Canning and Preserving For Beginners: Essential Tips and Guide

by Angela Pierce

Preserving is defined as the process of maintaining a food's state or condition even for a long period of time and canning is considered as one of the most popular processes of preserving food items. Food items like fruits, vegetables, etc. have a shelf life period by which they would stay fresh and edible, but usually, this shelf life is not as long as you want it to be. However, if they undergo the process of canning and preserving, they can maintain their condition and still be edible even if they are past their actual shelf life already. This is because canning involves putting these foods inside airtight cans or jars in order to lock in freshness and prevent spoilage as well as preserving involves putting ingredients such as salt, lemon, vinegar, etc. that have the ability to preserve food and lengthen their shelf life.

36 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2013

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the information provided in this book, I think that this is geared more towards people who have a little bit of experience with canning and preserving. It does highlight the basics, but there are some terms that novices might not be familiar with. Having a small amount of experience with canning would definitely be beneficial when reading this book. However, the recipes are great and easy to follow.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angela Pierce has some interesting canning recipes included in this book, wine jelly, jalapeno jelly, blueberry sauce, and apple butter to list a few. Pierce has tried to outline canning essentials for a reader who is just getting interested in canning and has a brief section on what canning is, reasons why you should do it, and tips to canning. All of these are great, for as far as they go. Unfortunately there are a few gaps in the instructions, for a new 'canner'. For instance although Pierce discusses sterilization she doesn't tell how long you need to boil equipment for in order to clean jars, lids, tongs, etc. The author tells the reader that when purchasing new equipment some brands are better than others, but fails to give some suggestions of brands to either use or avoid. In the recipe section, it is hit or miss if she details how long various foods need to be processed for in order to ensure food safety. I was also a little disappointed that her tomato sauce recipe says salt and dried herbs are optional; salt really isn't optional for the tomato sauce. Also I would have liked to know which herbs and at which amounts I could try for this recipe. A definition of 'head space' would have been nice and use of tsp and tbsp for teaspoon and tablespoon, respectively would have been preferred. Although 't' and 'T' are occasionally used as teaspoon and tablespoon abbreviations they are not really common and often lead to mistakes when cooking or canning.
The recipes provided by Angela Pierce are nice and I am planning on trying her Apple Butter recipe, but I am an experienced canner and I know how long I will need to further process the product after putting the apple butter in jars. Ultimately, I think experienced canners will be able to adjust Pierce's recipes but newer, inexperienced canners may have difficulty with some of the recipes. I think it all depends on what each person's comfort level is.