Bite of the Best

What it is: An electric jar opener How it comes: White or black, model JW275 Where it is: In housewares stores and departments or at Amazon.com Who it's for: Anyone who sometimes has difficulty getting the top off a jar Suggested retail price: $39.99 Nutrition notes: NA Category: Kitchen Counter, Drawer & More

Bonnie: Opening a jar was always easy with two growing boys in the house.

I always did try before calling them. First with the rubber jar openers I’d picked up at many a convention or show where folks gave away imprinted tchotchkes.

Next I’d try my niece’s method. I turned the jar upside down, firmly hit its bottom with my hand, or gently hit the top against the counter. That worked … sometimes.

I then just called Bryan or Eric to help.

“Mom, it’s so easy, I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” they’d say as one of them removed the top with no trouble at all.

After my nest emptied out I was in real trouble. Double trouble, actually. Not only didn’t I have my personal jar openers, I also didn’t have any strength in my hand. Oddly, after knee surgery, I had neither brawn nor much feeling in my right thumb and index finger. I couldn’t even hold a pen.

“The blood pressure cuff must have been too tight during surgery or you were positioned incorrectly.”

Positioned incorrectly? Didn’t they know how to position a patient during surgery?

Actually, during the many visits to neurologists, I learned my situation wasn’t rare at all; it happens often during an operation. It’s an iatrogenic problem.

(I don’t mean to sound highfalutin here. Iatrogenic is a word I learned during my hospital internship, I don’t get to use it often, and it fits perfectly here. Iatrogenic simply means relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment.)

I handled my hand problem by not using anything in a jar, that is unless I had company who I cajoled into opening a couple of them for me.

Chris from Black & Decker emailed asking if I’d like to test their new electric jar opener for the “What America Eats” issue of Parade magazine. His timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I jumped at the chance to again open jars of all shapes and sizes.

Once I tested it, I couldn’t live without it. The solution to an empty nest or weak or unusable hand? Black & Decker® Lids Off™ Automatic Jar Opener!

Bryan: Bonnie notes how easily her ‘growing boys’ undid tight jars for her, and it’s true. “I honestly just don’t need this electric jar opener in my life”… Those were my words when trying this product, months before an unfortunate accident left me with a broken elbow during a soccer match. I now have ‘six’ words for anyone who wants a pickle for their sandwich and just can’t get it… The Original Lids Off™ Jar Opener!

Eric: A replaced knee, a broken elbow, and, for me, it was a broken right shoulder, but unfortunately the Jar Opener wasn’t around during that time. I don’t necessarily agree that this is one of those products a person cannot live without; I do however believe that the jar opener is an essential component for any single woman’s kitchen.