Jar facts for kids

A jar filled with jam

A jar is a rigid, cylindrical container with a wide mouth or opening. Jars are typically made of glass, ceramic, or plastic. They are used for foods, cosmetics, medications, and chemicals. They are also used for items too large to be removed from a narrow neck bottle.

Glass jars can be used for home canning and food preservation. They can be used to preserve or store items as diverse as jam, pickled gherkin, other pickles, marmalade, sundried tomatoes, olives, jalapeño peppers, chutneys, pickled eggs, honey, and many others.

They are also frequently re-used in order to put home-made preserves in. Jars are sterilised by putting them in a pressure cooker with boiling water or an oven for a number of minutes. If they are not required for further storage of items, they can be recycled.

A closure applied to the mouth of a jar can be a screw cap, lid, lug cap, cork stopper, roll-on cap, crimp-on cap, press-on cap, plastic shrink, or other suitable means. Some jars have heat sealed lidding film, an inner seal, or a Tamper-evident band.

Glass jars are considered microwavable with care taken to prevent splashing of boiling contents.

Jars are often recycled according to the SPI recycling code for the material. Some regions have a legally mandated deposit which is refunded after returning the container to the retailer.

Types of jars

• Mason jar, a jar used to preserve serval foods (such as fruit, jam, vegetables)
• Kilner jar, another type of jar for storing foods
• Mayonnaise jar, a mason jar especially made for mayonnaise
• Canopic jar, used in ancient Egyptian burial
• Leyden jar, a simple capacitor

Images for kids

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  Hexagonal jar decorated with flowers and birds, late 17th century, porcelain with overglaze enamels, height: 31.1 cm, diameter: 19.1 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

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  Preserved food in Mason jars

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  Jar made of PLA-blend bio-flex, a bioplastic

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  Candy jar

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  Peanut butter

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  Six types of "earthenware jar" in Spain

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  Brown-glazed jar with design of three fish. Yuan Dynasty.

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  PP jar of skin cream with pump dispenser

See also

In Spanish: Frasco para niños