My favorite jarred food is _____
Lots of foods come in jars---pickles, mayo, marinara sauces, jelly...Any unusual favorite foods that you buy in a jar? Have you ever purchased a food just because the jar was so darn cute? Does anyone can their own tomatoes or make jam? Any special jars of food that have been given or received as a gift? Also chime in on the worst-tasting or disappointing tasting jarred food!
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19 Comments:
Nutella - you can actually put it on other foods, but it's great right out of the jar on a spoon. (A tablespoon of course.)
I can my own jams, sauces, fruit, pickled veggies - they make great gifts. Just yesterday, I bought a bottle of olive oil from a great market in St. Pete called Mazzaro's just because of the cute bottle.
Worst jarred product? OMG, why choose only one, there are so many wretched jarred products out there! Tomato sauce has to be in the top five. That is about the most unnecessary purchase ever - real tomato sauce requires few ingredients and little or no cooking experience. And even the worst scratch tomato sauce is better than the likes of Ragu.
chiff0nade at 6:50AM on 02/03/08
My Pop makes his own jams and savoury tomatoes. They are so yummy! I really look forward to recieving them each christmas and birthdays as presents. Especially his grape jam.
I agree with Ciff0nade that jarred tomato sauces are unnecessary. Making your own sauce is so much more satisfying than buying it. Not to mention you know exactly what goes into them, and can change the ingrediants depending on your mood.
Georgie Porgie at 7:57AM on 02/03/08
I'm a sucker for jams that you find at farmers markets ... when I was in Kingston, ON last summer I bought nettle jelly and ginger jam. They are so tempting, especially when it's a cute jar you can't get anywhere else. I've made a few jams at home, which is very satisfying too.
From the grocery - Claussen pickles!
Littlebluesiren at 8:45AM on 02/03/08
Wild blueberry jam from The Jampot on the Keweenaw peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These monks make the greatest wild fruit jams and we are addicted to the wild blueberry. The cookies are excellent also, but I think the cakes that are soaked in liquors are overwhelming.
http://www.societystjohn.com/jampot.jp
whippingwater at 9:47AM on 02/03/08
I make freezer jam, mostly with strawberries and it tastes like fresh sweet berries year round. It's also a whole lot easier than canning!
Lots of great foods in jars - Claussen kosher dill pickles, olives (haven't chosen a favorite yet since I just started eating them this past year), Hellman's mayo, honey, peanut butter. The list goes on and on.
I'm about to order Ina Garten's lemon curd. I'm hoping it's awesome.
PerkyMac at 10:45AM on 02/03/08
I'd say that my favorite is probably the raspberry peach champagne jam from Stonewall Kitchen. I am, however, a HUGE fan of cool packaging, and Balducci's (in DC) sells a really delicious, incredibly fresh-tasting marinara (and there's one other even lighter sauce by the same company) in cool hexagonal jars that have little gingham cloths over the lids. I reuse all the empty jars to hold pens and pencils and other little things. I don't remember what brand this is, and I'd love to find it here in Chicago, so if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd appreciate any info you have!
ChristineB at 2:07PM on 02/03/08
Roast Apple & Onion Relish from American Spoon Foods in Petosky, Michigan. The stuff is amazing on pork!
Boneyard Brew and Mango Peach Tango hot sauces from Aerosmith's Joe Perry. These are currently unavailable while the family finish putting together an expanded product line.
LunaPierCook at 2:41PM on 02/03/08
Like a couple of you, I'm a sucker for unusual jars of unfamiliar ingredients I often see lined up in speciality food stores or markets. But a couple of my everday favorites are Hellmann's mayo & Musselman's applesauce.
Did you ever buy a jar of something & never open it? Why?
JEP at 5:34PM on 02/03/08
my favorite food in a jar: ollalieberry jam from duarte's tavern. whenever i go to california, i try to stock up.
i have a glass jar in the shape of a squatty little bear with rosehip jam from germany, bought, yes, because i was charmed by the container.
the last time i was in france, we brought home a glass jar of rillettes, but they didn't taste as good back on this side of the pond, for some reason.
i have made jam a few times. the best was when a friend and i picked and preserved some wild plums. oh, that was amazing.
the worst? probably canned green beans or peas. double blech.
cybercita at 9:23PM on 02/03/08
Hey JEP, I have a cabinet full of jars I have bought and never opened. Some of this stems from the packrat habits one picks up when living overseas--you absolutely cannot count on being able to find an ingredient
when you need it, so if you see it buy it (or two or three). Anyway, just yesterday I was looking a a jar of macadamia nut paste which I must have had for two years now, and wondered: "What was I thinking of using that for?" And my kids have a heyday when they visit, going through my shelves and laughing at the majorly overdue best-by-dates.
smallblondemom at 10:10PM on 02/03/08
Kimchi. Chunky Peanut butter. MMMmmmm. And Rao's Marinara Sauce. It's really simple to make and is one of my staples, but every now and then I get lazy enough to pull out the big bucks and buy it. The stuff is so delicious I want to just drink it. Please note that this is the ONLY non-scratch pasta sauce that enters my kitchen.
The worst bottled food? Cheez Whiz. I just don't get it. And I'm not being a food snob here. I will actually buy and use Velveeta for certain things, but Cheez Whiz? Hmm, I guess that really is kinda "Pot, meet Kettle," isn't it?
chisai at 8:08AM on 02/04/08
You need to have access to a Trader Joe's for this one... their jarred Bruschetta sauce is to die for. I rarely even use it as a topping. I actually add it to pasta sauces, toss it with their roasted garlic chicken sausage, add it to shrimp scampi, you name it. It's very flavorful and delicious! I could literally eat it right out of the jar.
Tammy
Boston Food & Whine
tschuetz at 10:23AM on 02/04/08
I friend of mine jars tomatoes in many different "sauces". She will jar just tomatoes, and diced tomatoes, and stewed tomatoes, then a tomato sauce, etc. I go "shopping" in her pantry for my many tomato needs. Can you get a better friend than that? I can strawberry jam. YUM. I make them in the small decorative jars so that when opened the jar is used up quickly, (no time to go yucky).
mommyme at 12:05PM on 02/04/08
One of my favorite jarred foods: spicy pickled green beans. They are unbelievable in a Bloody Mary, along with pickled okra and green olives stuffed with a variety of ingredients. Get a celery stick with a wide bottom to scoop out your "salad" while you enjoy your drink!
I also love jarred pesto for when I need a really quick supper dish. I also add some sundried tomatoes that I got from their jar of olive oil!
My all-time favorite jarred food, though, is the dewberry jelly my parents and grandparents made when I was growing up. Best berries in the world!
Editmom at 1:46PM on 02/04/08
Baby food bananas. Even though my daughter is over 30 years old, I still have a tatse for baby food bananas on top of a bowl of cream of wheat made with milk and vanilla sugar like I used to make it for her when she was little....and the empty jars make nifty little containers odd nuts and bolts left over from home improvement projects.
kathyvegas at 9:00PM on 02/04/08
clausen pickles!
huney_bumper at 8:08AM on 02/05/08
When I was in Amsterdam, I bought miniature jars of Bonne Mamam jam! I loved the mini jars because they were so cute, and my mom loves the jam so I had to!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 3:54PM on 02/05/08
My favorite food-in-a-jar is Patak's ... well, almost anything with the Patak brand on it: brinjal chutney, mango chutney, tomato relish, garlic pickle. The nearest Indian grocery is an hour's drive away from me; fortunately I found a good tomato relish recipe that I mean to try soon.
<small voice>I use spaghetti sauce in a jar, because I don't have a good scratch recipe.</small voice> My dad used to make a killer spaghetti sauce starting with raw tomatoes, and I haven't mastered it. Classico is pretty good.
Oh, and Plochman's mustard – stone ground, with horseradish. Yummm.
And just about any brand of capers.
Worst food-in-a-jar? Hmm, I once suffered through a quart of off-brand marinated mushrooms that had sugar in them. I'm not keen on Alfredo sauce in-a-jar either; Alfredo doesn't need flour in it!
gentlyferal at 3:38AM on 02/04/09
I often buy items I don't intend on eating because of the jar/bottle.
My parents received a gift of 3 bottles of something -- oil? vinegar? I forgot -- because I really liked the way they nestled into each other to make 1 large round bottle. They looked lovely on their own, but looked awesome together, so I HAD to buy all 3 of them. My husband grumbled because this was a gag gift that we ended up spending $60 on.
My all time favorite bottled item is salmon from Japan that's been smoked and then shredded until it's almost like powder. It was a gift from a family friend. It was so moist and tasty, excellent over hot rice. I'll never forget that flavor ever.
I like pickled okras a lot - the one with the state of Texas as a logo. Oh, Trader Joe's roasted red peppers, as well as artichokes.
We threw away 3 HUGE (could fit more than a 1/2 gallon of liquid), filled jars of pickled cukes, pickled mushrooms, and olives from the same import store minus one of each item that we tried. It wasn't rotten, we just weren't fond of the flavor and texture after the first bite.
Cassaendra at 7:35AM on 02/04/09