Do you need ideas for a tricky to buy for preserving person, or just want to treat yourself? Maybe you'll be inspired by the list below:

Preserving Pan
An absolute essential, and ideal if you need a gift for someone who has been struggling along making preserves in a normal size saucepan. Quite a pricey gift, but a good preserving pan will last a lifetime.

Sharp Knife
Nothing makes life easier when preparing fruit and vegetables for preserving than a decent knife that can be resharpened again and again. Sheffield steel are undoubtedly the best.

Preserving Jars
Empty jars may seem like an odd present, but nothing is more inspiring than a collection of lovely jars all ready to fill with the next project. Will it be jam, chutney or pickles?

Jam Funnel
No need to ever wipe round the rim of a sticky jar again, saves time and is endlessly satisfying to use. Comes with a handy reducer for smaller jars.

River Cottage Preserves Book
One of this years favorites and destined to be a classic of the future, wonderfully illustrated and covers all the basics.

Measuring Spoons and Cups
Never be unsure about those quantities of raisins and spices again. Useful and in easy to clean stainless steel.

Preserve Labels Set
Paper jar covers and adhesive labels, perfect for smartening up the next batch of preserving. Blue and red gingham.

Jar Lid Covers
Paper jar covers in a variety of designs. Good for hiding branded lids from reusing jars.

Digital Scales
No more guessing, measures both lbs and grams and can be 'zeroed' to enable adding more ingredients.

Blossom Notebook
Perfect for noting down favorite recipes.

Le Parfait jars are great for using when preserving, as their rubber seal and clip mechanism ensure a perfect airtight seal. They can often be picked up cheaply second hand and with a bit of cleaning and reconditioning come up as good as new.

Le Parfait are French jars which have been designed specifically for canning and making preserves. Their thick glass enables them to withstand boiling in a water bath during the canning process.
I also find them useful for when you want a presentable looking jar, rather than a reused jam jar, or if a good seal is essential, as during all the shaking while making sloe gin.

They come in a useful range of sizes, from the tiny 125gm terrine jar, through to a large 2 litre version, enough for a litre of gin and a decent quantity of sloes.

I recently picked up a 1 litre jar for £1.25 in a charity shop and the images below show how I gave it a new lease of life.

The clever bit about the hinge and clip mechanism is that it is removable, which makes for easy cleaning.

First pinch the hinge to remove the lid from the body...

... then slide off the small retaining ring ...

... leaving the clip mechanism free to be removed from the body.

The 3 separate bits can then be cleaned ...

... I find scrubbing them with a stiff brush usually does the job, although wire wool could be used if there are any stubborn patches.

The all important rubber seal can be slipped off the lid, I usually replace these with new ones, although they will withstand boiling if you wish to steralise them. The one in the picture below is the wrong sort anyway, so I'll replace it.

The glass lid and jar can now be run through the dishwasher, or cleaned in hot soapy water. The glass should be checked and not used for the for canning if there are any chips, as they can cause the jar to break under pressure.

Putting the jar back together is just a matter of reversing the process, slip a new seal over the lid and put the hinge back in its groove ...

... then replace the clip mechanism on the jar, making sure the clip is the correct way up.

After pinching the hinge to return the lid to the body the sparkling jar is ready for use.

Useful links

Replacement Le Parfait seals on amazon.
Le Parfait website with history and instructions.