canning use.

The second item was a 9oz clear glass oval heagonal jar with black metal lug cap.  According to Kate these jars would be canning as well.  I’m personally digging these particular jars.  I am a sucker for jars in general, but these are little cuties.  They are an unusual shape and the fact that I can can with them is even better.  As a matter of fact, Derek was just mentioning that we needed little jars to can tomato paste in.  The 6oz size would be perfect for that.  Even better, they would be in a jar that you could then put in the fridge if you don’t use all of the paste at that moment.  So much better than the store bought cans.  They are obviously more expensive than the standard jars (coming in at $13.68/dozen), but they would also make great jars for your jams that you give as gifts.  I may be looking into these for the aforementioned paste and maybe blackberry jam (if I ever get out to pick blackberries).

The third item is a 1 oz flat metal tin with rolled edge slip cover.  Toted as being suitable for seed storage, she’s right.  I like these little containers.  I just purchased our vegetable seeds for next season and I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to put them all in.  I store all of my seeds in an old chest of drawers in the shed.  I currently put them in old spice jars and other random jars I have laying about.  However, I have about 40 packages of seeds that need some kind of storage solution.  I like that these containers aren’t glass (less likely to break in the garden) and are small (take up less space in the drawer).  I’m not sure I like having to order a full gross of them, but if I could split them with mom or a few other friends it might be worth it.

The last item Kate sent was a 2 dram clear glass vial with cork closure.  This would also be a product for seed storage.  Like I mentioned before, I like containers, especially glass ones.  This little vial is super cute and totally Martha.  I’m all about Martha.  The jar is a little too small for my own seed storage needs, and might be a little difficult to label, but it would make a great container for seed exchanges.  I like the idea of being creative in a seed exchange.  Again, you would have to order in quantity, but this is a case where the super bulk is the more affordable option.  Basically $82 for 200 vials and corks.  In addition to seed containers the vials would be great for essential oil mixes.  I’ve been known to make a few spa items here and there and I do mix some of my own fragrances.  In this case I would order the ones with a cone lined cap instead of the corks.

All in all I’m impressed with the containers from SKS.  I’m looking forward to testing out the canning jars (I’ll let you know how that goes).  Check them out… you might find something you like.