Product of the Week: Embossed Pewter Canisters
August 31, 2009
The Big Debate over Canisters Rages On…
My mother and I have always had a big debate over whether a set of kitchen canisters on the counter top is a)useful or b)cluttery. I have always maintained the latter. It’s not that I don’t want to have flour handy for a quick white sauce or sugar for a baking job, it’s just that I don’t like a lot of stuff (or anything, really) on my counters.
This may be because I have always lived in small homes, apartments and condos. Since I have been blessed with extra counter space in my current dwelling, I have been carefully rethinking my stance on the issue.
This decision came to me while juggling a bag of flour and a pot of melted butter while three toddlers took turns throwing raw zucchini slices at my head. The flour was spilling out of the almost filled bag, the butter was burning, and I was being pummeled in the head and back at a rate of 2 zucchinis per minute (not bad aim for 2 year olds).
In this moment of utter chaos, I somehow found the clarity to do some problem solving. I thought back to my mom digging into her beautiful green ceramic canisters for just a bit of flour or sugar, and decided that maybe she knew something that I didn’t.
So I say if you have the counter space and you like to cook (or have to against your will), by all means keep a few canisters on the countertop with whatever you use most often. In addition to providing you with valuable food storage, food canisters also make a beautiful design statement in the home.
These Embossed Pewter Canisters are on my wish list right now, elegant and almost airtight. They offer a decorative element, and also convey to the world (whether true or not), that you can cook.
Alas Michaela,
Your mother was right. The cannisters are handy, take up minimal space, and can be quite decorative if one has an eye or it.
But also don’t forget the”BUGS”. Pantry pests such as the cigar beetle,
the sawtooth beetle or the weevil cannot chew through metal or glass. Sugar, flour and other dry foods
should be safe from the nasty little pests. Unless of course they just happen to be in the flour or cornmeal that you purchase from the store.
Even cold climates can harbour these unwanted guests. Sift all that is siftable before putting into cannisters, and have
plenty of heavy plastic containers to store the rest of you’re dry cereal, beans, and pasta’s in.
Hope you get those cannisters,
Heather
I LOVE to cook, so i need my ingredients readily at hand. Not to mention, Im about 5 foot, so can’t be spending my time on a step stool fumbling through my cabinets.
I foud my mother was keeping these beautiful clear glass canisters with airtight lids just collecting dust up in a cabinet. She woudl only take them out around the holidays when we had too many cookies from xmas or to much candy from halloween. So I took them out and filled them up. They’re great!
I also found these great spice racks (http://www.stacksandstacks.com/stainless-steel-spice-rack-carousel) that allow you to just turn the knob and get the right amount of spices. No more measuring spoons or cluttery spice bottles!
Whoa!
I keep all my ingredients in the packets they came. Saves me from having to label them! But those containers do look pretty good.