View Full Version : Kilner jars are back
Apparently Kilner jars are back in production again and are being stocked by Lakeland.
We're still using a couple for beetroot and pickled onions which I inherited from my gran many many moons ago.
Great product and no connection to seller etc
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/product/13219_13218/?src=email&email=090723kitcheneditorial
Thanks for that.
I am trying to revive a long standing family tradition of pickling and / or jamming everything that doesn't move that unfortunately died out with my grandad. These look like just the things I am after (he always used a jam jar with a piece of sellophane under the lid).
gregorach
05-08-2009, 14:00
I didn't know they'd gone away. Certainly, the last time I was in Edinburgh's "old-timey hardware store" (Grays of George Street BTW, great shop) they had Kilner jars, although I'm not sure if they were "genuine".
We use the type with the wire hinge, glass lid and rubber seal. They just go on and on.
Wasn't their manufacture shifted out to China or something?
Thanks for the headsup.
Big Geordie
05-08-2009, 15:10
Asda here have been doing them for a while.:)
ATB
G
Minotaur
05-08-2009, 19:10
I didn't know they'd gone away. Certainly, the last time I was in Edinburgh's "old-timey hardware store" (Grays of George Street BTW, great shop) they had Kilner jars, although I'm not sure if they were "genuine".
Think they have to be. Patented, by a relative of Nigella Lawson.
We use the type with the wire hinge, glass lid and rubber seal. They just go on and on.
At £3 pound a jar for the Kilners think I would use them too. Can get them in pound land.
We actually use the jars you see in the chip shop at the moment. Having a big problem getting normal vinager.
British Red
05-08-2009, 20:43
They are also available at Ascott small holding supplies and a rather good shop in Knutsford Cheshire.
A different puppy entirely from the Le Parfait type jar - used properly with a pressure canner you can can (bottle) your own soups, stews, meat etc.
They can be used for other things (such as jam) in the "water bath"method without the pressure canner.
Common in the USA - much rarer over here to pressure can.
Red
bushwacker bob
06-08-2009, 01:20
They are also available at Ascott small holding supplies and a rather good shop in Knutsford Cheshire.
A different puppy entirely from the Le Parfait type jar - used properly with a pressure canner you can can (bottle) your own soups, stews, meat etc.
They can be used for other things (such as jam) in the "water bath"method without the pressure canner.
Common in the USA - much rarer over here to pressure can.
Red
Arn't pressure canners just a large pressure cooker? If so dont you loose the pressure when you open them to put the lids on or is the advantage gained by higher temperature cooking?
Good news, but is there something special about these ones? I don't remember not being able to get hold of similar looking jars - mainly Italian, like.
Haricots in tomatoes and goose fat - slerp!
British Red
06-08-2009, 06:48
Arn't pressure canners just a large pressure cooker? If so dont you loose the pressure when you open them to put the lids on or is the advantage gained by higher temperature cooking?
The higher temperature is the thing - enough to kill all the relavent nasties (including botulism). When combined with a jar that can create and hold a vacuum (as these can) it (supposedly) offers the ability to preserve lots of foodstuffs not normally possible.
Its something I'm keen to try. Apaarently canners develop very different pressures to cookers........
Just made 3 jars of marrow and ginger jam - would never have come up with that combination on my own! Always amazed at the variety of jam and preserve recipes available - something for everything.
I have a mix of the 'parfait' type jars and am gradually building my collection of Kilners. I find the Kilners best for pickling and where any liquid is involved. Parfait for jams and marmalades. I got a small Kilner-type lidded bottle for doing flavoured oils - perfectly suited to the job. Got chile oil brewing at the moment.
I think the River Cottage Preserves book is destined to become a classic textbook for those interested in the various pickling/jamming methods. Not just for the recipes but because of the description of techniques, etc. If you haven't got this, I'd recommend that you search it out. Likewise, the bread book in the same series. Both have changed the way we eat at home. I'd never made jam before until last Autumn and I actually find myself actively looking for stuff to pickle and preserve now. As a nation, we seem to have lost out enthusiasm for this sort of thing but it's dead easy!
scrogger
06-08-2009, 08:57
I agree MikeyP we made jam and did pickled onions etc last year for the first time. I had to laugh as our friends said I was a bit of a saddo doing this, wasnt it just cheaper to buy Haywards?!!!
At a Christmas gathering it was my pickled onions and chutneys etc that flew of the table and the shop bought stuff just sat there, guess what funnily enough they are all ringing up now asking where to buy the stuff and how to do it.
We just used the parfait jars from lakeland for it all and didnt seem to have any issues.
Spotted a tree full of Mirabella Plums whilst out with the dogs the other day so its ....
Jammer time!!.........
and no I dont have any big baggy trousers!!
happy days folks
Andy
At a Christmas gathering it was my pickled onions and chutneys etc that flew of the table and the shop bought stuff just sat there, guess what funnily enough they are all ringing up now asking where to buy the stuff and how to do it.
Ditto! Took a big Kilner jar of pickled onions into work and they went very rapidly! People asking me to make them some...
The flavour of home pickled onions, in my experience, is mellower and almost - dare I say it - 'caramelly'?
So, yeah, it might be nearly as cheap to buy a jar in Asda but they just don't taste as good.
Jam is easy - I can't understand all this flapping about the 'setting point' - you just put a saucer in the fridge, follow the recipe, and after the alloted time, put a dab on the saucer and push it. If you get 'crinkles' in the surface of the jam blob, it's reached setting point. How hard is that?
Don't fear jam, my friends!!! Embrace it! But wait for it to cool down first, yeah? :D
Im scared of jam.
True heroes make jam like they were making mincemeat or pickled onions.
I have a lot of jars. many old Kilners, the Leifheit ones and a few clip top le parfaits.
Ive recently learnt to bottle fruit in the microwave...use old jam jars.
British Red
06-08-2009, 12:26
What a truly lovely thread!
I'm delighted by others who are embracing these "old skills" and finding the quiet pleasure in them. They - a bit like bushcraft - are endless in variety and fasciantion.
Beware though.
"I'm just making some jam and pickled onions - I can quit anytime I like - its just a social thing"
Then somene sidles up to you at a party and mouths "wanna try some home made mustard?"
Before you know it you are making lye sticks, building clamps for your root vegetables and debating the merits of truning the garden shed into a cold smoking room
:D
Its absolutely superb fun - I really reccomend making your own vinegar too - so simple and so satisfying
Red
8thsinner
06-08-2009, 12:40
We have been tempted to try our hand at this too.
Can someone recommend a few good links where special canning supplies aren't required, I would like to learn more
get a jam jar with a sealing metal lid.
fill with fruit
top up until overflowing with sugar syrup
put on lid and tighten
microwave 2 mins on high
take out and wait to cool and seal (the security button will dink in)
British Red
06-08-2009, 13:08
We have been tempted to try our hand at this too.
Can someone recommend a few good links where special canning supplies aren't required, I would like to learn more
I echo Mike Ps comments - the River Cottage books are great. I have a huge library of specialist books on everything from cold smoking to lactic fermentation - if anyone wants a text on a particular topic I'd be happy to review the quality of anybooks I have on it for them
H
scrogger
06-08-2009, 13:50
I have recently been taking out a note book with me on dog walks and logging down the location of wild Apple trees , Pears, Cherries, Plums etc etc. I actually just finished the last of my sloe gin last night and the bushes are fruiting up nicely so looking forward to all that this year. This is also our first year of having an allotment and a greenhouse at home so will be making bulk batches of Curry and pasta sauce form our over flowing tommy crop. Got loads a spuds which taste fantastic. Chard, Rhubarb , Raspberries etc etc . its such a simple pleasure growing your own stuff and finding wild foods but it somehow seems to do the soul good!!
Excellent thread this one!!
Andy
8thsinner
06-08-2009, 14:54
How about removing the use of a microwave? Is that used to sterilise?
Happened to make strawberry jam the other day actually, thats what got us thinking about jarring. Stored it in an old doritos salsa jar.
British Red
06-08-2009, 15:08
You don't need a microwave - but you do need to heat jam to get it to set. Setting levels depend on pectin, but you can check by spooning some on a cold plate. A saucepan or jam pan is the more traditional way that I use (allows big batches too)
Jarring in a heated jar and sealin when warm prevents bacterial action
Red
8thsinner
06-08-2009, 23:10
Well we baked the jar in the oven first, and set it by testing on a regular basis.
WHat interests me more is being able to jar currys and pasta sauces and things more of that nature, so that all you need to do is buy the meat and your good to go.
tenderfoot
07-08-2009, 05:41
What a truly lovely thread!
I'm delighted by others who are embracing these "old skills" and finding the quiet pleasure in them. They - a bit like bushcraft - are endless in variety and fasciantion.
Beware though.
"I'm just making some jam and pickled onions - I can quit anytime I like - its just a social thing"
Then somene sidles up to you at a party and mouths "wanna try some home made mustard?"
Before you know it you are making lye sticks, building clamps for your root vegetables and debating the merits of truning the garden shed into a cold smoking room
:D
Its absolutely superb fun - I really reccomend making your own vinegar too - so simple and so satisfying
Red
So tell us how do you make your own vinegar? is it a brewing type process? Bye the bye did anyone see the tv programme who do you think you are ? where jeremy clarkeson ( top gear) found he was decended from the kilner who made his fortune making kilner jars?
and hang on .... whats a lye stick??
British Red
07-08-2009, 06:46
Okay - theres an article somewhere on how to make your own vinegar that I did - and how to make a litmus solution to test its strength :)
A lye stick is a device made to float upright in the correct strength of lye (made from wood ash) to make soap at home
8th sinner - some foods need pressure canning, some don't. This is partly down to whether they are acid or ot (acidity inhibits bacterial action). The pressure canner kills the bacteria where they would otherwise potentially spoil food and cause things like botulism.
To can things like sauces is very possible - but some do need pressure canning.
The best reference work is Balls Blue Book I believe (try Amazon). Weaver or one of our US members may be able to give more insight
Red
boisdevie
07-08-2009, 08:16
I love kilner jars and here in France you can find them secondhand at car boot sales for sod all money. I'm into self sufficiency so this year I've made about 20kg of blackcurrant jam.
I love kilner jars and here in France you can find them secondhand at car boot sales for sod all money. I'm into self sufficiency so this year I've made about 20kg of blackcurrant jam.
20kg! :eek: Will you be looking to sell some locally? That's a fair old stash!
What a truly lovely thread!
I'm delighted by others who are embracing these "old skills" and finding the quiet pleasure in them. They - a bit like bushcraft - are endless in variety and fasciantion.
Beware though.
"I'm just making some jam and pickled onions - I can quit anytime I like - its just a social thing"
Red
!!! OMG! I'm an addict!
Mind you, could be worse...
demographic
07-08-2009, 17:46
Don't know how many of you have read The Fat Of The Land by John and Sally Seymore (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fat-Land-John-Seymour/dp/0954564618/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249663252&sr=8-1) but my mother lent it to me recently and he covers quite a bit about using Kilner jars to preserve tomatoes through the winter.
You don't have to picke them or use masses of sugar either, you can just heat them up and use water if you do it right.
Its a good book and details some of the problems they encounter when starting out being self sufficiant.
His New Complete Guide to Self Sufficiency (http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Complete-Book-Self-Sufficiency-Realists/dp/0751364428/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249663416&sr=1-2) is practically the bible for those wishing to be less tied to the supermarkets and is worth every penny IMO.
British Red
07-08-2009, 18:06
I agree that all Seymores work is seminal (despite the reality of their rural idyl and separation).
Carla Emery's Encylopaedia of Country Living is more US focussed and does a lot on "canning"
How nice to hear so many people are into these skills. I must admit I spend more and more time on these gentle, simple things - from growing my own mustard seed to plaiting or own garlic. In fact I see myself more as a "homesteader" than a "Bushcrafter"
I don' post much of our stuff in this area as its not really "Bushcraft" - but perhaps there is a place for it here if we like it...more "log cabin dwelling" than "forging a trail" ?
Red
demographic
07-08-2009, 18:44
I agree that all Seymores work is seminal (despite the reality of their rural idyl and separation).
Carla Emery's Encylopaedia of Country Living is more US focussed and does a lot on "canning"
How nice to hear so many people are into these skills. I must admit I spend more and more time on these gentle, simple things - from growing my own mustard seed to plaiting or own garlic. In fact I see myself more as a "homesteader" than a "Bushcrafter"
I don' post much of our stuff in this area as its not really "Bushcraft" - but perhaps there is a place for it here if we like it...more "log cabin dwelling" than "forging a trail" ?
Red
I wouldn't complain too hard if this place had an alotment and self sufficiency sub forum, always seemed a natural progression grow a bit of your own food if possible to me.
Perhaps not all the way like Seymore did but every bit helps.
My lovely wife has got an alotment (got no real garden here and even if we did the dog would leave eggs all over it) this year but slightly too late for most of the season, we are just pottering about getting it sorted for next year mostly and planting some odds and sods.
I'll look out for that Carla Emery's Encylopedia of Country Living book, cheers for the heads up.
Scott.