The Specialty Kitchen Tool That Can Be Used To Open Stubborn Jars

At this point, it's become an old-fashioned cliché that women need men to open jars for them. This ask used to be so common that it even generated backlash against feminists who were finding their own ways to pry off difficult lids, according to Vice. It's true that store-bought jars can be very tough to open. According to New Scientist, safety seals are made by creating air pressure in jars as the hot food inside cools, which sucks the metal lid downwards and can require some serious muscle to pop off.

But this is the 21st century, and there's now a plethora of ways for people of any muscular capacity to open jars. Taste of Home shares that tapping the lid alone may break the seal, and wedging a butter knife under the lid until it pops can work too. Martha Stewart further recommends running jars under hot water to loosen the seal, banging the lid on the counter, or even using a silicone cloth for a better grip.

If these tips just aren't doing the trick, there are also plenty of tools on the market that are designed specifically for opening jars. These include under-the-cabinet, electric, and handheld versions. But before you dish out some dough, check your kitchen for this one unique tool that doubles perfectly as a jar opener.

If you're a serious oyster lover, you may never have trouble opening a jar again. Okay, that's a bit of a reach, but according to Self, oyster knives work perfectly when it comes to popping off difficult lids. Oyster knives are (unsurprisingly) designed to open oysters. They typically have a blunt, triangular blade with an easy-to-grip silicone handle, which is perfect for wedging in between closed oyster shells without risking the knife flying out of your hand (via Delighted Cooking). Once the blade lands inside the oyster, it can be twisted to pry the shells open.

All of these characteristics make oyster knives a perfect tool to open jars as well. Self shares that the tiny knife tip fits nicely underneath a jar lid, and once you're there, all you need to do is pull the knife toward you until the seal breaks. And although these knives are designed to minimize the chance of you getting hurt, Blogging Heros notes that they are sharp enough to cut through the seal on a jar.

Even if you're not shucking oysters at home on the daily, an oyster knife is a pretty cheap purchase. On Amazon, they run as low as $8. And who knows? Maybe one day you'll become an expert oyster shucker in addition to a professional jar opener.