​It's time for a kitchen and pantry spring clean

With spring on the horizon it's the perfect time to spring clean the kitchen or pantry, if you are lucky enough to have one. After all, nothing is more rewarding for the family's resident chef and baking team than to see a clean, well-organised set of ingredients and tools, all ready to make foodie creations.

Of course in days gone by every family would have a pantry to keep food fresh and to organise cooking appliances and other essentials. Many of us might remember our grandparents having rows and rows of jars and canned pickles, chutneys, jams and preserves in their pantry, organised to perfection. Today of course, most of us don't have the luxury of a pantry in our homes, although we may have a utility room or a corner of the kitchen that can be used for an equivalent space, or even another traditional favourite - the Welsh dresser. However that vintage look can easily be recreated with kitchen tops and storage in the main body of the kitchen, especially if you choose the right storage jars.

Glass storage jars are always a big seller at Wares of Knutsford. There are plenty of reasons that our customers choose these timeless staples for storage in their kitchen:

1. Glass jars are fully recyclable
2. Glass storage jars can be used for anything from baking ingredients to cookies, rice, pasta, birdseed, pet food and more!
3. Glass is resistant to staining, which is very useful when you're making preserves or pickles with blueberries, beetroot or tomato
4. Equally, it doesn't absorb odour, which is very useful when making sauerkraut or pickled onions
5. Glass bottles come in a huge array of sizes, shapes, colours and lids, including snap, screw, cork and airtight sealed
6. Glass storage bottles are decorative in their own right, and look absolutely beautiful when lined up in a display

How to clean and sterilise glass storage jars

If you already have a selection of glass jars, then give them a really thorough wash with hot water, using your favourite eco-friendly detergent and a good bottle brush. Alternatively you can place them into a hot cycle in your dishwasher to clean and sterilise them at the same time. Sterilising glass jars is an essential step before reuse, to avoid any microscopic mould spores, bacteria, yeast, fungi or food-borne toxins from being transferred to your new stored products.

You can use sterilising tablets and cold water after washing if you have these. You can also place the wet jars in the microwave for 45 seconds after washing. Perhaps the most reliable way is the more traditional way and the slowest too, by using the oven. Heat your oven to 130C and lay two layers of newspaper on the oven shelves, not the oven floor. For a gas oven, keep these well away from the flame or you'll end up with a pile of ash. Arrange the jars on top of the paper and make sure they don't touch, then allow them to sit in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Use oven mitts to remove them and allow the jars to sit and cool on a heatproof mat. This method can be used with clip top jars and rubber rings. Note you should never boil rubber sealing rings in water as they will warp and break over time.

Stocking up

This is the fun bit. With your kitchen storage area cleaned and organised you can see exactly where you have gaps in your storage, and where you can treat yourself to some new glass jars at Wares.

The Le Parfait range is of excellent quality and very popular with cooks who want to splash out. However we also have an extremely popular range of Kiln clip storage jars which are excellent value and look beautiful.

Kilner glass jars are always popular, and their distinctive logo really does add a touch of vintage style to your kitchen or pantry. You'll find various sizes and multipacks too, which are ideal if you are batch cooking. (https://www.waresofknutsford.co.uk/250ml-kilner-jar-kilner-branded-packs-of-6/)

Mason jars are distinctive with their styling and the rubber sealing ring and snap lid. These are a great choice if you are looking to completely seal your food products to avoid them spoiling. We sell similar styles of snap and seal glass jars with coloured lids too which are very pretty. (https://www.waresofknutsford.co.uk/500ml-clip-top-glass-jar-old-fashioned-style-blue-ceramic-lid-packs-of-1-3-6-12/)

Our pot club storage jars are wonderful for storing biscuits, cookies, sweets and other treats for when children are around, and they look incredibly authentic for that vintage style. These are popular with our small business customers, and you can find different designs at Wares such as this: https://www.waresofknutsford.co.uk/750ml-pot-club-storage-glass-jar-2/

Also check out our whopping 1062ml large premium Italian pickling and preserve jars which are the perfect size for bulk cooking, and also come in bulk order batches of up to 500 so you can really save on the unit cost. There's also free shipping to the UK for this product: https://www.waresofknutsford.co.uk/1062ml-large-premium-quality-italian-pickle-and-preserving-jar-free-shipping-for-uk-mainland-only/