How Do You Choose the Right Hexagonal Jars?

How Do You Choose the Right Hexagonal Jars?

Walk through any farm shop and you'll spot them straight away.

Six flat sides. A gold or black lid. Honey, jam or chutney glowing through the glass.

Hexagonal jars have been a favourite with small food producers for years. And for good reason. They look special without being fussy, and they make a simple product feel like a gift.

But a hexagonal jar isn't right for everything.

The shape changes how you fill it, how you label it and how it sits in a box. So before you order, it helps to know what hexagonal jars do well, where a round jar is easier, and how to pick the right size and lid.

What Size Hexagonal Jar Do You Need?

Start with the weight you want to sell.

Jars are sold by volume, in millilitres. Food is usually sold by weight, in grams. The two don't match.

Honey is much denser than water. Jam and marmalade are denser too. So a jar will usually hold more grams of honey or jam than its ml figure suggests.

That's normal.

It just means you can't pick a jar from the ml number alone. Fill a sample jar with your real product, leave sensible headspace, and weigh it. Then you'll know what to print on the label.

As a rough guide to how the sizes get used:

• Small (around 100ml). Tasters, favours, breakfast portions, hampers and gift sets.
• Medium (around 180ml to 200ml). A popular retail size for jam, curd, chutney and small jars of honey.
• Large (around 275ml and up). Standard retail jars of honey, marmalade and preserves.

Not sure how ml, cl and oz compare? Our size guide explains it in plain terms.

Are Hexagonal Jars Good for Honey?

Yes. Honey is probably what they're best known for.

The link with honeycomb is obvious, and the flat panels show off the colour of the honey. A light spring honey and a dark heather honey look very different side by side, and a hexagonal jar makes the most of that.

The main alternative is the traditional round honey jar. It has a wide neck and rounded shoulders, and many beekeepers and customers know it on sight.

So which should you choose?

• Choose hexagonal if you want a premium, giftable look, or you sell alongside jams and chutneys in the same style.
• Choose a round honey jar if you want the familiar, traditional shape and an easy wrap-around label.

Some producers use both. A round jar for the everyday range, and a hexagonal jar for gifts and special batches.

One tip. Set honey can be harder to spoon out of corners than runny honey, so try your own honey in a sample jar first. Our honey jar guide has more on getting ready for the season.

Do Hexagonal Jars Work for Jam and Chutney?

They do. Hexagonal jam jars are a familiar sight at markets and in farm shops.

The wide neck makes them easy to fill with a jug or funnel, and easy for customers to get a spoon into.

A few things to check before you commit:

• Your filling method. If you hot-fill or heat-process, make sure both the jar and the lid suit your method, and follow the food safety guidance that applies to your product.
• Chunky recipes. Big pieces of fruit or vegetable can trap air against the flat sides. Tap the jar gently and fill steadily.
• Clean jars. Jars should be clean and sterilised before filling. Our guide on how to sterilise glass bottles covers the main methods.

Get those right, and a hexagonal jar does the job as well as a round one. It just looks a bit smarter doing it.

Which Lids Fit Hexagonal Jars?

Most hexagonal food jars take a twist-off metal lid. A short turn and it's on.

Lids come in different diameters, and the lid has to match the jar's neck. A lid that nearly fits won't seal properly. It might loosen in the post or leak on the shelf.

So don't guess.

On our site, open the jar's product page and look for the Add Compatible Item section. It shows the lids that fit that jar, so you can add the right ones to the same order.

Then think about colour. Gold is the traditional choice for honey and preserves. Black looks modern. Silver is clean and simple. On a small jar, the lid is a big part of what the customer sees, so it's worth choosing on purpose.

You can browse our food closures, or read the Closures & Components Guide for more on closure types.

Can You Build a Whole Range Around the Hexagonal Shape?

You can. And it's a smart way to make a small range look bigger.

Use one shape in two or three sizes. A small jar for tasters and gift sets, a medium jar for your everyday line and a large jar for bestsellers.

Same shape. Same lid colour. Same label style.

On a market stall or a deli shelf, that reads as one brand rather than a mix of odd jars.

If you make sauces, dressings or syrups as well, a hexagonal bottle carries the look across. Your chutney and your chilli sauce can sit side by side and clearly belong together.

It also makes hampers easier. Jars of the same shape pack neatly, and a set of three small hexagonal jars makes a ready-made gift for Christmas.

The Bottom Line

Hexagonal jars earn their place on the shelf.

They show off colour, they look hand-made and they turn honey, jam and chutney into something people are happy to give as a gift.

Choose the size by the weight you want to sell, and test it with your real product. Plan your label around the flat panels. And match the lid to the jar's neck before you order in volume.

Lids must match the jar, so use the Add Compatible Item section on each jar's product page to see the closures that fit. You can also browse our glass jars, read our Closures & Components Guide, or contact us and tell us what you're making.

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