Hunting for good spice jars for salt and seasonings
After reading cleaning/organizing books, I got the itch to sort out the kitchen and fridge. I want to decant a bit (without overdoing it), use empty space better, and reduce the “where did I put that?” moments. Spice jars feel like an easy starting point to copy.
I read this book:
Instagram has literal tags like #スパイスボトル and #ドレッシングボトル, and lately Seria’s spice jars keep showing up—so I checked them out.
How popular the Seria spice bottles are
I opened the tag page and saw the same container over and over—“wha!?” Then I saw it’s Seria—“wha!?” again. So many photos:
調味料入れにテプラでラベリングφ(-=) 細々してるけど少しは見やすくなりました♪ #ガーリーテプラ #スパイスボトル #ニトリ #セリア #調味料入れ
acoさん(@kahokaho81)が投稿した写真 -
今更ながら、ずっと気になってたので購入(人´3｀*)～♪キッチンをスッキリさせるぞぉー(ง •̀_•́)ง✨ #セリア #seria #オイルボトル #ドレッシングボトル #スパイスボトル
みほさん(@miho.8.1)が投稿した写真 -
yukari@JAPANさん(@yukari.n.stagram)が投稿した写真 -
Wildly popular. They’re at Seria, but I found them at Silk (and Can★Do) too—so not Seria-exclusive.
Inomata Chemical’s spice bottles
The maker is Inomata Chemical; these bottles are on their site. Two colors (white/brown); two lid types (one large hole vs. seven small holes).
http://www.inomata-k.co.jp/item/series.php?sid=171&cid=4
Handling the real thing:
- Lid doesn’t snap shut (more of a soft squish).
- Brick-like texture feels a bit toylike.
- Maybe too small.
That was my impression. Fine for a single woman living alone, maybe…but I eat a lot. I left Seria (yes, I went there too) feeling meh.
Decant containers I already owned
Somehow I had these two. Left: probably Muji? Right: maybe also Muji, or a cheap 100-yen one—it’s flimsy and oddly shaped. I have zero memory of when/where I bought them. They don’t match at all—panic purchases.
Muji keeps backward compatibility on big storage items, but for small goods they crank out new SKUs and drop losers fast. Searching “spice jar” now shows only this—neither of mine:
http://www.muji.net/store/cmdty/detail/4547315003051
Their thick silicone baking cups disappeared; I hear they’re retreating from toilet goods too. I like their toilet brush—please stay.
I like the taller bottle I have; I’ll hunt for that style.
Similar items on Amazon—pricey
10 for ¥2,500. ¥250 each sounds fine, but ¥2,500 as a lump feels steep—and I doubt I’d use 10. Pro-level?
This looked handy: holds six types, like an index file. I kind of want to load it with Noritama furikake…also feels wasteful.
While looking at Noritama I found this container. If it’s just furikake, this would work.
What shapes are “spice jars” in general?
I image-searched “spice jar”:
spice jar - Google image search
Looks like lots of narrow bottles like the ones I had, plus jam-jar types and corked “potion” bottles. Lower down I spotted IKEA jars.
http://www.ikea.com/jp/ja/catalog/products/60179815/
This RAJTAN product is categorized as “spice jar.” In-store I never knew what to put in it. The lid feels cheap—pass.
http://www.ikea.com/jp/ja/catalog/products/90163691/
I also saw IHÄRDIG at IKEA. Stable shape, but seemed bulky—passed.
What was I actually trying to store?
The spice corner looked messy, hence the container hunt. Looking back, here’s what was there:
- Salt
- Rock salt
- Seasoned salt/pepper
- Koukaori Salt Italian Herb Mix
- Black pepper (coarse)
- Ajinomoto
- Consommé
- Chinese soup stock
- Dashi (Japanese stock powder)
- Grated cheese
- Cinnamon sugar
- Cinnamon
Twelve items! Four salts alone. Cooking salt lives elsewhere, too. Two cinnamons—why.
Before fussing over containers, I should reassess the stash. Pull everything out and sort…
Among the many salts, House Koukaori Salt Italian Herb Mix is a recent favorite. Amazing on fried eggs. Also handy for pasta or stews—sprinkle to fix flat flavors.
