Life changing devices: the simple preserving funnel
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Kitchen equipment | 34 comments
Photo: Fiona posing with the preserving funnel
I always thought that preserving funnels were the sort of dinky faddy things that Little Grey Rabbit
Lingering in Newmarket this week I spotted a preserving funnel on sale in a kitchen shop. At half price, it was irresistible. I’d been keeping my eye out for one since Kate(uk) mentioned how good they were in a comment on the blog.
Filling jars with homemade passata I overfilled a jar and the extra passata stayed in the funnel and didn’t spill. Later I made some crabapple chilli jelly and filling the jars was a doddle. No mess, waste or cleaning up palaver. Brilliant.
Amazon has one here Faringdon Preserving jar funnel 
Leave a reply
Hi there Fiona, i too have a funnel which i cannot do without. it is a plastic funnel which i found in our local kitchen supply shop. I bought one for my mum who is 76 and still makes the best marmalade ever. she was forever spilling and my dad who is 82 was always behind her cleaning up!! Now no burnt hands and no mess.
Fantastic gadget!
Great to see you in person.
Regards
Anita
Dual Canadian/Brit here from Mennonite (preserve-it-all-yourself) background. This funnel has been around for so many years and is such an integral part of canning it’s fascinating that it’s just being discovered by so many! Perhaps people do much more heavy duty canning here (Canada) and have done for years. At least when I was in the UK it was mostly jams/jellies and pickled onions! And I can’t remember whether I had one of these funnels there. But I made tomato sauce (ketchup) in pint jars there too besides all the pickled onions so I would have needed one.
Enjoying your site!
Hi Kate (uk)
Yes, I’ve discovered that ?
Hello Joan
I haven’t seen a canning funnel in the UK.
Hello JoannaS
I think that bottling is catching on again in the UK. They have started manufacturing Kilner jars again – they are quite expensive though.
Hi Jane aka: aromatic
It’s brilliant, I’m so pleased with it.
Hi Rachel
Lakeland has so many great gadgets, don’t they.
Hi Toffeeapple
I’m looking forward to many happy years of bottling.
Hello Cherry
That’s a brilliant idea. Thanks.
Hi Michelle NZ
We got a couple of funnels in our job winemaking lot. They’re really useful too.
Hi Magic Cochin
Ours hangs above the cooker and will remain there as we always seem to be bottling something these days.
Hello Sebbie
I’m tempted to nip down to the shop again and buy a few more for presents.
Hi Veronica
Glamorous – moi?
Hello Redfox
I love mine, it’s got such a homely, comfortable shape.
Hi Rachel
I know what you mean. Unless you are going to do a lot of preserving it’s difficult to justify a big outlay on equipment.
Hello Alison
That’s a fantastic idea. Thank you.
Hi Tamar
I used to have mouse brown hair once – I went blonde when I was thirty!
Hi Greenrabbit
Yes they are great. Far less waste and mess.
Hi Wendy
Danny is delighted to hear that you think he looks dashing!
I love the picture of you all comfy in your bed. I have seen the pics of you and Danny on another part of your blog (he looks very dashing!) so do know what you look like.
Anyway – back to the funnel – must get one of those soon. x
Strangly enough, I said almost the same thing as you-Isn’t this a wonderful thing?- when I returned our ‘shared’ funnel today!
This year we have made red current jelly and at least six different types of chutney, so it’s well used.
Greenrabbit
Now I know what you look like! For no reason at all, I’d been picturing you as a brunette.
You look marvelous, even with a funnel.
We use the top half of a 2 litre plastic milk bottle – just cut around the bottle about half way down with a pair of kitchen scissors. They have no problem with the heat, either of jam or the dishwasher afterwards, and they’re super easy to replace when you need to. Our soup ladle fits in the wide bit perfectly, and you’ve got a nice wide hole on the jar end.
i think I’ve made enough jelly and chutney this year to justify the purchase of one of these, as a maslin pan, for next year
Oh heavens yes. I would never want to do without my canning funnel! It makes such a difference and is such a simple addition to the arsenal.
Ooh, Fiona, you look positively glamorous even with a preserving funnel to your eye 🙂 What a lovely photo.
I do have one, but Cherry’s suggestion of the dishwasher funnel is great — it would fit smaller jars too.