jgarbee

Re-CAP Plastic Mason Jar Lids

If you're a fervent canner and preserver, twiddling your thumbs until that next Master Food Preservers class begins, the plastic Re-CAP Mason jar lid (a pour cap lid for your Mason jars) might be just the diversion you need.

Bonus: While you're waiting for your lids to arrive, the website is filled with "wide mouth" jar lid updates and FAQs to get the ideas flowing ("My spout lid is tight, what can I do?") as well as a brief history of the mason jar. And -- Are you ready for this? -- a link to the original patent documents for the Mason jar (inventor Karen Rzepecki is currently awaiting patent approval).

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J. Garbee

Rose Double Boiler

If you're a baker, you've probably had the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum on your shelf at some point during your baking career. Now, you can have Beranbaum's double boiler, too.

The cookbook author has teamed up with NewMetro Design, the company behind the BeaterBlade, a stand-mixer paddle attachment with what amounts to a rubber spatula attached to the edges. Among Beranbaum's new products: her version of the BeaterBlade, a handheld zester and juicer, the "Rose Cook and Store" (a 4-quart saucepan with a plastic storage lid and flared sides that Beranbaum says helps "facilitate [the] reduction of liquids") and a stainless steel caramel pot with a non-stick coating.

We don't have any complaints about our trusty copper pot's work (caramel sauce, etc.) over the years, and the paddle attachment that came with our stand mixer seems to have done a fine job judging by the hundreds of cookies and cakes that have disappeared from our kitchen counter. But one product stood out among Beranbaum's new offerings: the Rose Double Boiler ($59.99), actually a single pot double boiler. Get the review after the jump.

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Quirky

Plenty of Pockets on the Mercado Market Bag

If you've ever fancied yourself the next George Foreman Grill inventor but don't have the cash or engineering know-how to give it a whirl, Quirky could be your ticket to Home Shopping Network fame. The company is a social media-influenced product developer with a wide range of kitchen gadgets. For $10, you can submit your product idea and Quirky's "global community of 220,000 members weighs in and collaborates on every aspect of product creation, from sketch to store," according to a company representative.

Well, presuming your revolutionary new knife sharpener is one of the two products on average that company executives select weekly to undergo the community design process. Founded in 2007 by 20-something Ben Kaufman, the company receives as many as 1,500 idea submissions a week. Product inventors get a sales cut (pretty small when you read the fine print), as do the "community influencers" who had a hand in changes to the final design. Kitchen products include the Mercado Farmers Market Bag ($24.99). Get the review after the jump.

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http://www.ninjakitchen.com/

The Supersized Ninja SlowCooker

Even before the The Ninja arrived on our test kitchen doorstep, friends offered their unsolicited opinions about modern slow cookers. "Anything with Ninja in the name sounds like it could be cool," said one. Another: "Why would anyone need a high-tech slow cooker?" We tend to agree with the latter, as our basic hand-me-down electric crock has always worked fine on those days best suited to the slow-simmering of pinto beans. Still, the idea of a tech-savvy Dutch oven is intriguing on days when we can't stay home and watch that simmering pot.

Judging by the cookbooks recently released on the subject, we're also in the midst of a slow cooker revival. Among them: In The Italian Slow Cooker (2010), Michele Scicolone inspired us to think of a slow cooker not just as a time saving appliance, but as a way to maximize flavor. America's Test Kitchen documented the Slow Cooker Revolution last year, and Kendra Bailey Morris has a Southern recipe-themed slow cooker cookbook due out next year. Scicolone, Morris, Lisa McManus: if you're reading this, we'd love to hear what you look for in a slow cooker. In the meantime, did we think the $200 Ninja (!) was worth the price?

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