Gallery: Mason Jars in the Modern Kitchen

File this one under The Lazy Person’s Kitchen Innovations You (Probably) Never Knew Existed. Way back in 1858, Mr. John Landis Mason, the Scottish farmer who patented this eponymous glass canning jar, had the remarkable foresight to make the thread count of the jar’s neck match of a blender bottom cap. (Actually, it was probably the other way around, given that electric drink mixers, the precursor to the household blender, didn’t come about until 1921.)

Anyway, no need to get out the goggles for this ultra-simple hack: Simply screw a blender bottom onto the top of a jar, careful so the rubber gasket doesn’t fall into the spinning blade when you hit “Pulse,” and you’ve got a self-contained unit for smoothies, spice mixes, or piña coladas. Note: This does not work with wide-mouth jars or Vitamixers.