Bath Towels and Canning

[NCLee]

Posted this on another forum. Thought I'd share it here, too. Was in response to someone's post regarding canning supplies.

Just as a side note....

I keep old bath towels to use to protect my counter tops when I take jars out of the canner. The larger size covers more counter top quickly. I fold them in half to get a double thickness. If some are threadbare, I use two towel layers.

Also keep a few ragged ones to do a quick floor cleanup if I spill something. Those old towels make convenient landing spots when shelling beans and peas. When finished, just gather up the corners to form a pouch. Take to the compost pile and shake out the hulls.

Old bath towels and a couple of safety pins make a quick apron and hand wiper. Do consider using one when working with beets!

If I spot them at yard sales on the cheap, I buy them. Run through the washer with a good dose of chlorine bleach and they are ready to use. During off season, I keep them in a plastic storage tote where I keep empty jars. During canning season I keep the tote in the kitchen or pantry. Makes it easy to wash and stash between canning sessions. Makes it easy to grab a few, as needed.

Lee

[Mom5farmboys]

Lee,

I do that too! I especially favor old bath mats to put down on the counter under the jars, they are so thick and absorbant.

[pcrowder]

I do that too! We don't really have yard sales around here because we are so rural, but I pick them up cheap at store sales. I also try to buy dark brown or dark maroon ones, and that way if something bubbles over, they aren't horribly stained by beet juice or whatever. When we had a large amount of unexpected company awhile back, I was able to use them as extra guest towels, and no one had any idea they were my "canning towels"! They looked fine!

[sissy]

I do the same thing.
Sissy

[bookwormom]

lol, I love old towels. not only for canning. my cleaning rags are mostly old towels cut to a convenient size.