Our tip for removing pesky sticky labels from jars!
/We often get asked this and its taken us a while to sit and write it down but here is our top method for removing labels from your jars so you can reuse without having that sticky residue left on them!
Firstly gather all your jars, fill your sink with hot soapy water (our washing up liquid works well for this!) and place all your jars and lids into the sink and allow to soak for around 15 minutes.
The first job is to remove the labels, its normally easiest to do this while the jar is still submerged and you’ll probably find that plastic stickers will peel off in one and that paper stickers are a little trickier and will dissolve off. For the paper ones it may be helpful to carefully use a kitchen knife to help scrape off the label.
Once the label is off you may notice a sticky residue left behind, to tackle this, first take a scourer and add a little more washing up liquid and scrub away at the jar or lid, rinsing off in the bubbly water as you go (our Eco Coconut Scourers do a great job!). This will be enough to remove some glue used but you may come across some that is a little more stubborn! Go through and scrub all of your jars first and place them to dry either with or without sticky residue.
For the ones that are still sticky, pat dry with tea towel and place to one side. Next comes the magic ingredient! Find a small bowl and mix together an equal quantity of oil and bi carbonate of soda, around 2-3 tablespoons of both does quite a few jars. We use our rapeseed oil but any oil should do the job. Next you want to cover the sticky sections with the oil mix, its easiest if you just scoop up some of the oil mixture with your fingers and rub onto the jar evenly covering around the sticky label section. Cover all your jars/lids and leave on the side for around 10 minutes for the oil mixture to work its magic!
Fill your sink with some new hot soapy water, dunk your scourer in the water, shake off excess water and scrub the oil mixture around the jar, you should start to notice the sticky residue disappearing. Once you have given it a good scrub you can start to rinse off in the soapy water to help remove the last of the glue as well as the oil mixture. This normally works first try but if you have particularly stubborn glue you could do two rounds with the oil mixture but we very rarely have to do that.
Once all glue is removed, rinse in clean water and leave to dry either on the side or pop in the oven to sterilise.
Go refill shopping and fill up those clean, non-sticky jars!
