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Canning for a New Generation: Updated and Expanded Edition: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry
The revised and expanded edition of the bestselling resource for canning and preserving, with 50 new recipes plus all-new sidebars and tips.
In Liana Krissoff’s breakout success, Canning for a New Generation, home cooks were introduced to a hip, modern guide to canning, chock-full of approachable, time-tested, and accurate recipes, as well as intriguing new flavor pairings. In this Updated and Expanded Edition, Krissoff includes 50 new recipes for food preservation in addition to her favorites, including:
Brandied Cherries
Peach Salsa
Strawberry Jam
Honeyed Bread and Butter Pickles
Organized by season, Krissoff’s recipes illustrate fresh ways to preserve the harvest throughout the year, employing techniques like water-bath canning that are safe and easy to follow. The recipes are all created with small-batch yields in mind, which will appeal to beginner canners and expert homesteaders alike. Krissoff addresses special diet concerns with recipes for low-sugar or sugar-free preserves, as well as methods for canning jams and preserves without pectin. In addition to canning recipes, there are old-style fermenting recipes, new freezing techniques, and recipes on how to use your canned goods to make delicious meals once you’ve put them up.
With 250 tried and tested recipes, Canning for a New Generation: Updated and Expanded Edition is a must-own, essential reference guide for casual canners, modern home preservers, and traditional food preservationists.
In Liana Krissoff’s breakout success, Canning for a New Generation, home cooks were introduced to a hip, modern guide to canning, chock-full of approachable, time-tested, and accurate recipes, as well as intriguing new flavor pairings. In this Updated and Expanded Edition, Krissoff includes 50 new recipes for food preservation in addition to her favorites, including:
Brandied Cherries
Peach Salsa
Strawberry Jam
Honeyed Bread and Butter Pickles
Organized by season, Krissoff’s recipes illustrate fresh ways to preserve the harvest throughout the year, employing techniques like water-bath canning that are safe and easy to follow. The recipes are all created with small-batch yields in mind, which will appeal to beginner canners and expert homesteaders alike. Krissoff addresses special diet concerns with recipes for low-sugar or sugar-free preserves, as well as methods for canning jams and preserves without pectin. In addition to canning recipes, there are old-style fermenting recipes, new freezing techniques, and recipes on how to use your canned goods to make delicious meals once you’ve put them up.
With 250 tried and tested recipes, Canning for a New Generation: Updated and Expanded Edition is a must-own, essential reference guide for casual canners, modern home preservers, and traditional food preservationists.
400 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
April 30, 2012
I'm not sure how one counts a cookbook as read (I read all the intros, lead ins, sidebars, and instructions, just not every recipe through and through), especially when it is about a technique that I don't know how to do yet, but my visceral response was very positive. I can't say I am utterly unintimidated by canning now, but the recipes in this book and the stories make me want to try. The author is a wee bit too hipster homesteader for me in style, but she's genuine and it makes me feel like I might actually be able to make these things. And then the recipes...THE RECIPES...so many, so good. There are a lot of classic flavors but also combinations that remind me of a friend's wild and fun concoctions. I want to eat these on everything. I don't think I've ever wanted to try to make so many recipes in a cookbook, and that's all there is to say.
July 23, 2016
As a dietitian and whole foods advocate, I really appreciate how she advocates the use of natural sources of pectin in jams and Jellies. As an adventurous eater, I love how the recipes use herbs, wine and other imaginative ingredients to provide pop to classic canning recipes. As a person who cans for a very small family, I am so glad that recipes to use the canned products are also part of the narrative. As someone who cherishes eating seasonally, it's great that recipes are organized by season. Thank you for writing this inventive, down to earth book that will insure and upgrade many meals.
February 12, 2011
If you think that canning is for grandmas, this book might change your mind. With sleek photographs, a section of cute tear-off jar labels, and recipes for both the classic and reimagined, this book will guide a new generation through the ins and outs of food preservation. Do-It-Yourself fans will find recipes organized by season, both for canned foods and recipes to compliment the fruits of their labors.
The range of recipes is impressive, with everything from lemon curd to Chinese Plum Sauce, from North Indian Carrot Pickle and Kimchi to Raspberry Jam with Mint and Lavender. If you have a flourishing garden, this would be an excellent resource for preserving your bumper crops in creative new ways.
The range of recipes is impressive, with everything from lemon curd to Chinese Plum Sauce, from North Indian Carrot Pickle and Kimchi to Raspberry Jam with Mint and Lavender. If you have a flourishing garden, this would be an excellent resource for preserving your bumper crops in creative new ways.
August 28, 2011
Canning for a New Generation is a terrific resource -- and my go-to book for home canning. Having recently gotten into canning, I wanted a book that didn't call for buckets of sugar in each jam recipe, that stayed away from pre-packaged pectin, and that was a bit more creative in its use of ingredients. In other words, I didn't want "your grandmother's canning cookbook." This book definitely delivers on all of those accounts.
Krissoff's preserve and jam recipes call for far less sugar -- and no boxed pectin -- than typical recipes. She also brings creative ingredient combos to the table, and makes even simple things a bit special. I've made her canned peaches with vanilla syrup, and am excited to make this winter the helpful accompanying recipe she's paired with it, a lovely-sounding toffee peaches with cream that is sure to bring a taste of summer to a cold night. Krissoff pairs recipes like this throughout the cookbook with the canned recipes -- so you don't just end up with cans of things you won't know what to do with.
My only criticism of the book thus far is that I've found her recipes tend to make consistently less than they say they will -- particularly the jam recipes. The jam recipes that call for using chunks of apples: I've found that the apples dissolve completely into the jam, while her recipe seems to believe you can remove the chunks whole after cooking the jam. It makes me think perhaps the recipes were tested on an electric stove, and not gas, because I'm cooking with gas. But either way, the recipes still turn out delicious.
This is a great canning resource -- and it will remain my go-to source for home canning!
Krissoff's preserve and jam recipes call for far less sugar -- and no boxed pectin -- than typical recipes. She also brings creative ingredient combos to the table, and makes even simple things a bit special. I've made her canned peaches with vanilla syrup, and am excited to make this winter the helpful accompanying recipe she's paired with it, a lovely-sounding toffee peaches with cream that is sure to bring a taste of summer to a cold night. Krissoff pairs recipes like this throughout the cookbook with the canned recipes -- so you don't just end up with cans of things you won't know what to do with.
My only criticism of the book thus far is that I've found her recipes tend to make consistently less than they say they will -- particularly the jam recipes. The jam recipes that call for using chunks of apples: I've found that the apples dissolve completely into the jam, while her recipe seems to believe you can remove the chunks whole after cooking the jam. It makes me think perhaps the recipes were tested on an electric stove, and not gas, because I'm cooking with gas. But either way, the recipes still turn out delicious.
This is a great canning resource -- and it will remain my go-to source for home canning!
November 21, 2011
So much more approachable than something like the "Ball book of Canning". Takes a lot of the fear factor away and makes canning look cool and hip and new.
I only tried one of the recipes 'Pear and Ginger' preserves. It came out very good. There are several others I would like to try, like the fermented yard long beans, and the strawberry basil jam, but it's the wrong season.
I checked this out from the library, but it's now on my purchase list.
I only tried one of the recipes 'Pear and Ginger' preserves. It came out very good. There are several others I would like to try, like the fermented yard long beans, and the strawberry basil jam, but it's the wrong season.
I checked this out from the library, but it's now on my purchase list.
June 18, 2012
I think this girl's life somewhat mirrors mine -- I always helped with the garden but stayed out of the way for canning. Now I find myself with a garden and the desire for fresh food in the winter. This is an easy read and helps you see that canning isn't difficult at all. Thanks Liana for helping me can my first batch of tomato sauce ever!
June 6, 2011
Love this book! Maybe it's preemptive to give this a 5 before I even make any of the recipes, but there's no way I'm going to hate them. The recipes vary from traditional (strawberry jam) to modern (chamomile scented strawberry syrup), and they are organized by type (fruit or veg) and season.
June 21, 2025
wow answered all my questions and very detailed, step by step instructions which I need to learn something new. feeling confident to start canning without any fancy supplies
February 6, 2011
Canning and preserving has returned of late to the repertoire of home cooks and chefs and it deserves to be a ‘go-to’ skill without the fear and complicated mess experienced by earlier generations of practitioners. Canning for a New Generation (Abrams Books, 2010) delivers on its vision to reconnect today’s cooks with canning and preserving with solid information, flavorful seasonal recipes and a globally inspired touch.
Author Liana Krissoff almost immediately takes the fear out of canning – the sniffs and close inspections of anything ‘put-up’ (even at one’s own hands) of the past but not without a healthy warning about the risks. Krissoff focuses attention on jellies, pickles, jams and preserves – things to be canned with little fear of poisoning when the simplest of instructions are followed. These are the techniques of preserving that present the best of the season’s harvest, un-obscured by cloying sweet syrups and bags of pectin.
There are excellent references and explicit instructions in each canning recipe for how to achieve the best results without flipping from one page to another to remember how to start a water-bath or sanitize jars and lids. Everything needed is listed and the step-by-step materials are easy to follow and execute. The recipes are accurate as well, a blessing when faced with a haul of strawberries or other ingredient – it’s easy to divide and conquer, so to speak.
Global influences abound in the recipes which add a unique spin to the usual ‘blue-book’ or community cookbook approaches to the subject. Asian cultures have perfected and enjoyed pickled and preserved foods for millennia (kim-chi or pickled plums ring a bell?) and there are worthwhile and meaningful divulgences into global flavors, ingredients and spices scattered throughout the book. Flavor combinations that a cook normally would not think of are presented here, as is why it works and how best to enjoy the results.
Krissoff reminds us of the reasons for canning and preserving – to have the best of the harvest on-hand for enjoyment at other times of the year. Almost every seasonal recipe is paired with an enjoyable purpose (a cherry jam, followed by a recipe for cherry tarts using the jam for example) that brings another layer of resources to this well designed book. Enough exceptional photography by Rinne Allen is slathered throughout to make the reading easier and the temptation to ‘taste’ just a little bit stronger.
Many of today’s younger generation of cooks and chefs eschew canning as being old-fashioned, quaint or survivalist in nature. In the Southern United States it has been long avoided as a reflection of poverty – its true nature hidden behind social interpretations and generational divides.
Yes, folks in the past canned and preserved the abundance of the seasons as ways to avoid wasting the hard-won results of their labors. They canned and preserved in preparation for the possibility of hardship, of a lost crop or a shortage brought by the sacrifices of war. But they also canned and preserved for the same reasons we seek to do it today – to be able to enjoy time in the kitchen or at a table together with family and friends, remembering the occasion of the season or the preciousness of the harvest in a time honored and soul-satisfying way. As Krissoff notes, it can remind us of the way food tasted when we or our parents were children. Canning for a New Generation will remind us of how food should taste today and for our generations to come as well.
Author Liana Krissoff almost immediately takes the fear out of canning – the sniffs and close inspections of anything ‘put-up’ (even at one’s own hands) of the past but not without a healthy warning about the risks. Krissoff focuses attention on jellies, pickles, jams and preserves – things to be canned with little fear of poisoning when the simplest of instructions are followed. These are the techniques of preserving that present the best of the season’s harvest, un-obscured by cloying sweet syrups and bags of pectin.
There are excellent references and explicit instructions in each canning recipe for how to achieve the best results without flipping from one page to another to remember how to start a water-bath or sanitize jars and lids. Everything needed is listed and the step-by-step materials are easy to follow and execute. The recipes are accurate as well, a blessing when faced with a haul of strawberries or other ingredient – it’s easy to divide and conquer, so to speak.
Global influences abound in the recipes which add a unique spin to the usual ‘blue-book’ or community cookbook approaches to the subject. Asian cultures have perfected and enjoyed pickled and preserved foods for millennia (kim-chi or pickled plums ring a bell?) and there are worthwhile and meaningful divulgences into global flavors, ingredients and spices scattered throughout the book. Flavor combinations that a cook normally would not think of are presented here, as is why it works and how best to enjoy the results.
Krissoff reminds us of the reasons for canning and preserving – to have the best of the harvest on-hand for enjoyment at other times of the year. Almost every seasonal recipe is paired with an enjoyable purpose (a cherry jam, followed by a recipe for cherry tarts using the jam for example) that brings another layer of resources to this well designed book. Enough exceptional photography by Rinne Allen is slathered throughout to make the reading easier and the temptation to ‘taste’ just a little bit stronger.
Many of today’s younger generation of cooks and chefs eschew canning as being old-fashioned, quaint or survivalist in nature. In the Southern United States it has been long avoided as a reflection of poverty – its true nature hidden behind social interpretations and generational divides.
Yes, folks in the past canned and preserved the abundance of the seasons as ways to avoid wasting the hard-won results of their labors. They canned and preserved in preparation for the possibility of hardship, of a lost crop or a shortage brought by the sacrifices of war. But they also canned and preserved for the same reasons we seek to do it today – to be able to enjoy time in the kitchen or at a table together with family and friends, remembering the occasion of the season or the preciousness of the harvest in a time honored and soul-satisfying way. As Krissoff notes, it can remind us of the way food tasted when we or our parents were children. Canning for a New Generation will remind us of how food should taste today and for our generations to come as well.
November 1, 2011
Love this book and I have already tried a couple of the items in the book and have many more flagged to do. In fact my partner is helping with this list, ha ha! His favorite so far is the "Simple pickled jalapeno slices." He has been putting them on everything from his salads to his sandwiches!
Ms. Krissoff's book has good pictures and the directions are clear and easy to follow. She also has made the batches in smaller sizes, unlike many canning books that put up great pounds of items at a time, hers are more "reasonable" for the casual canner. To go back to the jalapeno one that I mentioned above, it puts up "about 5 pint jars." I suspect that I will be doubling this one up.
I would say this book is good for people just starting off with canning or for the pro looking for a different take on things.
Ms. Krissoff's book has good pictures and the directions are clear and easy to follow. She also has made the batches in smaller sizes, unlike many canning books that put up great pounds of items at a time, hers are more "reasonable" for the casual canner. To go back to the jalapeno one that I mentioned above, it puts up "about 5 pint jars." I suspect that I will be doubling this one up.
I would say this book is good for people just starting off with canning or for the pro looking for a different take on things.
June 21, 2016
Really well formatted and written. I really liked how easy to follow all the recipes were. Oh, and there's a TON of recipes. I can't imagine someone picking this up and not finding at least 5 recipes they'd like to try. There is a wide variety of recipes, ranging from fruit preserves and jams to pickled vegetables to sauces to frozen yogurts to tarts...you get the idea. Lots of delicious stuff, basically. Oh, and did I mention the photography if this is beautiful? Yeah. I've rarely seen such pretty food.
I haven't actually *tried* anything out of this book yet, so I can't give it 5 stars, but that might change later. For now, this is a strong 4 star book for me. If you have an interest in canning/preserving, I'd definitely recommend this one.
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
I haven't actually *tried* anything out of this book yet, so I can't give it 5 stars, but that might change later. For now, this is a strong 4 star book for me. If you have an interest in canning/preserving, I'd definitely recommend this one.
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
August 16, 2015
I read a lot of cookbooks and normally I don't review them here, but this one was so beautiful and drool-inducing I had to share! Clear instructions for jams that are made without commercial pectin, plus simple instructions for canning vegetables, making pickles, and fermenting foods such as sauerkraut and kimchee. There are also recipes that use the canned foods, from cakes and pies to main dishes and cocktails. Top it off with stunning photographs. I literally read this book from beginning to end, and I'm so excited to start canning!
June 18, 2012
Excellent book for the canning enthusiast, from seasoned pro to absolute beginner. I've been a home canner since my late 20's and frequently helped family canning efforts in my childhood, so most of the how-to info was nothing new to me, but the recipes are fabulous. Most helpful aspect of the book is its organization - recipes are grouped by season and subdivided into fruit or vegetable recipes. Clever. Knowing what is in season should help to minimize cost if you aren't growing your own fruits and veggies.
June 2, 2016
*I received an e-ARC through NetGalley, thanks to the Publishers and author, in exchange for a free and honest review!*
A very nicely done book with many different kinds of recipes all around Canning -as the title would suggest.
It has many helpful tips and good recipes to follow along, especially for beginnings this book will be wonderful!
I also really loved the helpful Sources and Further reading index provided at the end of the book for where to get some of the things used in the book and where to find further information if needed.
Wonderful resource and helpful guide into Canning!
A very nicely done book with many different kinds of recipes all around Canning -as the title would suggest.
It has many helpful tips and good recipes to follow along, especially for beginnings this book will be wonderful!
I also really loved the helpful Sources and Further reading index provided at the end of the book for where to get some of the things used in the book and where to find further information if needed.
Wonderful resource and helpful guide into Canning!
August 11, 2012
I love this book. I have wanted to can for a long time, and my partner got me a kit and this book for Christmas. It's the perfect guide for me. It made me feel comfortable enough to just jump in, but more importantly, it uses natural sources of pectin, has interesting recipes, and is more concerned about flavor than a perfect look. Just my kind of cooking! I've made the classic peach jam, the plum cardamom jam, and am planning on making the charred tomato salsa soon.
October 15, 2011
If you're interested in learning to can or just want a couple simple, but yummy, recipes to try, this is the book for you. The instructions are simple and straight-forward. The author takes a light-hearted approach to canning making a newbies first attempt fun and enjoyable, instead of a nerve-wracking experience. Give it go and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
December 12, 2010
Really have to stop checking out cookbooks from the library, as now I want to try my hand at canning. The author does a great job of taking the mystery out of canning. Plus includes a lot of fabulous recipes to try.
November 15, 2011
A beautiful, inspiring book with great-sounding recipes for both canned products and foods with those products. I got this from the library but may have to get a copy for myself so I can try out some of what's included in here. Accessible-sounding recipes for a newbie.
May 13, 2012
Fantastic book. My first book on canning (accidentally) and it got me fired up about storing food with new and exciting flavors! Her fresh contemporary approach (as advertised) is very easy to identify with and highly approachable. This one will always be a favorite!
October 9, 2015
My husband gave me this book as a birthday present. I have a few canning/preserving books and didn't think I needed another one, and am happy that I now own this one!
The narratives are fun to read, and I have bookmarked many recipes for future use. I'll update when I have tried them.
The narratives are fun to read, and I have bookmarked many recipes for future use. I'll update when I have tried them.
September 7, 2017
A beautifully photographed, very well sorted guide for a new generation of canners. If like me you associate canning with days of epic labor and shelves of dozens of tomatoes, then this is for you. Mastering small batch canning is fun, and the many fresh recipes here will inspire.
April 27, 2011
Some really neat-looking recipes in here; lots of interesting jams and jellies and pickles. Seems pretty straight-forward and not too intimidating a process to try.
June 9, 2012
this is the rare book that i'll actually buy after borrowing it from the library. it even has a recipe for clotted cream! :D
September 6, 2012
This book completely changed the way I viewed canning and preserving. Not only does it make canning accessible for the home cook, but it brings interesting and exciting flavors to the home
June 23, 2014
I have no shame.
July 16, 2016
I received this book as an advance reader copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I’ve never properly canned anything, although I go through at least a dozen pint Ball jars each year with my homemade liqueur production. The closest I’ve come to properly canning something was when I put homemade maraschino cherries and their hot syrup in sterile pint Ball jars, and the lids self-sealed as the syrup cooled. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to be approved for this book because it would teach me a new skill in addition to new recipes.
I have to confess that I fell in love with this book because of its Table of Contents: it clearly revealed the book’s organization around the seasons. Starting with Spring fruits, then Spring vegetables, the book then moves on to Summer fruits and Summer vegetables, then proceeds to Fall fruits then Fall vegetables, and finally Winter fruits and Winter vegetables. The book ends with a brief (twenty page) chapter of “baked and creamy things to put preserves on.” This just seems to me be the most natural and logical organization for a book on canning and preserving.
The author’s basic fun and no frills philosophy was endearing to me. In the Preface, the author describes the two broad categories of her preservation efforts. First, there are “simple, no-fuss preserves” that are used as ingredients in her busy kitchen. Second, there are “all-homemade versions of foods” that she prefers not to buy at the grocery store. The infrequent “Kitchen Experiments” are usually one-offs, designed for gift giving. In the Introduction, the author concludes that “preserving food – and thinking of delicious ways to use those preserves – is fun.” That one statement tees up a breezy, non-threatening approach to canning that permeated the book. The book was so readable that I basically binge read all 350+ pages of text in under two days.
Being uninitiated in the art of home preserving, the Introduction was very important for me to read. It set the tone for the book, but it also was chock full of useful information. For example, there was a descriptive list of what can be preserved, advice on how to employ certain ingredients in the preservation process, an informative look at how preserving works at the microorganism level, a simplified list of equipment necessary for home canning, and a step-by-step overview of the canning process. All of these sections were easy to read thanks to brightly colored subheadings that broke up the long columns of text and previewed the information to come. One of the best things that I learned by reading the Introduction was that because all the canning recipes in the book are for high acid foods, none of them require a pressure canner. Throughout the Introduction, the author made certain to emphasize certain aspects of the canning process that were integral to food safety – such as maintaining the proper acidity level and processing in a hot water bath for the required amount of time.
Each seasonal section begins with a brief one to two page introduction, then proceeds to the table of contents for the seasonal fruit recipes. The seasonal fruit chapter is followed by the table of contents for the seasonal vegetable recipes. Each recipe is clearly labeled with a large print title, followed by the yield. Most of the jam recipes yield four to seven half-pint jars, which is a very manageable quantity. The yield on the pickle recipes varies widely, but all seem to be quite manageable. Each recipe has a short headnote, which describes origin of the recipe, the purpose of certain recipe steps, the preparation of certain ingredients, the use of optional ingredients, and so forth. The recipe ingredients are listed in color in the order of use in American measurements, although there is a conversion chart to metric and Imperial measurements at the back of the book if necessary. Fruit and vegetable ingredients are measured by weight, with a parenthetical estimate of volume or count. The ingredients are mostly common items that can be found at the local supermarket or farmers’ market, although there is the odd recipe that calls for daikon, kohlrabi, asafetida, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, kalonji seeds, jaggery, or the like. Each recipe cues when to prepare the water bath for canning, each time referring to the all-knowing page 29 for details. The recipe steps are written in paragraph format, although spaces between the paragraphs make the paragraphs easier to read. Across the recipes, the steps are written as uniformly as possible. This is a boon to the reader because once you master one recipe, you can transfer the technique to another recipe. You just need to pay attention because the processing time changes from one recipe to the next; sometimes jars that fail to seal can be reprocessed, whereas other times the jars have to be refrigerated immediately. I love that the last step in the canning recipes is always “Label the sealed jars and store,” because I am infamous for having unlabeled containers of homemade spice mixes in my cabinet. Sometimes there is a note after the recipe that gives further guidance, explanation or variations. Usually the recipes are one page, with a call out box or a photograph to fill space if necessary. When there are more than one recipe on a page, there is a colored dividing line between the two, which makes it easy to distinguish one recipe from the other.
Generally, the fruit recipes are low sugar and do not use commercial pectin. Therefore, the fruits that are low in pectin are cooked with other fruits that are high in pectin, which are removed from the mixture prior to preserving. For example, the peach, nectarine and plum recipes rely on tart Granny Smith apples to supply the pectin, to the extent that even the apple cores and seeds are enclosed in a cheesecloth bag and boiled with the fruit mixture. Fortunately, there is a page which details what can be done with the leftover cooked apple quarters. There is a versatile recipe for Green Apple Pectin Stock that can be used to make red wine jelly, tea jelly, hibiscus jelly, and other jellies of that ilk.
The recipe selection is curious. The Spring fruit recipes are almost all strawberry based - okay, 12 out of 18 recipes feature strawberries, and three of the remaining six feature rhubarb. The Spring vegetables recipes features five different ginger recipes – and that is not including the whole page blue call out box with techniques for keeping ginger. The Summer vegetables chapter contains about twelve different recipes for either preserving tomatoes or using preserved tomatoes. Apples and pears dominate the Fall fruits chapter, while the Fall vegetables chapter contains a little bit of everything. The Winter Fruits chapter features mostly citrus recipes, although there are three kumquat recipes and other miscellany. Of course, cabbage is the main ingredient in six of the thirteen Winter Vegetable recipes. The recipes in the seasonal chapters of the book actually do include some that are not preserves, but rather use the preserve recipe on the preceding page. For example, in the Spring vegetable chapter, there is a recipe for Asparagus Flan, which uses a frozen asparagus puree that is described in the call out box at the bottom of the page. There are recipes for Enchiladas Verdes (using the preceding recipe for Salsa Verde) and Chili (using previous recipes for Crushed Tomatoes and Charred Tomato and Chile Salsa) in the Summer vegetables chapter. There is a recipe for Easy Pie Dough tucked into the Fall fruits chapter. And there are recipes for alcoholic drinks included throughout the book as well. The Perfect Sidecar recipe, for example, uses either Brandied Sweet Cherries or Sour Cherry Preserves. The Tomato Juice recipe is accompanied by a green call out box that details “Things to Put in a Bloody Mary in Addition to Vodka,” which is phenomenal except for that it fails to mention bacon as a potential garnish.
Sprinkled throughout the book are informative pastel colored call out boxes that augment the main text. These contain random factual information and supplemental recipes, but mainly serve to keep the tone of the book light and airy. For example, in the Spring fruits chapter, a pink call out box about how to freeze strawberries using dry ice occupies an entire page. In the Spring vegetables chapter, a green call out box describes how to grow your own garlic for the Pickled Young Spring Garlic recipe. In the Summer fruits chapter, the recipe for No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake Trifles provides an alternate use for half-pint canning jars and sour cherry preserves. According to a call out box in the Fall fruits chapter, there are at least seven different ways to use up Apple Butter. There are also call out boxes with advice on pitting, peeling, freezing and otherwise keeping various types of fruits and vegetables distributed throughout the book.
The recipes in the chapter on Baked and Creamy Things to Put Preserves On were essentially set up like the rest of the book. There were nine recipes for baked goods – ranging from almond cake to sourdough pancakes – and seven recipes for dairy products – ranging from fresh cheese to French vanilla ice cream. All the recipes were written with the simplicity and good humor characteristic of the preceding chapters.
The Sources section provides guidance as to where to find basic and specialized tools for canning and preserving, including web addresses for online vendors. The Further Reading was frequently referenced in the recipe headnotes, as the author described the authors, books and websites that provided her inspiration for certain recipes. Each book citation has enough information to track it down in Goodreads, plus one or two descriptive sentences from the author about the content of the book. Each web citation also has a few descriptive sentences from the author about its value. While the books are focused on food preservation, the web references cover a wide variety of subjects from public domain cookbooks to a directory of local pick-your-own farms and orchards.
The photography is predominantly stylized food photography featuring the preserved items either in containers or in use. When it is not immediately obvious, the food photography is labeled with the name of the recipe and the page that it appears on. There is a great photomontage of the applesauce making process in the Fall fruits chapter. Overall, the photography is overall lovely and gives a good feeling for versatility of preserved foods.
I have yet to prepare any of the recipes from this book, although I’ve marked almost two dozen as being of interest. Since it is summer, I need to make a trip to Lyman Orchards down the street to see what they have in season before I make my final selection. When I do prepare some of the recipes, I will update this review.
UPDATE: Without remembering any of the recipes that I had read a few days earlier, I walked away from Lyman Orchards with one quart of blueberries, two pounds of cherries, five pounds of Granny Smith apples, and a container of half sour pickles. (The pickles were because I was hungry.) When I came home, surveyed what already I had on hand, and checked the recipes that I had bookmarked, it looked like I needed to make one more short expedition to the shops before I could use my bounty to prepare the Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Marmalade, the Brandied Sweet Cherries with Red Wine, and the Green Apple Pectin Stock (for a jelly to be determined in the future).
The recipe for the brandied cherries seemed simple enough, until I realized that I would have to pit three pounds of cherries. That is a lot of cherries!!! But I changed into something that I wouldn’t mind getting stained by cherry juice, pulled up a stool to the counter, turned on some music, and forged ahead. I don’t own a mechanical pitter and I didn’t quite understand the instructions for using a paperclip, so I just used a paring knife to split the cherries open. Most of my cherries remained whole, although there were several that ended up as halves. Of course, removing zest from citrus with a peeler (so as not to get the pith) is another of my least favorite food prep tasks. All said and done, it took me almost two hours to get just those two tasks completed! Otherwise, the recipe came together very quickly once the prep work was done – boil the syrup for five minutes, add the cherries, and boil again for five minutes. The actual canning process also went surprisingly quickly; I had no kitchen mishaps with boiling water or bubbling syrup. Aside from the utensils kit that I purchased for $10 at my supermarket (I really only wanted the jar lifter), I didn’t need any special equipment; I just used my red enamel Dansk soup pot as a preserving pan and my gigantic aluminum stockpot as the canning pot. I even left the spaghetti strainer in the stockpot to keep the jars off the bottom of the stockpot during sterilization and processing. The yield on the recipe is “about” six half-pint jars, but I got confused and sterilized six four-ounce jelly jars thinking that, since those were half the size of the jelly jars that I normally use, they were half-pint jars. I easily filled those six - plus an additional three eight-ounce jelly jars. I went back to my old habits with the eight-ounce jars: I just washed them in very hot water, filled them, and stashed them in the back of the refrigerator. Overall, the syrup and cherries were good – not overly sweet or alcoholic – and the recipe was simple to follow. However, after I finished the recipe and was taking some coffee out of my freezer, I found a small plate in there that was never used in the recipe. If I were to make the recipe again (which is highly likely), I will definitely skip pitting the cherries and probably halve the quantities (which is suggested in the introduction to the recipe).
Given my success with the brandied cherries (and the fact that cherries were on sale at the supermarket when I went to gather my additional supplies), I decided to also attempt the Holiday Cherries recipe. At first glance, this recipe looked as simple as the Brandied Sweet Cherries with Red Wine: boil the syrup, add the cherries, and simmer for ten minutes. Since I opted not to pit the cherries and there was no citrus zest in the ingredients list, it really did come together quickly. I was very glad that I opted to use the red enamel soup pot because the sugar and vinegar mixture bubbled about four inches up the sides, and then bubbled about six inches up the sides after the cherries were added to the mixture. If I had been using my smaller Faberware pot, it would have bubbled over! This time I sterilized five eight-ounce jars (the yield was five half-pint jars) but had some difficulty maintaining the required minimum one-inch water depth with my spaghetti strainer rig in the stockpot because these jars were taller than the four-ounce jars. I actually was only able to fill three jars with fruit, and the fourth was about half fruit and half syrup. When it came time to water process the jars, I pulled the spaghetti strainer out, and dropped the jars into the bottom of the pot, praying that the direct contact wouldn’t shatter them. Fortunately, no damage was done. The syrup was really good! I measured 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper for a “small pinch” and that taste definitely came through – in a good way. Although the final verdict will have to wait until after the jars have cooled and set a few weeks, I think this may be my favorite preserved cherry recipe. The cherries are mushier than the other two recipes because they simmer in the syrup for twice as long (ten minutes as opposed to five minutes) so I may have to tinker with that a little in the future.
The Green Apple Pectin Stock recipe seemed simple enough: cut up the apples, boil the apples, strain the apple liquid, boil down the apple liquid, refrigerate until ready to use. No peeling or coring required! However, the fact that my only sieve was not large enough to accommodate three pounds of apples was going to complicate things. So I went to Target and bought a larger sieve. The recipe came together as quickly and easily as I thought it would, until it came time to measure the apple liquid. After straining for 30 minutes, I only had two cups of liquid and I was supposed to have 5½ cups. So I let the solids sit in the strainer for another 30 minutes and that only yielded another ½ cup of liquid. Then I remembered reading in another recipe (the probably the Red Onion Marmalade recipe) that if the strained apple liquid came up short, you should stir additional water into the apple solids and let that drain out. So I stirred about four cups of water into the apple solids, and in about another hour I had a scant 5½ cups of apple liquid. Of course, I ran into the same problem after I boiled the liquid for the recommended amount of time: I came up about a half cup short of the necessary three cups. So I added half a cup of water to the pot, rinsed it around to pick up the residual apple liquid, and added to the heatproof measuring cup to ensure that I had three cups of reduced apple liquid. Unfortunately, my apple pectin stock is as opaque as fresh pressed New England apple cider, so I’m not expecting to make any crystal clear jellies with it.
After the drama with the Green Apple Pectin Stock, I decided I needed some refreshment before I moved on to another complex preserving recipe. Since it was after 5pm, I felt justified in trying the Perfect Sidecar recipe. It came together very quickly and easily, although I used Gran Gala instead of Cointreau as the orange liqueur. Although the recipe says it makes two servings, it was the perfect size for my Scotch glass. I wasn’t too fond of the drink, since it tasted very strongly of lemon. Probably because I used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh squeezed. But it was a good drink to sustain my spirits as I slogged through the blueberry-meyer lemon marmalade recipe.
I saved the blueberry-meyer lemon marmalade recipe for last because segmenting citrus is as much of a chore as pitting cherries, especially since my hands are raw with eczema. After two meyer lemons, I got the hang of pulling out the membranes and learned to wash my hands after each lemon to minimize the pain. I was actually smart and used a cutting board with a gravy moat that caught the lemon juice, so I was able to pour that off into a measuring cup and then use it as the required two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Once all the prep work was complete, the recipe came together fairly quickly and easily. My biggest problem was that my red enamel soup pot was too deep to attach a candy thermometer and the mixture was way too hot for me to hold the thermometer close to it long enough to get an accurate reading. So I just went with the suggested 20 minutes boiling time for the syrup stage. The recipe says it yields about five half pint jars; I filled and water processed six four-ounce jars and one eight-ounce jar. I tasted the warm marmalade as it cooled between filling the four-ounce and the eight-ounce jars. It was very good, although I’m very curious as to how it will taste once it has completely cooled and set.
In general, I was very pleased with all the recipes that I attempted from this cookbook. The recipe steps were very clear and gave a good idea of what to do and expect. The results of following the recipes have been very good. I have several more recipes marked to try. When I do, I will update this review.
For the results of the testing of the Cabernet Sauvignon Jelly, please see https://newfieldstkitchen.blogspot.co....
I’ve never properly canned anything, although I go through at least a dozen pint Ball jars each year with my homemade liqueur production. The closest I’ve come to properly canning something was when I put homemade maraschino cherries and their hot syrup in sterile pint Ball jars, and the lids self-sealed as the syrup cooled. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to be approved for this book because it would teach me a new skill in addition to new recipes.
I have to confess that I fell in love with this book because of its Table of Contents: it clearly revealed the book’s organization around the seasons. Starting with Spring fruits, then Spring vegetables, the book then moves on to Summer fruits and Summer vegetables, then proceeds to Fall fruits then Fall vegetables, and finally Winter fruits and Winter vegetables. The book ends with a brief (twenty page) chapter of “baked and creamy things to put preserves on.” This just seems to me be the most natural and logical organization for a book on canning and preserving.
The author’s basic fun and no frills philosophy was endearing to me. In the Preface, the author describes the two broad categories of her preservation efforts. First, there are “simple, no-fuss preserves” that are used as ingredients in her busy kitchen. Second, there are “all-homemade versions of foods” that she prefers not to buy at the grocery store. The infrequent “Kitchen Experiments” are usually one-offs, designed for gift giving. In the Introduction, the author concludes that “preserving food – and thinking of delicious ways to use those preserves – is fun.” That one statement tees up a breezy, non-threatening approach to canning that permeated the book. The book was so readable that I basically binge read all 350+ pages of text in under two days.
Being uninitiated in the art of home preserving, the Introduction was very important for me to read. It set the tone for the book, but it also was chock full of useful information. For example, there was a descriptive list of what can be preserved, advice on how to employ certain ingredients in the preservation process, an informative look at how preserving works at the microorganism level, a simplified list of equipment necessary for home canning, and a step-by-step overview of the canning process. All of these sections were easy to read thanks to brightly colored subheadings that broke up the long columns of text and previewed the information to come. One of the best things that I learned by reading the Introduction was that because all the canning recipes in the book are for high acid foods, none of them require a pressure canner. Throughout the Introduction, the author made certain to emphasize certain aspects of the canning process that were integral to food safety – such as maintaining the proper acidity level and processing in a hot water bath for the required amount of time.
Each seasonal section begins with a brief one to two page introduction, then proceeds to the table of contents for the seasonal fruit recipes. The seasonal fruit chapter is followed by the table of contents for the seasonal vegetable recipes. Each recipe is clearly labeled with a large print title, followed by the yield. Most of the jam recipes yield four to seven half-pint jars, which is a very manageable quantity. The yield on the pickle recipes varies widely, but all seem to be quite manageable. Each recipe has a short headnote, which describes origin of the recipe, the purpose of certain recipe steps, the preparation of certain ingredients, the use of optional ingredients, and so forth. The recipe ingredients are listed in color in the order of use in American measurements, although there is a conversion chart to metric and Imperial measurements at the back of the book if necessary. Fruit and vegetable ingredients are measured by weight, with a parenthetical estimate of volume or count. The ingredients are mostly common items that can be found at the local supermarket or farmers’ market, although there is the odd recipe that calls for daikon, kohlrabi, asafetida, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, kalonji seeds, jaggery, or the like. Each recipe cues when to prepare the water bath for canning, each time referring to the all-knowing page 29 for details. The recipe steps are written in paragraph format, although spaces between the paragraphs make the paragraphs easier to read. Across the recipes, the steps are written as uniformly as possible. This is a boon to the reader because once you master one recipe, you can transfer the technique to another recipe. You just need to pay attention because the processing time changes from one recipe to the next; sometimes jars that fail to seal can be reprocessed, whereas other times the jars have to be refrigerated immediately. I love that the last step in the canning recipes is always “Label the sealed jars and store,” because I am infamous for having unlabeled containers of homemade spice mixes in my cabinet. Sometimes there is a note after the recipe that gives further guidance, explanation or variations. Usually the recipes are one page, with a call out box or a photograph to fill space if necessary. When there are more than one recipe on a page, there is a colored dividing line between the two, which makes it easy to distinguish one recipe from the other.
Generally, the fruit recipes are low sugar and do not use commercial pectin. Therefore, the fruits that are low in pectin are cooked with other fruits that are high in pectin, which are removed from the mixture prior to preserving. For example, the peach, nectarine and plum recipes rely on tart Granny Smith apples to supply the pectin, to the extent that even the apple cores and seeds are enclosed in a cheesecloth bag and boiled with the fruit mixture. Fortunately, there is a page which details what can be done with the leftover cooked apple quarters. There is a versatile recipe for Green Apple Pectin Stock that can be used to make red wine jelly, tea jelly, hibiscus jelly, and other jellies of that ilk.
The recipe selection is curious. The Spring fruit recipes are almost all strawberry based - okay, 12 out of 18 recipes feature strawberries, and three of the remaining six feature rhubarb. The Spring vegetables recipes features five different ginger recipes – and that is not including the whole page blue call out box with techniques for keeping ginger. The Summer vegetables chapter contains about twelve different recipes for either preserving tomatoes or using preserved tomatoes. Apples and pears dominate the Fall fruits chapter, while the Fall vegetables chapter contains a little bit of everything. The Winter Fruits chapter features mostly citrus recipes, although there are three kumquat recipes and other miscellany. Of course, cabbage is the main ingredient in six of the thirteen Winter Vegetable recipes. The recipes in the seasonal chapters of the book actually do include some that are not preserves, but rather use the preserve recipe on the preceding page. For example, in the Spring vegetable chapter, there is a recipe for Asparagus Flan, which uses a frozen asparagus puree that is described in the call out box at the bottom of the page. There are recipes for Enchiladas Verdes (using the preceding recipe for Salsa Verde) and Chili (using previous recipes for Crushed Tomatoes and Charred Tomato and Chile Salsa) in the Summer vegetables chapter. There is a recipe for Easy Pie Dough tucked into the Fall fruits chapter. And there are recipes for alcoholic drinks included throughout the book as well. The Perfect Sidecar recipe, for example, uses either Brandied Sweet Cherries or Sour Cherry Preserves. The Tomato Juice recipe is accompanied by a green call out box that details “Things to Put in a Bloody Mary in Addition to Vodka,” which is phenomenal except for that it fails to mention bacon as a potential garnish.
Sprinkled throughout the book are informative pastel colored call out boxes that augment the main text. These contain random factual information and supplemental recipes, but mainly serve to keep the tone of the book light and airy. For example, in the Spring fruits chapter, a pink call out box about how to freeze strawberries using dry ice occupies an entire page. In the Spring vegetables chapter, a green call out box describes how to grow your own garlic for the Pickled Young Spring Garlic recipe. In the Summer fruits chapter, the recipe for No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake Trifles provides an alternate use for half-pint canning jars and sour cherry preserves. According to a call out box in the Fall fruits chapter, there are at least seven different ways to use up Apple Butter. There are also call out boxes with advice on pitting, peeling, freezing and otherwise keeping various types of fruits and vegetables distributed throughout the book.
The recipes in the chapter on Baked and Creamy Things to Put Preserves On were essentially set up like the rest of the book. There were nine recipes for baked goods – ranging from almond cake to sourdough pancakes – and seven recipes for dairy products – ranging from fresh cheese to French vanilla ice cream. All the recipes were written with the simplicity and good humor characteristic of the preceding chapters.
The Sources section provides guidance as to where to find basic and specialized tools for canning and preserving, including web addresses for online vendors. The Further Reading was frequently referenced in the recipe headnotes, as the author described the authors, books and websites that provided her inspiration for certain recipes. Each book citation has enough information to track it down in Goodreads, plus one or two descriptive sentences from the author about the content of the book. Each web citation also has a few descriptive sentences from the author about its value. While the books are focused on food preservation, the web references cover a wide variety of subjects from public domain cookbooks to a directory of local pick-your-own farms and orchards.
The photography is predominantly stylized food photography featuring the preserved items either in containers or in use. When it is not immediately obvious, the food photography is labeled with the name of the recipe and the page that it appears on. There is a great photomontage of the applesauce making process in the Fall fruits chapter. Overall, the photography is overall lovely and gives a good feeling for versatility of preserved foods.
I have yet to prepare any of the recipes from this book, although I’ve marked almost two dozen as being of interest. Since it is summer, I need to make a trip to Lyman Orchards down the street to see what they have in season before I make my final selection. When I do prepare some of the recipes, I will update this review.
UPDATE: Without remembering any of the recipes that I had read a few days earlier, I walked away from Lyman Orchards with one quart of blueberries, two pounds of cherries, five pounds of Granny Smith apples, and a container of half sour pickles. (The pickles were because I was hungry.) When I came home, surveyed what already I had on hand, and checked the recipes that I had bookmarked, it looked like I needed to make one more short expedition to the shops before I could use my bounty to prepare the Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Marmalade, the Brandied Sweet Cherries with Red Wine, and the Green Apple Pectin Stock (for a jelly to be determined in the future).
The recipe for the brandied cherries seemed simple enough, until I realized that I would have to pit three pounds of cherries. That is a lot of cherries!!! But I changed into something that I wouldn’t mind getting stained by cherry juice, pulled up a stool to the counter, turned on some music, and forged ahead. I don’t own a mechanical pitter and I didn’t quite understand the instructions for using a paperclip, so I just used a paring knife to split the cherries open. Most of my cherries remained whole, although there were several that ended up as halves. Of course, removing zest from citrus with a peeler (so as not to get the pith) is another of my least favorite food prep tasks. All said and done, it took me almost two hours to get just those two tasks completed! Otherwise, the recipe came together very quickly once the prep work was done – boil the syrup for five minutes, add the cherries, and boil again for five minutes. The actual canning process also went surprisingly quickly; I had no kitchen mishaps with boiling water or bubbling syrup. Aside from the utensils kit that I purchased for $10 at my supermarket (I really only wanted the jar lifter), I didn’t need any special equipment; I just used my red enamel Dansk soup pot as a preserving pan and my gigantic aluminum stockpot as the canning pot. I even left the spaghetti strainer in the stockpot to keep the jars off the bottom of the stockpot during sterilization and processing. The yield on the recipe is “about” six half-pint jars, but I got confused and sterilized six four-ounce jelly jars thinking that, since those were half the size of the jelly jars that I normally use, they were half-pint jars. I easily filled those six - plus an additional three eight-ounce jelly jars. I went back to my old habits with the eight-ounce jars: I just washed them in very hot water, filled them, and stashed them in the back of the refrigerator. Overall, the syrup and cherries were good – not overly sweet or alcoholic – and the recipe was simple to follow. However, after I finished the recipe and was taking some coffee out of my freezer, I found a small plate in there that was never used in the recipe. If I were to make the recipe again (which is highly likely), I will definitely skip pitting the cherries and probably halve the quantities (which is suggested in the introduction to the recipe).
Given my success with the brandied cherries (and the fact that cherries were on sale at the supermarket when I went to gather my additional supplies), I decided to also attempt the Holiday Cherries recipe. At first glance, this recipe looked as simple as the Brandied Sweet Cherries with Red Wine: boil the syrup, add the cherries, and simmer for ten minutes. Since I opted not to pit the cherries and there was no citrus zest in the ingredients list, it really did come together quickly. I was very glad that I opted to use the red enamel soup pot because the sugar and vinegar mixture bubbled about four inches up the sides, and then bubbled about six inches up the sides after the cherries were added to the mixture. If I had been using my smaller Faberware pot, it would have bubbled over! This time I sterilized five eight-ounce jars (the yield was five half-pint jars) but had some difficulty maintaining the required minimum one-inch water depth with my spaghetti strainer rig in the stockpot because these jars were taller than the four-ounce jars. I actually was only able to fill three jars with fruit, and the fourth was about half fruit and half syrup. When it came time to water process the jars, I pulled the spaghetti strainer out, and dropped the jars into the bottom of the pot, praying that the direct contact wouldn’t shatter them. Fortunately, no damage was done. The syrup was really good! I measured 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper for a “small pinch” and that taste definitely came through – in a good way. Although the final verdict will have to wait until after the jars have cooled and set a few weeks, I think this may be my favorite preserved cherry recipe. The cherries are mushier than the other two recipes because they simmer in the syrup for twice as long (ten minutes as opposed to five minutes) so I may have to tinker with that a little in the future.
The Green Apple Pectin Stock recipe seemed simple enough: cut up the apples, boil the apples, strain the apple liquid, boil down the apple liquid, refrigerate until ready to use. No peeling or coring required! However, the fact that my only sieve was not large enough to accommodate three pounds of apples was going to complicate things. So I went to Target and bought a larger sieve. The recipe came together as quickly and easily as I thought it would, until it came time to measure the apple liquid. After straining for 30 minutes, I only had two cups of liquid and I was supposed to have 5½ cups. So I let the solids sit in the strainer for another 30 minutes and that only yielded another ½ cup of liquid. Then I remembered reading in another recipe (the probably the Red Onion Marmalade recipe) that if the strained apple liquid came up short, you should stir additional water into the apple solids and let that drain out. So I stirred about four cups of water into the apple solids, and in about another hour I had a scant 5½ cups of apple liquid. Of course, I ran into the same problem after I boiled the liquid for the recommended amount of time: I came up about a half cup short of the necessary three cups. So I added half a cup of water to the pot, rinsed it around to pick up the residual apple liquid, and added to the heatproof measuring cup to ensure that I had three cups of reduced apple liquid. Unfortunately, my apple pectin stock is as opaque as fresh pressed New England apple cider, so I’m not expecting to make any crystal clear jellies with it.
After the drama with the Green Apple Pectin Stock, I decided I needed some refreshment before I moved on to another complex preserving recipe. Since it was after 5pm, I felt justified in trying the Perfect Sidecar recipe. It came together very quickly and easily, although I used Gran Gala instead of Cointreau as the orange liqueur. Although the recipe says it makes two servings, it was the perfect size for my Scotch glass. I wasn’t too fond of the drink, since it tasted very strongly of lemon. Probably because I used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh squeezed. But it was a good drink to sustain my spirits as I slogged through the blueberry-meyer lemon marmalade recipe.
I saved the blueberry-meyer lemon marmalade recipe for last because segmenting citrus is as much of a chore as pitting cherries, especially since my hands are raw with eczema. After two meyer lemons, I got the hang of pulling out the membranes and learned to wash my hands after each lemon to minimize the pain. I was actually smart and used a cutting board with a gravy moat that caught the lemon juice, so I was able to pour that off into a measuring cup and then use it as the required two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Once all the prep work was complete, the recipe came together fairly quickly and easily. My biggest problem was that my red enamel soup pot was too deep to attach a candy thermometer and the mixture was way too hot for me to hold the thermometer close to it long enough to get an accurate reading. So I just went with the suggested 20 minutes boiling time for the syrup stage. The recipe says it yields about five half pint jars; I filled and water processed six four-ounce jars and one eight-ounce jar. I tasted the warm marmalade as it cooled between filling the four-ounce and the eight-ounce jars. It was very good, although I’m very curious as to how it will taste once it has completely cooled and set.
In general, I was very pleased with all the recipes that I attempted from this cookbook. The recipe steps were very clear and gave a good idea of what to do and expect. The results of following the recipes have been very good. I have several more recipes marked to try. When I do, I will update this review.
For the results of the testing of the Cabernet Sauvignon Jelly, please see https://newfieldstkitchen.blogspot.co....
March 6, 2018
2.5 stars. 2010 edition, I picked up the original but would like to see the revised of this book. I was taken aback by the remark she made she first entertained getting into canning and doing research, "that public libraries are the domain of old folks and cranks-though not separatists so much", (look up the definition of a separatist), that really set me off because that is where this copy came from and not at all what I experience at my library. Get the cookbook at the library, read it, if you like it, love it, you go out and purchase a copy and you haven't wasted money. Interesting canning recipes, some advice good, some I find questionable which I could but won't go into detail about as I am an experienced canner but am not a certified master canner, (Is Krissoff a certified master canner?). So for now this cranky old lady will see if the library has the new and revised edition of this, just because I am curious.
September 23, 2023
I enjoy reading cookbooks but am a mediocre cook, at best, but I'm really good at making other things (besides food) and wanted to learn about canning, preserving, and dehydrating food. This book doesn't deal with pressure canning at all — which is what I was mainly interested in — but it does also cover pickling and fermenting and includes many, many recipes that pair well with these foods. I hadn't expected that! The introduction and canning step-by-steps were much more casual than a couple other books I've read on the topic. The author chooses to not use commercially available pectins and prefers less-sweet spreads. I appreciate all the beautiful photographs and the clear writing. But this book lacked more in-depth info on what I wanted but had a wealth of recipes, which I wasn't needing at this time. I found the author's comments about old folks, cranks, separatists, and public libraries to be an unfortunate stab at humor—and in the first three paragraphs, no less.
Read
January 5, 2023Yes, I do read cook books. And while I haven’t made anything from this one yet (hence no rating) I was pleasantly surprised by the inspiration that can be found here. While some of the recipes are not something I’d make (Ham loaf anyone?) many are. Book structure is interesting and doesn’t fit with the Canadian growing season so I anticipate it will be a slight challenge to follow it that way, but otherwise the recipes are well thought out. I also appreciate that she has included ways to use the preserves in real meals!
September 27, 2022
if you can, buy it. One of my absolute favorites
Probably my absolute favorite canning book. If you love pineapples try the pineapple jelly with 5 spices. I never made the cookies because I flat out would eat it out of the jar. I have made several recipes from this book and loved everyone of them.
Probably my absolute favorite canning book. If you love pineapples try the pineapple jelly with 5 spices. I never made the cookies because I flat out would eat it out of the jar. I have made several recipes from this book and loved everyone of them.
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