Traditional Chinese Water-Seal Jars

The water-seal pickle jar is one of the oldest pieces of fermentation equipment still in everyday use, traditionally made in glazed stoneware for Sichuan paocai and northern Chinese suan cai. A channel runs around the mouth; the lid sits down into it, and once the channel is filled with water, that ring of water works as an airlock.

Making it in glass keeps the elegant self-regulating seal and lets the cook watch the ferment — bubbles, brine clarity and vegetable color — which is impossible in opaque stoneware.

Sichuan paocai, suan cai and fermented greens, lacto-fermented vegetables, brined pickles and kimchi. The 3–5 L sizes serve restaurant kitchens and serious home fermenters; the smaller sizes suit households, apartment kitchens and retail kitchenware ranges.

The jar is bought both as a working fermentation vessel and as an attractive countertop piece, which makes it a strong kitchenware and gift item.

The defining feature is the circular water channel molded around the mouth and the inverted glass lid that sits in it. With water in the channel, fermentation gas bubbles out through the water, but outside air can’t get back in. No rubber gasket is needed.

Glass thickness around the channel and lid is designed for repeated handling, and the lid is shaped to seat securely in the channel.

Keep the channel topped up with clean water throughout the ferment — if it dries out, the seal is lost. Leave headspace for brine and gas, and keep vegetables submerged. The jar is not pressure-rated; it works precisely because it vents.

Clean the channel and lid between batches. Ferments run at room temperature, so heat stress is rarely an issue, but the large sizes are heavy when full and should be moved carefully and kept level.

The jar body and lid are press-and-blow formed. The water channel is the distinctive molded feature and must be formed cleanly to hold water, and lids are matched to bodies so they seat correctly. Annealing is especially important on these large, thick vessels.

We can emboss your brand on the body, supply printed care cards and pack each jar in its own protective box for retail or e-commerce. Ask us for samples in your chosen sizes.