The kids are on a two week break from school. And it is soooo cold out there. (It looks like spring, but feels like dead of winter.) Consequently, we’ve been looking for good indoor activities and concluded that this is a perfect time to do some taste-testing. Today, we’re testing out a few products from the dairy aisle and tomorrow we’ll focus on candy.
My favorite part about the dairy products is that many come in pretty little glass or ceramic containers. Of course, my brain immediately starts figuring out what sorts of things I could make or do with mini pots. Tiny flower arrangements for a baby shower. Votive holders. Little containers for mixing paint…
What would you use them for?
P.S. — I didn’t put anything in the photos for size reference, but these are all individual serving size — each one is only 2 or 3 inches tall.
I, sadly, had to leave some of my glass yogurt containers behind when I was in Paris on vacation in December. I didn’t just a little too much shopping and didn’t have enough room. :-(
I did have room, thankfully, for the little circular ceramic dishes that soft cheeses like Saint Marcellin comes in. They’re great for serving olives in!
Can you ship some of those to Canada? LOL they are just too cute!
Is that brown stuff dulce de leche? It looks so creamy and good.
HOW are you ever going to be able to come back to the states, knowing France has all these wonderful things!? Everything seems so unique and special. Maybe you could consider doing a give-away of a collection of the cool trinkets you find in France and can’t get in the US! It looks like you will have too much to bring home with you by the end of a year ;)
When I was in France this past summer I loved the glass yogurt containers. Everything looks prettier over there:-)
if it’s that cold you should do freezing experiements with the kids. have them put different solutions in plastic bottles and put them outside. see how long it takes for things to freeze and make bets on what will and won’t freeze. my daughter likes to put objects in the bottles as well like buttons, beads etc. the winners in each category can pick the next tast test item. stay warm!
i brought home a bunch of those little pots from a vaca in st barths and i use them in a drawer for earrings and other jewelry!!!
Hi Gabby,
Thank you for your email -I’m chuffed that you loved my list and bought the petit pots creme caramel. Seeing your picture just triggered a million taste memories. I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Yogurt cake is a Maternelle classic – my daughter made it in her Grande section class.
We’re not big on candy but we love our caramel beurre salee – hubby is from Brittany hence our family obsession with salted butter anything. Salted butter caramel ice cream, macaron, crepes and just plain old fashioned salted butter with giant salt crystals. The seaside towns of Brittany (and I’m sure Normandie) still have old fashioned candy stores that pull and stretch these colourful marvels into lollypops.
I wish my dairy products came in glass bottles, how cool! Perfect for craft projects, could they serve as little mini vases? Or paint canisters for other art projects? Maybe little window planters for herbs.
Someone might have already said this (I didn’t read the previous comments yet), but I’m thinking you could use those darling brown pots for pots de creme. Mmm…when in France!
O.k. Now I am jealous.
Oh this post makes me SO nostalgic for France!! I only lived there for 6 months but was madly in love with all of the various yogurty confections in glass pots. I used to use the containers both for serving hot chocolate and as votive candle holders on the dinner table.
When Nicole and I were teaching last summer in Beynac we sent both of our husbands to the grocery store. They loved saying supermarché and going to it too I think they went almost everyday while we were teaching. I think wandering the isles and trying new things was one of our very favorite things. We loved the Haribo candy. The sour strawberry was the best!
Also in similar little pots to the yogurt they had lemon cheese cake and it was the best! Look out for it!
The ceramic ones are beautiful. I liked that I could recycle the little jars in the big green bins but hated that I didn’t have space to keep them all. I would love to keep them for crafting storage for little beads, buttons, etc. I love the vase idea.
I still dream of eating French yogurt. I prefer it over Greek.
Oh, and this reminds me. I did use it to store homemade baby food. But have you tried the French baby food? It’s so great! Veal and poisson! You can’t find that in the US and my son loved the taste!
I use the brown and purple as small glasses for the kids and their friends.
They are the perfect size and it doesn’t matter if they someone breaks one;-)
We have them in Belgium too and I use them to grow small flowers (dafodils and such like) in or as small vases. The also make a nice container for spare buttons
Where do you buy the yogurt in Belgium? I cannot find a store around me (Melsbroek) that sells the ceramic pots of yogurt.
Hi Gabrielle,
I was wondering how different serving sizes were in France. Those tiny jars can’t be as big as the containers we have here. I’m guessing 4 oz? I’d love to know what a “typical” meal would be in France. For example, how big is a serving of pasta?
As for a something fun to do– have you tried freezing soap bubbles? I think you can do that outside if you use extra glycerin in the soap! Can’t wait for your next post! :)
When Nicole and I were teaching last summer in Beynac we sent both of our husbands to the grocery store.
Hola,
yo vivo en una casa en el norte de España y cuando llega el buen tiempo, utilizo los envases de yogur de La Lechera como porta velas, los pongo alrededor de un mini muro y al atardecer los enciendo. Se ven preciosos… y esta Navidad utilicé cuatro como centro de mesa adornados con unas cintas beiges y rojas!!! Sigo vuestro blog desde hace poco y estoy enganchada a vuestra nueva vida en Francia, FELICIDADES y ENHORABUENA por ser tan valientes y GRACIAS por enseñarnos tantos.
I love those! Whenever we’re in France I eat as much yoghurt as I can so I can take the jars back to use as tea light holders. I have dozens. Last year we used them on my birthday party in the garden. Lighting them all took forever, but the sight of about a hundred tea lights spread out over the garden was lovely!
They are also great for small portions of party food, I’ve used them for serving gazpacho or small individual trifles, they’ve even been used to serve wine at a picnic when we forgot our regular glasses… Great litte things!
My friend Amanda sent me over here to see this post (and this blog full of great ideas). We have lots of those little containers. My favorite is the maple walnut yoghurt in the brown ceramic container. I bought the periwinkle blue yoghurts just because I thought the container was pretty. Except for the periwinkle ones, I end up throwing or recycling most out (except one or two that I use to mix salad dressings).
Those containers are so nice. I wish that they would get the hint in the States that reuseable containers like this would be a hit.
We lived in Germany just over the French border for two years. We would often shop for treats in France and I miss the yummy yogurt in the ceramic jars! I saved them and still use use them for fresh flowers! You’re making my homesick!
I love those tiny jars. I think I would use them to sort buttons, ribbon scraps and tiny findings by color. Lined up in a wooden crate or on a tray would be so inspiring come packaging/crafting time. So fun!!
ah pot de creme! Love it. And we only buy our yaourt in glass or ceramic because they don’t recycle the plastic yaourt containers in France. The are big on recycling but not for the yaourt in plastic containers and the french consume tons of it. We don’t keep them anymore because we have too many already and it’s nice to know they recycle. I’m sure you have found the big round green “verre” recycle bins around your village. My husband uses the glass ones in his painting studio. Doesn’t the yaourt taste so much better here too?
I make my own yogurt so I would just reuse them for yogurt! :) they are so darling. the french sure know how to make the world a pretty place.
I have 8 little glass jars like the ones in your last picture. I brought them back from Italy where I’d enjoyed yogurt in them every morning. I use them for pot d’creme or other pudding desserts. They are adorable!
Hi I recently found your blog and I am kind of obsessed! sorry that sounded scary. but I would LOVE to do what you are doing. ahhhh anyway, I would make small apothecary type jars with mini candlesticks. then you could put buttons, earrings, rings, candy, little boy rock collections etc pretty much anything and then they would be a cute decoration on any shelf or end table etc. thanks for sharing
Those containers are just delightful! They look like they make the most common food item into something gourmet!
The ceramics one could be used to showcase little succulent plants.
You’d need to drill a drain hole in the bottom, first.
Goodness, those are gorgeous. Sometimes I actually loathe America and all our ugly goods that are everywhere because they are affordable and we all want so many things.
Ok so I am new to these little pots, but is there anywhere to purchase them in the US? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
this made me laugh, as my cabinet is VOMITING la fermiere yogurt cups right now. i can’t give them away fast enough…. we finally started having to chuck them in our recycle bin, because we love eating them everyday. :)
but seriously, that yogurt is about 23% of why we moved back to Paris for work. ha!
From what store can you buy them? I live in Melsbroek, but cannot find the ceramic cup sort of La Fermiere around me. I am willing to travel a way to get them. I love the yoghurt.