10 Uses for Kitchen Twine–in the Kitchen

10 Uses for kitchen twine

There are a few things you just don’t touch in Mama’s kitchen: her scissors, her wooden spoon, and her kitchen twine.  Sure, kitchen twine can serve useful purposes beyond the kitchen but—get your own.

stuffed tenderloin tied with twine

#1:  Use kitchen twine for roasting meat

I use it to tie the legs together on turkey, chicken, and duck.  This helps hold the legs close to the body of the animal to keep them from drying out, and to keep them from dripping messes beyond the confines of the roasting pan.

I also love to use it on stuffed tenderloin and other tasty meats (spinach rolled in steak, chicken cordon bleu, and other fancy-schmancy stuff I made for houseguests before the kids came along).

 

#2: Use kitchen twine for drying Herbs the old-fashioned way

twine with rosemary

Truthfully, I generally use my dehydrator nearly exclusively because I really like the cleanliness of it.  However, I have used kitchen twine to string together hot peppers and hang clumps of rosemary.  It’s the romantic in me, I guess.

#3: Use kitchen twine for homemade sausages and meat packages

salami in twine

We do some of our own meat butchering and curing.  We do use a lot of tape for freezer packages, but the twine is so handy for hanging meats and bundling foods.

Hanging loops on wooden utensils made of kitchen twine

#4: Use kitchen twine to make hanging loops

I have had to track down missing twine that has made it’s way to the garage, but I’ve used it this way in my kitchen, too.  Keeping your most beloved tools at hand sometimes means hanging them by the stove.

sandwiches wrapped in twine

#5: Use kitchen twine for food presentation

There is nothing overly practical about using twine on a sandwich; you’d use a reusable sandwich container for the lunchbox, sure.  But friends coming over for a light lunch?  On the patio?  It’s downright charming, don’t you think?

 

#6 Create a table centerpiece with kitchen twine

Use kitchen twine to decorate

This twine-wrapped bundle of cinnamon sticks, centered on burlap with some scattered oranges lends a rustic charm—especially in the fall or near the holidays.  If you have to decorate a room full of tables on the cheap, it’s totally the way to go any time of year!

#7: Wrap kitchen twine around fabric-topped canning jars

Chaya canning
Terrible photo (taken by a kid, maybe?) but the only one I could find with my jars above the cupboards.

We have far more food storage than space; I’ve had to make good use of every nook & cranny, without making things look, well, awkward.  In our last home, every kitchen cupboard was lined with jars of canned and dehydrated foods.  I covered each with fabric and kitchen twine!  It was often a conversation piece—people never really believed that I had that much food.  It was cute and made an otherwise undecorated space appear finished.

#8: Wrap presents and attach trinkets with kitchen twine

The best received gift I ever gave : I directed a homeschool program and needed gifts for 4 tutors.  Being food-obsessed and the owner of Pantry Paratus, I just had to give my favorite cookbook (Soup Night).  I wrapped in red Christmas paper, and then attached the long-handled bamboo spoon using kitchen twine.  Everyone commented as much on the presentation of each gift as they did the gift itself!



place setting

#9: Use kitchen twine in place settings

I had cute napkin rings.  Once.  I have no idea what happened to those between the moves.  Eh.  I’m not spending the money again, so instead…just wrap the silverware and napkin in twine!  Back to that whole rustic elegance thing.  One day we might say that it was SOOO turn-of-the-century.  But for now, it’s beautiful and frugal.

 

#10: You will need kitchen twine for hanging onions

For the peppers I mentioned above, I used an oversized sewing needle on twine and strung those together.  For garlic, you use the actual garlic green and braid.  But for onions, you will need good, strong, kitchen twine.

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2 thoughts on “10 Uses for Kitchen Twine–in the Kitchen

  1. Stopping by from Just Plain Marie’s Saturday Round Up email. We always have a roll of kitchen twine on hand for many of the uses you listed.

  2. I’ve knitted kitchen twine into a bread sling to remove baked bread from the oven roaster.
    But, in between the twine sling and the bread dough I place a round of parchment paper or the twine will get lost being baked into the bread round.

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