Yes, This Kitchen Tool I Swear by Isn’t for Cooking at All

“How do you open jars?” I texted a dear friend one night after a particularly grueling and soul-sapping tussle with a stubborn marinara lid that bruised both my hands and my ego, and made me wonder how I managed to independently feed myself. “A mallet,” he told me. Specifically, this rubber mallet for under $12 at Amazon. (Maybe it’ll even go on sale as part of Amazon Prime Day.) 

As a person who lives alone with physical limitations and a lot of adaptations in his life, I trusted his recommendation completely. Five minutes later, my purchase was confirmed. Two years later, my mallet still has pride of place on the window sill above the sink. Friends laugh when they see it. They have no idea what they’re missing.

I’ve tried all manner of jar-opening devices in my years (these did nothing for me) and many a kitchen trick to break a stubborn seal, like gripping the lid with a towel, holding the jar under a stream of hot water, thumping the sides and bottom to release the seal, even the ill-advised insertion of a knife point between the lid and jar lip. My colleague, Senior Editor David Watsky, uses the spines on quality kitchen shears to open jars — I love my shears, but know I’d find a way to hurt myself in the process.

I don’t worry about gouging myself with this rubber mallet, and I’ve never come close to thwacking my own thumb. With a light tap of the mallet on two or three spots along the vertical edges of a lid, it easily twists open, vacuum released. This mallet method is dead simple, takes seconds and works every time — no protective eyeware needed.

The story doesn’t end there, because although I bought the rubber mallet for speedily dispatching cantankerous jar lids, I find myself grasping the handle and swinging the business end more often than I expected.

Ice that’s partially melted into chunks shatters beneath the mallet’s weight. Garlic peels fly. Meat (in zip-top bags) is gently massaged into uniform thinness. The mallet head is easily covered in a clean bag or cloth, or otherwise sanitized, but mostly I cover the food at the point of contact, rather than the mallet. A sturdy tap is usually all it takes to do whatever needs to be done, and I gotta admit, swinging a hammer around the kitchen is a lot of fun.

Occasionally, I even use the rubber mallet for nonculinary utilitarian tasks like, you know, building furniture (those pesky dowel ends!). But the next time a friend ribs me with a “why do you have a mallet in your kitchen?” line, I’m going to grab the tightest-lidded jar I can find for a demo — and then send them the link above.

For even more smart buys we love, this handy multitool is one my colleague has in his bug-out bag, and another coworker swears by this Powrun P-One car jump starter battery pack (here’s why she likes it).