In the last few years, many of my favorite things that were once rare and only available in thrift stores and junk shops have been reissued. First there were the Pint & Half jars that came back last winter. Then Dansk from back their classic Kobenstyle cookware (according to The Kitchn, there’s more to come in that product line this season!). Now Ball has brought back blue glass canning jars. Be still my heart!
These Heritage Collection Pints are a limited edition jar, that has been issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the Perfect Mason, the original jar designed and produced by the Ball brothers. They’re not exact reproductions of those first jars, but do a lovely job at evoking an earlier age of home food preservation.
The shape of these new jars is identical to the regular mouth Ball pint jars currently on the market. They have measure marks along the sides in both cups and milliliters, come in sets of six, and are absolutely safe for home canning. As you can see from the photo above, the color is not an exact match to the jars of yesteryear, but it’s quite close. They also have a little commemorative note embossed on the back.
One thing to note about these jars is that they truly are limited. When they’re gone, they’re gone. If you want to add these to your pantry, make sure to pick some up sooner rather than later. You can currently order them from Fillmore Container. The Fresh Preserving Store and Amazon
Thanks to the nice folks at Ball, I have one box of these pretty jars to give away to a lucky Food in Jars reader (make sure to follow the Ball Facebook page and Pinterest account to be the first to know about future limited edition jars). If you want to enter, here’s what to do:
- Leave a comment on this post and share a blue glass jar memory or experience. If you don’t have any fond remembrances about blue glass jars, share how you’d use these new jars in your home.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
- Giveaway open to US residents only (so sorry, my further-flung readers).
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
Disclosure: The publicist for Jarden Home Brands gave me a box of these jars to review and is providing a second box for the giveaway. They did not pay for inclusion on the blog and my opinions remain entirely my own.
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i have 3 or 4 vintage blue jars that i picked up at a garage sale way back when, before i knew anything about canning. the rims are a bit chipped, so i don’t use them for anything but decoration (one holds coffee beans quite nicely), but i would really love to have some i *could* can with, because they really are gorgeous.
The only one I’ve ever seen was a blue jar we would drink out of at my old house. Oh I miss you, blue jar.
So pretty! I have just the place — and recipe — for them.
I remember my grandma having the old blue jars; what a nice idea to bring them back. I would love to win them!!
I LOVE these jars! I always look for the old ones in thrift shops and have the worst time finding them. They make such a beautiful addition to my kitchen filled with so many clear jars! I would love these!!
Ooo, drinking out them like glasses, or maybe to store raw sugar for coffee in, or perhaps to fill with homemade granola for gifts…
I picked up a few at local garage sales that are no longer suited for food, but I love to put them in my windowsills with seedlings in them and let the sun warm their roots. I would LOVE to can in them though – I have a lot of great recipes that would look incredible in blue.
My great-great aunt Katie used these jars for everything… unfortunately, they were all disposed of in a fit of cleaning.
I love the blue jars I have 2 old ones, and since my kitchen is vinage and blue they would be a grat addition. Needless to say they will NOT be “gifted” with canned foods to anyone that wouldn’t give them back, the regular jars will just fine for that purpose
I remember blue glass jars like these in the farmhouse that my great grandparents built and my parents later bought. When we moved cross country they along with everything else were sold at auction. I am learning to can and would love to have these jars as a “little touch of my childhood home.”
I spent a few summers in Minnesota on a farm in Worthington with my stepmama’s aunt. Being a bratty teen didn’t allow me to find comfort in the sort of classical american place and time, it wasn’t until a few years ago when Joyce passed away that i could appreciate the simple beauty of small-town minnesota-farm-life. I didn’t know Joyce all that well, but I do have a few of her blue vintage ball jars to keep my seashells in and remind me of her.
I don’t have any blue jar memories yet. I would love the chance to make some great memories
I store dry goods in my “few” @ our cabin!
Unfortunately, I do not have a fond memory of the blue jars, but would like to create a few. I love my clear glass Ball jars and use them for everything from canning to dry storage to drinkware. These special edition jars are truly lovely!
In general, colored glass reminds me dearly of my grandmother. She had more glassware than jars but I think visiting her home spawned a love of all colored glass.
Water from these jars was coldest because it was icy blue! Why *do* we buy drinking glasses? Because they stopped making the blue Ball jars!
I am so excited for the come back if the blue jars! They remind me of my grandma who is no longer with us. She had lots of these jars she used for canning. Unfortunately, I did not inherit any when she passed. I would use these for storing dry goods in my pantry as well as displaying in my kitchen.
I have no prior experience with these, but think they’d be great for gifts.
I can’t enter because I’m in Canada (sad face). Might you have any information on where these might be gotten in Canada?
I just used two dozen of these for my stepdaughter’s bat mitzvah centerpieces (thanks to my mom’s sleuth-work; she also made the paper flowers to fill them). Now I’m wondering what would look great in them — perhaps they will become our new drinking glasses, or crafty supplies, or..?
I remember going into my grandmother’s basement to get a jar of green beans usually off the shelf. There in the light of the bulb you would see the hue of all the blue jars mixed in with the clear. What a happy memory thinking of those times. Thanks for the giveaway.
Ohhhhh I’m drooling. I first remember seeing Ball blue jars at a flea market and instantly falling in love with them. I don’t think I would use these to can – they’re too precious. I see using them around the house as mini-vases and votive holders.
I have two vintage blue canning jars at my house. I got them at a garage sale for $1.00. They became my husband’s favorite drinking glasses and he has used them for a couple of years. If I won more blue canning jars, I would actually can something and use them and give them as gifts!
I found my first blue jar at an estate sale this summer. It’s the big half gallon size and I’ve been loving using it to hold my iced tea.
My Gramma still had a shelf full of these in her kitchen when she died in 1987 at the age of 99 years. My mother and I parceled them out to family and friends in her memory; I used to put little votive candles in mine. I remember eating her homemade pickled plums out of them when I was a very little girl, I’d love to make a batch of my own in the new ones!
My mom has a couple of jars that belonged to her mother. Mom filled one jar with buttons and another she stock her knitting needles in. I would love to have these blue jars to actually use and put jams into or use as drinking glasses
Well, I have these memories: My grandparents used Fiestaware. They went through a lot of dishes, because during their heated arguments, the plates would fly. Fiestaware was cheap. I favored the turquoise blue bowls for the chocolate chip ice cream that was featured for dessert at every holiday meal.
Anyway, in their tiny kitchen, there were shelves over the sink. On one shelf, were glasses. And way in the back, were a couple of blue glass Mason jars. I was too short to reach them, so I never saw them up close. But, I coveted them, and held them in my imagination. At times, I thought I’d invented them.
But…here they are. Great Gosh on a Fiestaware plate! They are HERE!
I adore these! While I don’t have any remembrances of the blue jars, I would use these to store my vintage notions on my studio windowsill! How great would lace and glass buttons look in these, shimmering in the sun?!
Those jars are beautiful! I would use them to can jam and pickles this summer.
I can’t wait to can in them! I remember seeing them when I was younger at antique shops, shopping with my mother.
I’ve got one very old blue glass quart jar with a zinc lid from my late mother-in-law. I use it only for decoration because I’m too afraid to use it as a canning jar! It would be nice to be able to finally use new blue jars to put up food from my garden.
I have an obsession with blue glass in general and only have one blue glass jar that I keep in my kitchen window ceil! I have a large variety of various blue glass pieces and would love to have a set of these awesome blue glass jars!
I have two old blue canning jars at my house. I got them at a flea market for $1.00. They became my husband’s favorite drinking glasses and he has used them for a couple of years. If I won more blue canning jars, I would actually use them to can something and give them as gifts!
I remember My grandmother using blue jars for her jams and jellys and after we ate all the jam we would use them to drink from.My grandmother has long passed (and so have the jars)and now i am canning myself.I would love to pass it on to my grandchildren so they may have the same fond memories of me and my blue jars.
So pretty, I love these! My friend’s mom always used blue jars for sweet pickles and clear jars for sour pickles.
I recently saw my first blue jar in a museum, Heritage Square in Los Angeles. Oh the peppers I would can in those blue jars…
I remember these on my Swedish grandma’s windowsill, right over the long, giant ceramic sink, filled with garden flowers. Racks of home canned food were in the basement.
These remind me of my Nana, and learning to put up food in her small kitchen when I was young. Love them.
I’ve never seen a vintage jar. I’m looking forward to thinking of something creative to use these with. I’m a co-owner of Tipsy Cellars Gourmet Jellies (on Facebook) and
would love to use these as a special edition item. We currently make and sell wine jellies. This would be fantastic for spring or perhaps a special Father’s Day release.
when i visit my mom, we go to an antique store near her house that has the most amazing collection of vintage blue glass jars. I’ll buy one or two and pack them home in my suit case, and then when I use them when I get home it reminds me of my family.
Here on the farm we still use all of our old jars, blue or not. Even if we cannot can in them anymore, they get repurposed to use to store dry beans, grains, sugars, flours, corn meal and herbs. They hold up after all these years! In our home, we are still using my Grandma and Mema’s old blue mason jars…..they have to be 60 years old but are still going strong! There is no two ways about it- Ball makes a quality product and the Ball Blue Book for Canning is like the Bible on our farm! It is Ball or nothing!!!!
I love the soothing color of these jars! It reminds me of looking for sea glass at the beach! I would use these as my go to glass for refreshing lemonade and ice tea in the summer!
I did not encounter blue jars until I was in my 30s. I had been living the city life in Columbus, Ohio, but was looking for a change, and ended up in rural west Kentucky on a farm. I was just learning how to can pickles and relishes when I was called to help my uncle clean out my grandmothers house (she had died a few years prior). I found boxes of jars in the garage, and I knew that she had used them for canning, but I think at some point she stopped. I am not sure if she stopped because she felt like they didn’t need to because of financial security, or if she felt like it was not the modern thing to do. I know she grew up on a farm in Michigan, and of course she grew up canning food. I am sad that I did not learn to do this from her, but am now learning from my girlfriend’s family, and I would put those jars to good use. I would perhaps use one for my county fair entry this year!
How cool! I have a small collection of vintage blue jars, but none that I could actually use for food.
They are lovely and I would adore having them in my kitchen!
Blue is THE color for me this spring. I have begun collecting blue glass everything (vases, jars, plates, etc.). I would LOVE to add these beautiful commemorative jars to the collection! Most likely I will use them to make these adorable table decorations: http://pinterest.com/pin/130111876706680552/ Thanks for the giveaway1
My grandma had a few of these, but as she didn’t use them anymore, she gave them away to a friend. I would use one for a vase to display wildflowers and lilacs that grow in the backyard. Flowers would be so pretty in a blue mason jar!
I have never used them but I would love them to store my dehydrated goodies in. The blue tint would be great in reducing light.
when I see jars, I always know something wonderful is waiting within; from jams to cookie mixes to pickles to other tasty treasures, ball jars have come and gone as homemade gifts from the heart over the years; I just started collecting blue jars (of all sorts) fun to find these!
Did you say “future limited edition jars?” I am all over that!