In my years of canning, one of the things I’ve found is that most of my favorite canning tools weren’t made specifically for canning. They are simply kitchen utensils that are well made, sturdy and just happen to serve a useful role in my preserving practice. From the bottom left corner and moving clockwise, here are some of my current favorites.
- This six-piece set of stacking measuring cups
by RSVP is fantastic. They are made from solid stainless steel and have a nice heft in the hand. I use the one-cup measure to portion jam into half-pint jars and the half-cup one fits neatly into my larger storage jars.
- I’ve long been a fan of a serrated edge peeler. It’s particularly handy during marmalade season because it allows you peel off the outer zest from citrus without taking any of the pith along with you. What makes this particular peeler so nice is that it had dual blades, one smooth and one serrated. Makes for less clutter in a crowded utensil drawer. The one pictured above is from Williams-Sonoma. Kuhn Rikon
also makes a version.
- Thermapen
is simply the best instant read thermometers out there. I’ve bought two in recent years and just love them for minding the temperature of my jams, jellies and curds. They’re pricy, but worth the money (and make sure to check the end of this post for a Thermapen giveaway!).
- I first found this potato masher
at a Tuesday Morning and it has supplanted all my other mashers. What makes it so awesome is that the tines are bladed. They’re not sharp, but they have just enough edge to make it perfect for breaking down cooking fruit. It’s a fantastic tool.
- A good, fully encased silicone spatula. The one pictured above is from GIR and is quite nice. However, it also costs $22.50, which is more than most people want to spend on a spatula (disclosure! this one was sent to me for review purposes). For a more sensibly priced version (under six bucks), check out this one from Orka
. According to Amazon, I bought mine in 2009 and it’s still going strong.
- A good paring knife. I like the ones made by Kuhn Rikon
, but couldn’t find one in the kitchen when preparing to take this picture. The most important thing is that it feels good in the hand and holds an edge.
- If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, you’ll know that I am crazy for my 4th burner pot
. Also made by Kuhn Rikon (they don’t know I exist, I just like their products), this skinny pot has a spout, a heat-proof handle and is fitted with a rack. This means that it works as a small batch canning pot, a pot for heating pickling liquids and syrups for canning whole fruit and even as a tea kettle in a pinch. On Thanksgiving, I used it to heat up the gravy. It is a genius piece of equipment and I love it so much that I own two.
- I bought this Cuisinart stainless steel wok
at Macy’s last summer on a whim. It was on sale and I had a feeling that it might be a handy size and shape for making small batches of jam. And I was right. The flared sides encourage evaporation and it holds a bit more jam than a 12-inch skillet. It’s lighter than ideal for a true wok, but is quite nice for jams, jellies and chutneys (and it just costs right around $30, which makes it highly affordable).
- Finally, flour sack towels
. I finally got smart and started buying them in colors instead of in white. No matter how much I bleached them, the white ones just never get clean. The deeply colored ones don’t show the stains as much. Amazing the difference these little choices make in my quality of life.
As promised, I have an orange Thermapen to give away to one of you nice folks. Here’s how to throw your hat in the ring for chance at it.
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your current favorite kitchen tool.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
- Giveaway open to everyone (the shipping is on me, no matter where you live).
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post. I do not accept submissions via email.
Disclosure: Thermapen is providing the thermometer for this giveaway. GIR sent me one of their spatulas for review. Neither company paid to be included in this post. No one else mentioned here knows that I exist or that I’m writing about them.
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Current fave kitchen tool is a silly little pizza cutter. No handle, it just fits in the palm of your hand with a red plastic blade guard on top. When it’s time to put away it fits into a base. The blade guard and base combine to make a smiley face (part of the blade is the “teeth”). It sits on my window sill above my sink and smiles at me while I’m doing dishes. Still lusting after the pizza cutter shaped like the starship Enterprise but it was just too darned expensive for something so rarely used at my house.
We went for the Enterprise pizza cutter, and make a point of using it, even when we don’t really need it. It’s great, and we still laugh every time we pull it out.
My favorite kitchen/canning tool has to be my ladle!
I would die-DIE-without my little offset spatula. Great for prying, scraping, flipping, and futzing. Also, indispensable for making sandcastles…
My favorite kitchen tool is my digital scale. I measure everything before I add it to a dish or before I eat it. I love it!
My favorite tool is my 10″ Henckels Chef knife. Use it ALL the time.
My kitchen scale!
My santuko knives.
My favorite kitchen gadget is my little Bialetti Moka Pot. I make myself a latte several times a week. It comes with me camping to make americanos, and its just darn cute sitting on my stove. I have been looking for that very thermometer around my area and have not found one yet. Thanks for the chance to win one!
No matter what I am doing in my kitchen, you can be sure that I am using a silicone spatula to do it!
Fave kitchen tool is my 6-quart All-Clad coppercore saute pan. I pretty much don’t even put it away; once it’s washed, it goes back on the stove, ready to be used soon!
Currently (what with the cold weather) my favorite kitchen item is the largest of my cast iron fry pans – good for anything from grilled cheese to stew!
I love my measuring cups!
I couldn’t do without my silicone spatulas.
Cast iron frying pan. It’s the best.
My scale and knives. It’s all about precision.
favorite kitchen tool is chef’s knife from cutco. I’ve had it for 10 years now and love it.
I got a set of Mopines from my family last Christmas and I just love them, They are sort of a towel and a hot pad all in one and they are so handy to have around.
Favorite tool? Hard to choose! My flat measuring “spice” spoons? My 10″ Chef’s knife? Those cute 4 oz jam jars I bought to make my daughter’s wedding favors? How about the beautiful handmade wooden spatulas that I use for stir-frying, stirring, almost anything but eggs? Yikes! I think my favorites are whatever I’m using at the moment that works, feels good in my hands, and is beautiful!
My favorite kitchen tool is my husband. He does ALL the dishes. You just can’t beat that!!
My favorite kitchen tool is my bench knife. How did I ever live without it?
And at least once a week, when I go to my jar storage cupboard, I thank you for all your instructions and inspirations.
I purchased a canning funnel that sits neatly on the lip of rim of the jar and measures the head space at the top (1/4″, 1/2″, 3/4″ and 1″ marks). It has been SO useful in my kitchen! A Thermapen has been on my wishlist for so long. Hope I’m lucky!
Hmmph……my favorite kitchen utensil. So many to choose from. I would have to say right now I’m enthralled with an All Clad saute pan I bought on sale at Willams Somoma last year. It’s made me a much better cook.
Wow, would I love that Thermapen. I tried out all my thermometers in a glass of ice water, and they were all wrong. One of them I could adjust, but it still overcooked my marmalade. One of my favorite tools is my electric spice grinder. Fresh roasted and then ground cumin or allspice is just wonderful.
They are so simple, but I use them all the time: parchment paper sheets. Not having to (usually imprecisely) tear parchment paper from one long roll is one of the little joys in my life.
My kitchen scale allows me to bake and jam much more easily in my small kitchen!
Current fav is my wide-mouth funnel, still going strong on my love for it! I use it to siphon all our stuff into jars.
My favorite kitchen gadget is my lemon squeezer that works like a garlic press.
Probably my favorite kitchen tool is my blender and a soup pot that has a nice thick bottom and a glass lid. Not very exciting but both used just about daily!
My favorite kitchen tool is easily my digital scale. It’s old, it was cheap, and it’s kind of an ugly beige color, but I simply use it for everything. It has been used for everything from weighing 10lbs of barley for making beer to weighing 2 lbs of butter squash to weighing out protein powder for breakfast. It’s awesome, and I would be lost without it.
I like measuring things, so scale probably comes first. Sure would like to know temps with accuracy.
My favorite kitchen tool has to be my Magic Bullet blender, I use it everyday to make my blended iced coffee and everything I need chopped goes in there too. It is magic;-)
I’m a simple old fashion kind of gal and I have a favorite spatula that stirs pots, flips eggs, and really gets used at every meal. It’s starting to wear out and I’m PANICKED! LOL
I think my favorite kitchen tool is my wooden spoon, honestly! However, I’m sure looking forward to the cast iron dutch oven that I hope to get for Christmas…
My veggie knife. So good and sharp!
silicon spatula, I use it almost every time I’m in the kitchen
My favorite tool has to be my silicon spoon/spatula. I have some stashed away for when my current ones die!
Thanks for the chance! My go-to kitchen tool of the moment is a plain old, standard sized rubber spatula. Not that I don’t loooove my gadgets, but I’m all about back to basics at the moment.
-Nancy N.
I love my 10″ chefs knife and my new de Buyer Mineral B element fry pan. I got the smallest size on sale to try them out and now I want more!
Love my cast iron enamel dutch oven. And my cast iron skillet.
My favorite tool is my bamboo spatula. It was a clearance impulse buy, and I use it for almost everything.
I love my wide-mouth funnel; I would be lost without it!
My favorite kitchen tools are my Marcus Samuelsson cookware. The are constantly in use and aesthetically pleasing.
Lately I have been using my cuisinart food processors a lot. I am so happy that I have both a large and small one. These suggestions you have made would make great additions to any kitchen. Thanks.
my favorite kitchen tool? probably my knife! time to invest in a good one
I have so many useful things that are functional, but plain. I probably get the most joy from using the kitchen timer that belonged to my neighbor who passed away a few years ago. It has a cheery orange face, and it reminds me of her every morning when I cook my oatmeal.
My favorite tool would have to be my knife. Fortunately, my knives are always sharp ’cause hubby likes them that way and he does a good part of the cooking!
I’m more of a baker than a canner so my favorite tool around the kitchen is my mixer.
My favorite kitchen tool is my jar funnel. Old news, I know, but I never realized how frustrating it was to fill jars ‘free hand’ and then have to wipe everything up until I didn’t have to!
Love my nonstick loaf pan and 9″ rounds from USA Pans – can’t wait to pick up a muffin tin! Now, can anyone do anything about my narrow, deep pantry?
After snapping the handle off one of my measuring cups while digging at brown sugar (not even hard!), I finally replaced them with nice metal ones, which I’ve been so happy to use. I asked for similar metal measuring spoons for Christmas – the ones with the mouths that actually fit in spice jars!