I love apple sauce. Costco has a great package of three TreeTop jars at very reasonable cost.
When I first use it, I just pour the sauce right out of the jar into a bowl. It has just the right consistency to flow evenly.
But at the end, when the jar is almost empty, it’s really difficult to get the final dregs out.
After I have poured everything that is going to pour, I turn it over and use a table-spoon to fish out the rest. If it were a smooth glass jar, like most fruit jars are, it would be easy.
However, I have noticed that this jar design makes it very difficult to properly empty the jar at the end.
There are two flat sections on both sides of the label, partially visible on this photograph, that are meant to give the full jar a good grip surface from the outside. But inside, there is a ridge below the flat surface that is a great place for remaining apple sauce to hide.
I decided to examine the jar more closely.
Here is the jar empty and rinsed.
In addition to the flat sections on both sites hanging up apple sauce on the bottom, there are washboard sections of plastic (see red arrow in picture below) that are attached on the inside to both the front and the back of the jar.
From the outside, you don’t even know they are there.
However, on the inside, these washboard sections serve to hang up lots of apple sauce in such a manner that even scraping with a spoon does not get it free.
After trying to empty a jar with a spoon, I noticed that at least five or six tablespoons of apple sauce remain in the jar at the end – and end up being rinsed and wasted down the drain. Also, using the spoon gets sauce all over my hand. There is no good way to get the last product out of this jar.
In the picture above you can see the indentation below the flat section on the left and right (green arrow) and the washboard inserts on the front and back (red arrow). There must be a reason why they went all out to make the jar this hard to empty, but I don’t get it.
All I see are intentional obstacles to keep the consumer from getting the last 10% of their product out of the jar.
TreeTop Apple Sauce is a great product in a very bad package.
Enlighten me, anyone?
Two years later (2/26/2016), after “Someone” tipped me off in a comment below:
Why do your plastic applesauce jars have indentations and ridges that make it difficult to remove all of the applesauce from the jar?
The indentations and ridges in the jar are necessary for structural integrity. The jars are filled with applesauce heated to 190oF. The ridges or indentations allow the jars to be filled at high temperature and then maintain their shape after sealing and cooling. As a suggestion in removing the last portion of the applesauce, try turning the jar upside down and tapping the closed container on the counter. This will help the remaining applesauce settle to the lid area.
I can explain. When I was getting an MS in Food Science, I attended the annual meetings of the Institute of Food Technologists. Some of the exhibits were real eye-openers and were the reason I never worked in the field after graduating. I especially recall one on how to get more fat and less protein into a hot dog and have it still taste good. The one on permissible fly egg count in tomato paste also comes to mind. But the food packaging scams were the most blatant. I couldn’t believe how many booths were showing containers that looked like they held more product than they really did. And they were hawking them proudly to enthusiastic audiences, as if conning the customer was what it was all about. Your jar is deceptive in two ways. The waffle ridges on the inside take up space that would otherwise hold applesauce. And the wider top and bottom fool the eye into thinking the whole jar is that big.
My thoughts were the same as yours until I read the faq section on the ShurFine website. The horrid ridges are necessary in order for the jar to be filled at a high temperature. Which makes sense to me because every applesauce jar in plastic I’ve seen has them. You might look it up. I found it helpful to remember when I have to stand around and empty the jar with a spatula!
Wow – nice tip. I will amend the post!
I open these troublesome jars and immediately pour all that I can into my own user friendly container before the product has a chance to get dry and crusty in the ridges
then
pour a little tea or juice into the empty ish jar and shake then into a cup to drink and toss the jar
I went online to complain about my Safeway applesauce jars, but apparently all the brands have this problem! Okay, so we’ve gotten an explanation for the ridges. But I don’t think that explains the big indentations around the middle, and the ledges created underneath those indentations that no utensil can reach. My small silicone spatula can get the applesauce out of the narrow ridges, but it can’t get under the indentation ledges. Also, the positioning of the indentations makes it hard for the spatula to effectively scrape much of the bottom surface (which itself is not smooth). I do appreciate the tips here for foiling the manufacturers’ efforts to force us to buy a new jar before the old one is empty.
Yep, and it’s an endless battle. I turn the jar upside down in the fridge when it gets low, then the apple sauce collects in the “top” and when I open it upside down into a bowl, I get most of the contents. Argh.
Every few days when I get to the last of the applesauce jar I begin complaining to my husband. Today I decided to investigate online and found this long-time thread. I can believe the information about the canning process requiring the ridges (I also do believe the containers for products changing over the years to prevent raising prices, give less product secretly) but with all the technology advances I can not understand why a solution other than the ridges can’t be found. I tip the jar upside down for over 24 hours, pound it upside down on a hard surface and use three different silicone shapes of spatulas to get the applesauce, but know that I am still “wasting” some. I grew up in the era when you do not waste anything!
I know, I am flabbergasted. I wrote this many years ago, and it’s amazing that there is no better solution. We use these pretty much every week, and every week I am frustrated about waste. Yes, we too put them upside down in the fridge when they get low, but when you open them that way, you get the sauce all over your hand, wasting some more…..
Thanks for the note.
Glass jars would solve the problem and be better for the environment
Yes, and they can be recycled.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, in Germany, we used glass milk bottles, and we returned them. Also, all beverages, beer, soda, etc came in bottles that you returned in their original plastic crates. You never thought of throwing those away. But that was 50 years ago….
I still think part of the problem is that the food industry wants jars that appear to hold more product than they do. That was one of the big selling points by jar vendors at food technology conventions I attended.
It’s claimed the indention & ridges gives expansion when HOT sauce fills the PLASTIC container. We all know PBA leeches when hot foods enter plastic or microwaved. I will never buy applesauce again unless in glass. I will make my own. Less sauce and safety for lazy consumers who prefer nonbreakable containers, more money for marketers and no concern about PBA.
Thanks for the insightful comment!
I found this discussion while searching to see how to best recover the remaining applesauce from a jar. Turning it upside down did help, but there is still some clinging to the inside. I think I will try adding water, shaking, and refrigerating to see if I can have a pleasant glass of apple juice later and recycle a clean plastic bottle.
Yes, I am always frustrated. There is a full portion of apple sauce left in those jars that you can’t get out. Putting them upside down in the fridge helps, but then you get it over your hands when you open them that way.
Place the jar without the lid upside down in a bowl.
Wow! So good to know that others shared my frustration! I’ve found eating the remaining applesauce directly from the jar with an iced tea spoon to be the most effective way to finish off the majority of the applesauce that clings in the ridges. I’ve tried all of the recommendation in this thread, and was fairly pissed about wasting perfectly good applesauce. Now, I don’t stress about it!
Nothing says the jar has to be intact when you recycle it. Think Dremel. My kitchen has a number of tools whose sole purpose is to rip food containers apart.
Das ist echt eine Design-Sünde, wenn man überlegt, dass bei jedem einzelnen Behälter was übrig bleibt. Immerhin weiß ich jetzt, warum. Danke dafür
All die Äpfel die dabei verschwendet werden bei jedem Behälter!
I rinse the jar with water and leave it in the fridge until the next time I need to add water for single-pan cooking (like Hamburger Helper-type meals). You won’t taste the applesauce but you’ll get its nutrients and you don’t waste it. 🙂
You’re going to rinse the jar anyway for recycling so you may as well use that rinse water elsewhere. The same can be done with other contained foods.
Ah, that’s an interesting approach. Yes, we already do the rinsing for recycling! Thanks for the comment.
Whatever happened to applesauce in a can???
I will not buy this applesauce ever again because I despise these horrid stupid plastic garbage jars are infuriating with how wasteful and gross they are. I’m so sick of the so-called-‘food industry’ screwing consumers. I just buy actual apples, usually from local farmers markets or neighbors. And the honestly whole high temperature ridge thing sounds like a load of bollocks, to be honest Putting super hot stuff into plastic is extremely unhealthy as . Time to take down that “institute of “Food technologists”, they are the worst. Garbage in, garbage out.
I am just relieved to know there are so many others frustrated by the ridges in the plastic apple sauce jars. I turn it upside down, lid on, and smack it down on the counter a few times and use the long ice teaspoon as well to try to get the remainder left after that, but still can’t get it all. I hear you Mary Barnes – so sad we live in a society these days that applauds people for finding ways to rip off others to make money, and now it’s 10 years later and nothing’s changed. Not to mention the current price gouging by the food industry on groceries causing countless children in low income homes and the elderly to go hungry. It’s criminal in my book.
Aldi’s plastic jar has even more and deeper pockets to catch applesauce. I was frustrated today by it.
The solids settle. We might try adding some water when it’s half gone – enough to make it as soft and fluid as when you first poured it out.
Food workers provide an essential service; they save hard-pressed working people time. Labor and transport costs cause inflation. Nature has provided the growth of fruits and vegetables free, although humans use additives to enhance it. I am grateful.
I had to chuckle about this comment. If you have ever tried to grow a fruit and a vegetable, you know it’s not free. We have grown a few tomatoes in our garden, and each tomato probably cost twenty dollars when all was done!
It is required to state the weight or fluid ounces on the label. You can’t judge by the shape of the container. Some stores are considerate enough to add price per unit to the shelf price tag. Some containers may be narrower in the middle to make it easier to grasp, not to trick you.
The DNA in the seeds produce growth – a that’s a gift of Nature. Seeds aren’t very expensive. They can even be free. Starter plants can be an investment. The cost comes from the fertilizers and chemicals and containers and added water which we choose to use.
I have also spent a lot trying to grow stuff. Now I mostly buy it at the store, but the tomatoes and herbs don’t taste as good. I have a few houseplants now – one is a Christmas cactus in bloom.