Up-to-Date Revival for Old-School Jars
老式密封罐成為新寵
By Claire Martin

Maybe you’ve sipped a beer from a Mason jar. Or fished out a pickle from one. Or dined under a chandelier of them at a restaurant.
你也許啜飲著裝在密封玻璃罐（梅森罐）裡的啤酒。或是從一個密封罐裡夾出一根醃黃瓜。或是在餐廳的密封罐水晶燈下享受晚餐。

You might like to use Mason jars to stash your Cheerios or to chill fresh lemonade. Or maybe the one perched on a glass stem and marketed as the “redneck wineglass” is more your speed.
你也許喜歡用密封罐存放Cheerios穀片，或是冰涼的新鮮檸檬汁。或者，端坐在杯腳上的密封罐，廣告打出「鄉下老土酒杯」，也許更合你的調調。

But until several years ago, the simple Mason jar was more likely to be found in grandmothers’ pantries than on retailers’ shelves. It was salvaged from near extinction by businesses eager for a homespun aesthetic in a sturdy, affordable package – many of them hoping to lure the hip millennials who have fetishized the jars in photographs on Instagram and Pinterest.
然而直到幾年以前，比較容易看到簡單玻璃密封罐的地方，還是祖母的食物櫃，而不是零售店的貨架。密封罐能從瀕臨絕種起死回生，是渴求以堅固、平價包裝鄉土氣息美學的商家救了它，其中許多商家希望吸引很「潮」的千禧世代，他們在Instagram和Pinterest上傳「神化」密封罐的照片。

Jarden Home Brands, one of America’s leading manufacturers of Mason jars, says that sales have doubled since 2001.
美國密封罐知名製造商「Jarden家用品牌」表示，自2001年以來業績成長了一倍。

Though the Mason jar has become a symbol of hipness, it started as a necessity. In 1858, John Landis Mason found a way to preserve fruits, vegetables and other perishables with a lid that screwed to the threaded-glass lip of a jar over a rubber ring that sealed previously boiled contents.
雖然密封罐已成為「潮」的象徵，它剛開始時卻是必需品。1858年，約翰．蘭迪斯．梅森找到了保存水果、蔬菜和其他易腐壞食物的方法，用一個蓋子栓在瓶口有螺紋和橡圈的廣口瓶上，把煮過的食物密封起來。

“A hundred and fifty years ago, these jars meant survival,” says Douglas M. Leybourne Jr., a Mason jar collector who has written a book series called “The Collector’s Guide to Old Fruit Jars.” “You have a house full of people, and it’s wintertime. You couldn’t go down to the store – there wasn’t one.”
密封罐收藏家雷波恩說：「150年前，這些罐子代表著求生存。家裡滿屋子人，而且正當冬天，你無法去商店，也沒有商店開門。」雷波恩寫了「舊水果罐收藏手冊」系列書。

Initially, the jars were hand-blown and infused with substances like iron oxide and cobalt, producing shades of amber and a hue that Mr. Leybourne calls “Vicks VapoRub blue.” (These jars now fetch up to $30,000 apiece on the collectors’ market.) But, eventually, manufacturers dispensed with the colors in favor of a clear view of the food inside.
最早，玻璃密封罐是人工吹製，注入氧化鐵和鈷，產生琥珀的半透明色度和一種色澤，雷波稱之為「維克斯薄荷膏藍」。（這些罐子如今在收藏家市場可賣到三萬美元一個。）但最後，製造商捨棄了顏色，選擇讓人清楚看到裡面的食物。

After Mr. Mason’s patent ran out in 1870, about 500 other jar makers adopted it.
梅森的專利權在1870年屆滿後，大約有500家其他廠商使用「梅森」這個名稱。

In the 1950s and ’60s, however, the jars’ market began to fade. The culprit: refrigeration and the new value placed on mass-produced food.
不過，在50和60年代，密封罐市場開始式微。禍首是：冰箱，以及大量製造的食品被賦予新價值。

The turning point in the recent history of the Mason jar was the recession in 2008. “People stay home,” Chris Scherzinger, president of Jarden Home Brands, says of that time. “They don’t go out as much. They kind of go back to what the core of their roots are.”
密封罐在近年的轉捩點是2008年的經濟衰退，「Jarden家用品牌」總裁史辛格提到當時的情景，「人們待在家裡，不太出門。有點返璞歸真的味道。」

At the same time, an aversion to processed food was intensifying. More people became focused on self-sufficiency and eking out as much value as they could from what they bought – and at a reasonable cost.
與此同時，人們對加工食品反感日增。更多人重視自給自足，盡量把他們以合理價格買來的東西用回本。

The jars’ revival has also been stoked by entrepreneurs incorporating them into product designs. Eric Prum and Josh Williams are selling a cocktail shaker they called the Mason Shaker.
創業家把密封罐與商品設計結合，也帶動了密封罐的復興。普藍姆和威廉斯賣一款雞尾酒調酒器，他們稱之為「梅森調酒器」。

“The functional side of it is that the Mason jars are heavy in weight, and they can withstand cocktail shaking,” Mr. Prum says.
普魯姆說：「它的功能面在於，梅森罐很重，禁得起調製雞尾酒的搖晃。」

Big corporations are also jumping on the trend, stuffing sugary, high-calorie treats into Mason jar knockoffs – and causing some to wonder whether the jar’s 150-year run as a symbol of wholesomeness may be nearing its expiration date.
大企業也跟上這股潮流，把高糖分、高卡路里的點心裝進山寨版的梅森罐裡，讓一些人不禁懷疑，梅森罐150年來的健康形象，也許過期日近了。

This summer, after picking up on Mason-jar chatter on social media, the convenience store chain 7-Eleven began selling a plastic replica outfitted with plastic neon lids and straws as receptacles for its Slurpees frozen drinks. Laura Gordon of 7-Eleven says the jar’s “combination of simplicity and an emotional, fun nostalgia” makes it “a perfect fit for us.”
今夏，在獲知社群網站上有關梅森罐的熱議後，7-Eleven便利商店開始賣一款塑膠的複製品，配上塑膠尼龍蓋子和吸管，做為裝「思樂冰」冰飲的容器。7-Eleven的羅拉．戈登說，梅森罐「把單純與感性、有趣的懷舊風結合起來，正適合我們」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/business/authenticity-repurposed-in-a-mason-jar.html

2014-09-09聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報八版下