DIY – Spice jars

I believe all us foodies have a shared love for spices. Five years ago when I was still at university I went on a cook book buying spree and I remember finding a seller on Ebay who also lived in Frankfurt and wanted to get rid of all her Jamie Oliver books. We arranged to meet up at the university and she sold me each of her books for 7€. I went back home with a spring on my step, what a deal!

As I started going through my new reading material I realised a list was forming, a list of spices that was essential in a true foodie’s kitchen…and I had none of them! So the following day I spent around 50€ on all the spices I had on my list. This will be an expensive hobby, I thought to myself….

And that was only the start. Back on those days I used to leave all the spice bags organised in a plastic container. Then I moved on to glass jars, which I arranged on one of my shelves, but they were overexposed to the Sun on that shelf which made them loose their colour and smell and made my good earned money go down the drain.

This year with the baby’s arrival we decided to change a lot of things around the flat and my husband found some inspiration on Pinterest for our spice dilemma. And it is genius!

As we eat a lot of olives around here (Fridays are the days we gorge on cheese, bread, wine and olives) we therefore have a lot of empty olive glass jars. So my husband made a shelf with the exact measurements of these jars and I was responsible for decorating them. Obviously I understand not everyone will have the skills and tools to do carpentry so the idea here is to paint the jars and find a nice little place for them to reside in. Maybe a drawer? You can write the names on the lids and when you open it you will have a clear vision of all the spices you possess. Here are a few more ideas.

Now let’s get our hands dirty!

DIY – Spice jars

Materials:

Glass jars

Fine sanding paper

Brush

Chalkboard paint

Gloves

Old newspapers

Chalk

Method:

1- Soak the jars in water, peel labels off and wash them thoroughly. Prepare the lids by sanding them and clean them off so there are no residues.

2- Line your table with newspaper. Mix the paint with the brush before using it and paint the lids. Let them dry then paint a second coat. Let them dry overnight and once you start organising your spices you can write the names on the lids with chalk.