Brand new jars for herbs and such

[onyxnight]

Merry meet everyone! So I’ve got a question, do any of you go through the process of boiling/steaming your new jars and lids before using them to store herbs and magickal things you may use for spells, or do you just use them as is? Is it necessary to boil them if they’ve never been used before and are brand new?

[SpiritTalker]

I'd only boil jars to be used for food storage & air dryed, not toweled (who knows what germs lurk on hand towels?); otherwise just a soap &'water sink wash-up & toweling OK. My tap water is pretty hot & most of my jars are mason jars by the carton off the grocery store shelf or recycled baby food jars that are conveniently small sized.

Herbs for magical use can be treated more casually than medicinal herbs because they aren't consumed straight, by the spoonful. But gee, we eat vegetables out of the ground, so what's the issue? To play it safe my herbal personal use medicinals are tinctures only, thus steeped in brandy which ought to kill anything catching &'prevent mold.
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Who knows on what shelf or in what warehouse an item has been stored? Or what pest control methods were used. Bugs get into shipping cartons. Cartons sit in stacks in rail cars & trucks. Just nature.

[Astro Logical 1]

I do hot water and dishsoap. A lot of my jars are dollar store vials with cork stoppers or glass jars with glass lids and an airtight seal. Glass is pretty easy to deal with.
I won't use plastic.
I'd upload some pics but I can't figure out how to do it from my phone to this site. I'm still mourning the loss of my 80s mullet so this high tech stuff is baffling me more often than not haha

[onyxnight]

@spirittalker, great tips! Thank you! I wish I knew more about tinctures because I would love to use my herbs medicinally. Would it be unsafe to use them medicinally without putting them in a tincture first? @Astro Logical, hot water and dish soap is my go-to cleaning option as well when it comes to jars and such. Thank you all for your helpful tips!

[SpiritTalker]

It's smart to never consume any herb medicinally unless you have thoroughly researched it's uses & side effects. Id suggest taking a community-ed course in herbalism if it truly draws your interest. A chat-board is not a reliable resource. I'm not a trained herbalist & don't want to be so I buy my tinctures pre made by certified qualified makers. A little bit is better. I always keep some Bach's Rescue Remedy on hand (stress relief) & Angelica tincture (heal breaches in the aura).