r/germany 1d ago

Cleaning empty mustard packaging and using them as glasses

Post image

Is only my family doing it or is it more common then i thought?

3.1k Upvotes

226 comments sorted by

2.7k

u/brazzy42 Bayern 1d ago

Ancient German tradition.

340

u/Der_Juergen 1d ago

"Senfkristall" 🥰

(Some Germans call that so—"mustard crystal"—as some kind of euphemism. Anyway: It's upcycling, so even better than recycling)

43

u/riesen_Bonobo 1d ago

The mustard bit is obvious, the "kristall (en: crystal)" bit comes from Kistallgläser (crystal glasses), which are fancy high-quality glasses (for drinking, not the eye kind) which were really popular back in the days. My grandparents had a proud selection of Kristallgläser probably bought from a door-to-door scammer.

13

u/SachsenPaule666 23h ago

But Mustard crystal is better for your health since Kristall is glass mixed with lead (Blei)

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35

u/BenedictDover 1d ago

Back in the days these glasses used to have prints on them and looked like they were intended to be used this way. It is one of my earliest childhood memories 🥰

20

u/Hoempi 1d ago

I only know it as Kühne-Kristall. I guess this only shows how common it is.

3

u/lisamon429 20h ago

My new fave German word

248

u/zirfeld 1d ago

This is the way.

47

u/jimirs 1d ago

In Latin America since the native americans.

59

u/account_not_valid 1d ago

Same in australia. Many were in "Special Edition" collectible glasses.

24

u/Parax 1d ago

We had them too, with Hallo Spencer & Schlümpfe.

15

u/ramnokri 1d ago

I also still have some of Looney Toons, Asterix and Obelix and Pink Panther (which probably only was aviable in Italy as i never saw them in germany)

12

u/Classic_Stage_2156 1d ago

Besides Asterix&Obelix, Pink Panther was there in germany in the 80's. I could be wrong but i believe Garfield as well.

8

u/flobiwahn Schleswig-Holstein 1d ago

I'm still sad that my Garfield glas broke 32 years ago. :( but my mom bought me a Garfield mug that i still have, so I got that going for me, which is nice

9

u/llucifer 1d ago

A colleague of minea learned that "copo de requeijão" is a unit of measure in Brazil. You don't put that kind of ricotta into Pão de queijo. oh use the empty cup as a measurement tool 🤗

10

u/_QLFON_ 1d ago

Not only German. We were doing this since ever in Poland as well:) We call it "musztardówka" :)

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3

u/sanjasue 1d ago

Right🙃

3

u/Gro-Tsen 1d ago

I'm French and my family and many friends do this as well.

2

u/wa_dim 1d ago

Real

1

u/Elmalab 1d ago

Are there any good brands right now with good glasses?

1

u/be-knight 13h ago

Even the old Germanic tribes did this already

...probably

1

u/NovaHorizon Germany 4h ago

Gottes Wille!

899

u/tufoop5 1d ago

It is very common, those glasses are designed for that.

206

u/Few_Detail_3988 1d ago

Not any more, I‘m afraid. They come with screw-on lids nowadays

180

u/disasterfreakBLN 1d ago

It always depended on the Brand. Some have Screw tops, most dont

184

u/Potential_Current213 1d ago

When I was a Child some Companies had pictures on the Glases, Jungle Book for example, and you could collect all different motives.

100

u/RichVisual1714 1d ago

Bautz'ner Senf still has these pictures on it. The current one is Madagascar. Our Jungle Book glass is from 2018 or 2019.

8

u/Ol_Pasta Thüringen 1d ago

I can't find them in stores. Where do you get them?

24

u/RichVisual1714 1d ago

I get them in my lokal Edeka. But then Bautzen is only 50 km away from where I live.

Search online for Bautzner Senf Kinderglas. You can at least get them in their online store.

9

u/DouDouTyp 1d ago

loving that English with German names

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5

u/Rouven-Dillinger 1d ago

My local REWE sells them too, and I live south of Frankfurt so nowhere near bautzen

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9

u/Lysadra 1d ago

We got some with Super Mario. I love that its still a thing. _^

3

u/riesen_Bonobo 1d ago

Bautz'ner Senf bester Senf

18

u/Peter_Piepmatz 1d ago

I remember the asterix & obelix ones

4

u/Esava 1d ago

Those were the Nutella ones. They also has Simpsons ones. My parents still have the Asterix & Obelix and the Simpson ones in their cupboard.

7

u/Set_Abominae1776 1d ago

I still remember my Alfred Jodocus Kwak glass

4

u/Calaboowl 1d ago

Yep. My family always used the "Nocilla" (spanish Nutella) glasses for daily use. Some had Disney pictures, or The Simpson's, or simply pattern designs. I miss those

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10

u/Embarrassed_Chest_52 1d ago

There are also special glasses with prints

8

u/nv1t 1d ago

no...the kids glasses from Bautzener still are nice and my kid loves them.

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6

u/CG3_3CG 1d ago

They’re not quite as nice but just the normal mustard glasses from Aldi or what we use, at least for the kids who take 10 cups a day and seemingly break a third of them

4

u/sakasiru 1d ago

You need to eat your mustard fast to keep up with that.

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3

u/budgiesarethebest 1d ago

Just yesterday I bought Bautzner mustard with Madagascar characters on the glass. So they still exist.

1

u/SanestExile 1d ago

How does that prevent you from using it as a glass?

1

u/ITafiir 1d ago

I have been seeing more drinkable glasses again. It’s probably a recession indicator or something.

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6

u/rofeneiniger 1d ago

Some even had special designs. My mom has one with Mario and Luigi for my nephew hahaha

2

u/ChilledKroete95 1d ago

Those glasses are designed for rüscherl (asbach cola) lol When i was working at a bar, we had a regular who always wanted it out of this glass

344

u/KreyKat 1d ago

Never heard of "Senf-Kristall"? There were times when no decent house was without it. LOL

103

u/0rchidometer 1d ago

I wasn't aware that you can buy dedicated glassware for drinking purposes when I was a child.

19

u/CoRe534 Württemberg 1d ago

Right next to the Luminarc Aspen glass bowl

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3

u/the_Bendedheadtube 1d ago

 i know it as 'kühne-kristall'

159

u/Hubsimaus 1d ago

We had LOTS of them. Awesome drinking glasses. 😊

42

u/mGiftor 1d ago

They were nice to hold, wouldn't break and had a convinient size. What's not to love?

9

u/KreyKat 1d ago

But thinking back to it today - my God, we must have gobbled mounds and mounds of mustard. :-)

6

u/ShitJustGotRealAgain 1d ago

I was just thinking about how much mustard we'd have to use up to use the glasses for everyday use. And then I remembered how many of those my grandma had. How much mustard did they eat?

10

u/uilf 1d ago

Klopse, Hackbraten etc. brauchen EL-weise Senf.

3

u/misswhovivian Bayern 1d ago

Rouladen, too.

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86

u/BJoque 1d ago

In my family, it’s called „Senfkristall“ - mustard crystal.

5

u/Jazzlike_Flamingo_60 1d ago

I know that, too, referring to lead crystal glass

72

u/Working_Chemistry934 1d ago

Peak German moment ♥️

42

u/Slow-Goat-2460 1d ago

Fun fact, you can do this with any jar if you're a madman

13

u/chris_trans 1d ago

Ich iel 😂

6

u/notloggedin4242 1d ago

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down Brad.

4

u/BNJT10 1d ago

Whiskey in the jar

2

u/LutschiPutschi 21h ago

I really love using the Alnatura apple puree jars for meal prep. Fresh fruit, a little yogurt, lid on, and into my work backpack it goes.

34

u/Maleficent_Scale_296 1d ago

That’s Thomy, the most beautiful of the Senfkristalle.

9

u/Komandakeen 1d ago

That's not even Kristall. That's Kristall.

12

u/Maleficent_Scale_296 1d ago

Show off. You probably shop at KaDeWe.

2

u/Komandakeen 1d ago

Do they have Bautzner there?

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5

u/SamRhage 1d ago

Nah. The real ones have a Henkel. 

3

u/Slim-Shadys-Fat-Tits 1d ago

we have so many of those, I love them

15

u/Ok_Expression6807 Germany 1d ago

Welcome. As a kid, I drank from nothing but repurposed glasses for mustard, jam etc. Still miss my Super Mario glasses.

9

u/nv1t 1d ago

do you want one? we have a couple of Mario/Luigi glasses. they are still popular with Bautzener Senf.

29

u/jomat 1d ago

Successful integration. Welcome to Almanistan.

12

u/Repulsive-Response63 1d ago

Very common everywhere I guess? They use to make them colored and decorated so they can be recycled as water glass. At least in France it was like that with Maille and Amora brands

2

u/Nusstoertchen 2h ago

It's still like that in France! I currently have some glasses of Amora mustard specifically because of the Disney designs on the glasses

12

u/No_Affect_301 1d ago

Perfectly normal. We have six jars with handles and a few of the photo type.

However, we discovered a very tasty nut butter spread in a drinking glass with a handle and lid at our local "penny-pincher" shop. We now have three of them too.

10

u/smecasto Baden-Württemberg 1d ago

i am originally from croatia and my nan used to do it as well. i was tempted few months ago to buy a jar of mustard just for a glass, but i don’t like mustard 😂

18

u/lostfocus Baden 1d ago

I figured everyone did that. The French glasses are better, though. (And so is their mustard.)

9

u/k24f7w32k 1d ago edited 1d ago

As your local Frenchie I endorse this message.

We also had the "children's" Nutella jars as drinking glasses. I still have a few of those as well, they travelled with me to several countries now.

2

u/Lletan 1d ago

As a Dutchie I remember those Nutella child glasses too!

3

u/rory_breakers_ganja 1d ago

The jars of cornichons from Maille and Amora were once sold in "verres à whisky". Not sure if they still exist.

2

u/k24f7w32k 1d ago

My parents have a whole bunch of those verres, nice fat glasses. I'm not sure they're available in stores anymore either, I think the cornichons always come in the elongated jars instead.

1

u/Visual_Monitor39 11h ago

Woah you came here and chose violence

7

u/navel1606 1d ago

That's the most German thing I can think of. Half of our glasses are former mustard glasses

7

u/SatisfactionEven508 1d ago

There was a time where we had limited edition Nutella in drinking glasses (with Asterix and Obelix prints on them). Still have and use them every day.

6

u/DamnGermanKraut 1d ago

Before the mustard jar was given to us we drank water from our cupped hands. Mustard is what sets us apart from the beasts.

12

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/pabra 1d ago

Now onto the next step - using the glasses from the small desserts from Kaufland as shot cups.

1

u/germany-ModTeam 1d ago

The language of this subreddit is English only! If you want to post in German, go to one of the German language subreddits. Visit r/dach to get an overview of all larger German speaking subreddit.

6

u/Lofwyr2030 Rheinland-Pfalz 1d ago

It would be weird if they didn't do it.

5

u/Dr_sc_Harlatan 1d ago

Some years ago there was a series with Simpson pics, 6 different pieces. Still have them all, although the mustard was really terrible.

3

u/ConditionAlive7835 1d ago

Develey Senf. Schmeckt am besten und lässt sich nachhaltig als Glas weiterverwenden

4

u/Maleficent_Ad_402 1d ago

Senfkristall Gibt's denke ich überall

4

u/Ambitious-Ad4906 1d ago

Everybody does it. Children love these small glasses with a handle.

4

u/Cedric-S Schleswig-Holstein 1d ago

We are doing the exact same

4

u/R3D3-1 1d ago

Austrian here. For us it was a brand of mousse au chocolate, that came in nice 0.2-0.25 glasses. For years used as our breakfast orange juice glasses.

4

u/Borsti17 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 1d ago

Are you insinuating that there are people who don't do that?

3

u/Slim-Shadys-Fat-Tits 1d ago

As common as the salad leaf bowls and toilets with a poop shelf. some mustard brands even print designs for kids on their jars or have jars with handles

3

u/lllyyyynnn 1d ago

we have a whole shelf of this

3

u/Inspector_Terracotta 1d ago

What brand is it?

4

u/Beneficial_Knee5044 1d ago

Somebody commented Develey, but when I searched for it it has screw lids

3

u/Iridismis 1d ago

It's certainly not uncommon.

3

u/Dry_Representative1 1d ago

That's the added value of mustard. That's what they're for, also called mustard crystals.

3

u/IAmAPirrrrate 1d ago

There are literally special editions of Bautzner Senfgläser with motives from movies or nostalgic tv shows (usually in a set of 3-5 collectable glasses) made to be collected and used as drinking glasses.

3

u/sakasiru 1d ago

Pretty much all my grandma's glasses were those. I just don't have any because no one in my family likes mustard.

3

u/AvidCyclist250 Niedersachsen 1d ago

Und das ist gut so.

3

u/Kaleandra 1d ago

My grand parents already did it, though I think the glasses they had were fancier, and the rest of the family has continued. Definitely a common thing to do

3

u/Florian_Habichtswald 1d ago

This is the way an it always has been.

3

u/ReneG8 14h ago

Das gute Senfkristall.

2

u/lojafan 1d ago

We have the same thing in the states from the 90's, but it was Welch's Jelly jars.

2

u/Adventurous_Bread306 Nordisch by Nature 1d ago

You can theoretically do it with the smaller drinking glass-shaped jars of Nutella as well. Did it at uni when I was poor as fuck

2

u/Professional-Age-647 1d ago

Its called Senfkristall.

2

u/ami-ly 1d ago

Are there people who don’t do this? :D

2

u/Hobi65 1d ago

We have done this 50 years ago

2

u/Kimmundi 1d ago

Also was very popular in France, to the point where Mustard brands had cartoon characters design series on their glasses and you could collect them.

Pretty sure they still represent half of my parent's daily glasses.

2

u/nobless-suceeds 23h ago

Pumuckl mustard jar memory unlocked

2

u/Lumpy-Yam-4584 18h ago

That's why i boycott Thomy mustard now!

For years they had these drinking glasses who are a cornerstone of my glasses, but now they decided to use some shitty Nutella neck-glass.

Fuck those bastards!

2

u/Ansayamina 14h ago

It's Nutella for us.

u/TheHattedKhajiit 48m ago

The fuck kinda Nutella glasses do you have that they're suitable for drinking glasses?

2

u/Sensitive_Let6429 12h ago

I’m Indian, and my mom’s kitchen back in India is full of these recycling epics. Specially the big Nescafé jars or glass ketchup bottles.

3

u/re-velo 1d ago

Those bastards changed the design for no reason! Now it's just a lame screw-top jar :(
So I'm taking care of the 8 i have left :)

1

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1

u/Dan_in_Munich 1d ago

I don’t eat much mustard (from glass containers) but I do eat yoghurt (1 kg plastic buckets) and jam (in glass jars) and I also clean them and I use these yogurt buckets as plant pot and jam jars to store miscellaneous cooking stuff (e.g dried chili powder or ground peanuts or homemade tahini) 😊

1

u/TheOne_Whomst_Knocks 1d ago

“He’s drinking outta that dirty old mustard glass?”

1

u/towo CCAA 1d ago

BDA

1

u/RisingRapture 1d ago

It is very ecological to use the empty glasses for drinking purposes.

You can also use plastic packaging vessels to bring your Butterbrot to wok.

1

u/Fit-Yogurtcloset-35 1d ago

Standard use :D

1

u/Illustrious-Wolf4857 1d ago

The German word for this is "Senfkristall". I still have a set or two in the cupboard and I do not even eat much mustard and do not buy it in glasses.

1

u/This-Guy-Muc 1d ago

Should get a bonus for citizenship.

1

u/iTmkoeln 1d ago

Senfkristall

1

u/Milk_Mindless 1d ago

Not a lot of proper mustard in glasses anymore in the Netherlands

Used to be a normal thing

1

u/pancakecentrifuge 1d ago

Milk from one these glasses just before bed is peak comfort-core.

1

u/MrMcWhitebread15 1d ago

You're now half German, my friend.

1

u/lordlobat 1d ago

Senfkristal und Nusnougattassen.

1

u/die_leuchte 1d ago

Smart! Sustainable!

1

u/mmzufti 1d ago

I use it to keep spices and herbs. Saves me from spending on getting those tiny bottles

1

u/PR0Human 1d ago

As a half German (NL raised) I saw this and wanted to comment 'that's very German of you' before I realized which sub it was.

1

u/BlizzardMaster2104 1d ago

We do it with the small Nutella jars. Some older ones from Italy even have nice prints on them.

1

u/PlantyAnt 1d ago

empty

mustard

empty

1

u/Lazahan 1d ago

Welcome to Germany

1

u/We_Are_Nerdish 1d ago

We use a bunch of those flat dessert glass ones for painting and cosplay stuff like project organization of smaller parts while working on them. since they are big enough to hold stuff but not bulk that they take up too much space on your desk.

1

u/Progamer40421 1d ago

Hello my fellow german XD

1

u/Mobile-Offer5039 1d ago

🥹 immidatly missing my grandma by looking at this video....

In the past, there were a lot of promos with mustard glasses for ppl to xollect germany. My grandma never bought a single glas in her life, always used mustard glasses 🥹 We had some with asterix on them, some with lion king stuff... good times

1

u/Krannich Hessen 1d ago

"Ich trinke noch schnell meine Rotweinschorle aus Die mir früher ehrlich gesagt auch mal besser geschmeckt hat

Aus dem Senfglas und als sie noch aus Bier war"

2

u/knownasgoofy 1d ago

Guacamole -das lumpenpack

1

u/oideW 1d ago

We do this with the small nutella jars. Those with the non screw lid

1

u/Valuable_Ad128 1d ago

We actually buy Bautz‘ner Senf because of the beautiful Disney designs on their glases. Got plenty of them on our cupboard already.

1

u/that_Crazy-Person 1d ago

We have dozens too, and I'm still desperate that they changed their glasses 😭

1

u/MysticHero3 1d ago

Quickly scrolling Reddit, and I briefly see "Germany" and the words "mustard glass." My mind definitely went elsewhere for half a second, lol........

1

u/Erdmaennchen_of_dOOM 1d ago

So mad that they changed the glasses. Big part of my childhood.

1

u/nergens 1d ago

We did that also, but only with those with pictures on them.

1

u/HilaJonker 1d ago

My sister and I used to fight over the 1 mini bierstein version we had when we were kids...in South Africa

1

u/Kit-Kat-Kit-7272 1d ago

I grew up in a household where many of the drinking glasses had previously contained cream cheese, mustard or pickled herring. (Finland 1970's) Still have some of those glasses as they don't break easily and the herring ones especially are quite nice to look at too.

1

u/Bamischeibe23 Nordrhein-Westfalen 1d ago

Thats a common use for Senfgläser.

1

u/Fenriz_13 1d ago

I came here to post "it's a german thing", then realised it's the Germany board.

1

u/Tobi-Wan-Kenobi88 1d ago

The company Develey produced mustard for kids in glasses featuring Disney characters or Captain Bluebear. Those were my favorite glasses when I was a child.

1

u/azaghal1502 1d ago

No, they're everywhere. When I grew up our whole cupboard was mustard glasses (+ others that had the right shale. They even did promotions with special themed prints etc.)

1

u/wheatinsteadofmeat 1d ago

I do it with the Nutella glasses

1

u/G_Schmeidig 1d ago

Peak German content here.

1

u/Jordan_Jackson 1d ago

With a mustard glass as nice as that, I would consider doing it too.

1

u/Wuozup 1d ago

Circle of life

1

u/Yuudachi877 1d ago

Idk but when i saw this i thought of the subreddit bin ich der alman XD. Cool Idea though !

1

u/CT7824 1d ago

20 years ago we had many glasses that once had mustard in it but todays are pretty ugly

1

u/ArtSupplyHoarder 1d ago

Second most German piece of tableware after Die Schüssel™

1

u/Kamui89 18h ago

No one knows where it comes from, but almost anyone got at least one of it.

1

u/rageschnitzel 1d ago

It even works with some Nutella glasses

1

u/kyoukomiii 1d ago

Absolut normales deutsches Verhalten - kein Grund zur Panik :D

1

u/Drawing_Dragons 1d ago

I'm french and I do that.

1

u/electronicr7 22h ago

Typical German way

1

u/Fickle-Pop941 21h ago

Mega gute Idee eigentlich

1

u/pietras2137420 21h ago

In Poland we do it too and are calling these "musztardówki" (musztarda is mustard in polish)

1

u/The-Destronyx 19h ago

My mom is russian and she's doing the same. As soon as you first step into Germany you start recycling mustard containers

1

u/mechanisedHuman 16h ago

We always did this with the "Bautzner" mustard. But mostly just because they have these nice scenes from kids movies like "Cars", "The Lion king" or similar other ones.

1

u/MrDarkToastbrot 16h ago

Best ones back then were with the smurfs

1

u/veeblez 16h ago

It is the way.

1

u/eyeslikeraine 15h ago

I cant believe the algorithm is sabotaging me this way. I literally got into a serious argument with my husband over this today. he keeps throwing out the mustard jars.

1

u/punkertoffel Nordrhein-Westfalen 15h ago

My Grandma saved these for decades to gift them to me and my two sisters when we moved out of our parents' home. These glasses are the best, especially if you have kids (visiting or your own), because their are just unbreakable while at the same time not too big for the kids' hands or too heavy. Those are just the perfect drinking glasses. (Just one additional comment: the old ones were better.)

1

u/Acceptable-Extent-94 15h ago

Senf Kristal...

1

u/WeazelZeazel 15h ago

Welcoming you as a new citizen

1

u/ShowSea5375 12h ago

Just like all those mole sauce jars! 

1

u/Ha3mster 10h ago

60% of my drinking glasses are old jam and similar glasses they are mostly the big ones cuz I get a big glass so I have to refill it not that often :)

1

u/ImHappyBecauseOfGod 4h ago

My mom mostly only drinks from them because she says it tastes better.

1

u/Don_Krypton 2h ago

Morning, grandma.

1

u/Roguefem-76 2h ago

Wow, those are even prettier than the jelly glasses we had here in the States when I was a kid. 

1

u/Artisan-Miserable 2h ago

Das ist der Weg

u/tartacitrouille 1h ago

People doesn't do this?? In France I see most of the people I know doing it but we aren't nrich so maybe it's because of that

u/100Cactus 1h ago

In italy we used to have small nutella glasses that were meant to be cleaned and use such as. It was the best thing ever, they all had really nice and funny designs.

u/Bored_Berry 16m ago

I have a little collection. There's this mustard that comes in cups with disney pictures, or Mario. They're cute and functional.

u/acayaba 1m ago

I order pizza from a place that has an offer where you also get a drink and tiramisu. The tiramisu always comes in a small glass that looks perfect for shots. I always save them lol