Into the trolley, the shopper places a shrink-wrapped four-pack of empty jars. The jars have matching red and white checked metal lids, simulating the real gingham fabric circles that traditionally were cut with pinking scissors and tied with string around the necks of re-used jars containing home-made jams, pickles, chutneys and preserved fruits; and were either gifted or stored on high shelves for use in winter when fresh fruits and vegetables were scarce.
Alright, nobody does that any more. But the shrink-wrapped four-pack of cheap jars with imitation lids makes it feel like you can. Kind of a nostalgic short-circuit, without the mess, or the cooking time.
The shopper, pushing the trolley neatly around the end of aisle six and into seven in a perfect arc, accelerates slightly (it was close to dinner time) and stops halfway along the aisle where seventeen brands and fifty-seven sub-varieties of pasta sauce sit waiting to be turned alchemy-like into someone’s home-cooked dinner.
Five Brothers Provvista Sugo Classica sauce comes in a nicely detailed jar, featuring a narrowed shoulder bearing bas relief glass detail in the style of an ancient Roman urn. The shopper throws three of these into the trolley along with a couple of Mutti varieties in similarly detailed jars. They are beautiful objects. Within a week they will be in the recycling bin. The shrink-wrapped empties - the cheap glass ones with the cute nostalgic pretend-gingham lids that make them look like you made something - are for keeping. They were purchased empty on purpose. Why on earth would you throw them away?
Back when mayonnaise came in glass jars, my grandmother would recycle the empties to use for canning. She also purchased Mason jars, the kind canners are supposed to use (home canning/reusing lids is a no-no from the food safety point of view). Mason jars can also be reused; only the lids are one-time use.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's sad that so many of these jars are tossed.
Those canning jars were branded Fowlers Vacola here - my mother had a set and I still retain in my mind's ear the sound of the rubber ring being released upon the jar being opened months later to reveal the aroma of summer past: apricots, hundreds of them.
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