Yes, you CAN! More and more people have discovered what grandma always knew: canning and preserving supplies you with wholesome, tasty treats year round. And this Homemade Living guide provides all the practical, hold-your-hand basics along with plenty of step-by-step photos.
Learn about the necessary tools of the trade, crucial safety tips, and hot water bath processing and pressure canning. Discover the all-important science of salt and sugar, and how to select the best possible ingredients, favoring seasonal, organic, and local options. Three topic-specific primers cover pickles, relishes and chutneys; jams, jellies, butters and curds; and whole fruits and veggies?and each offers at least two ?Canning Classic" recipes with variation ideas.
ReviewsBeing a person who does not know a lot (or anything) about canning, this book is a wonderful book to help you get started. The step by step guides, from the materials that are needed to the seasonal types of fruits and vegetables to use, make this book an awesome way to start canning. The book also maintains a very personal feel to it; I don't feel like someone is telling me how to can, but rather is teaching me. The different portraits of various canners provide interesting profiles of people and how they have made canning a career. All around one of the best books to get on canning!
Although I have done a small amount of canning in the past, I've been kind of scared to get started again. But having read this book, I am now very excited for canning season to start. This book takes the mystery out of what it means to be a successful canner, and as weird as it sounds, I really like the design of this book. It's super sturdy and I don't think it will get ruined if a splash of this or a dollop of that that gets on the pages.
In essence, this book simplifies canning in a way that I found very inspiring.
Let the canning (and preserving) begin!
Although I have seen my mother can many times in my youth, I have never tried canning myself, and was nervous about starting. It seemed like alchemy to me! I spotted this book at my local library and checked it out, and, well, I had to have it after reading it! It explains everything quite clearly, has fantastic pictures, lots of profiles of professional canners/gardeners... It took the mystery out of canning and made it fun and easy for me to get started! The recipes included are absolutely wonderful, and I would recommend every aspect of this book very highly! I'm the sort of person who sometimes has trouble with written instructions, being a visual/hands-on learner, but this was written so clearly and with so many pictures that it was crystal clear on the first read-through! If I could give it an extra star, I certainly would!
I can't overstate how impressed I am with this canning book. She has an amazing knack for taking the mystery out of canning, while explaining the science and practice in an accessible, inspiring fashion. The quality of the book itself is truly remarkable as well, from the environmentally friendly, exceptionally sturdy paper and cover, to the wonderful graphic design. It is definitely meant to stand up to the rigors of the kitchen, but it is right at home as a favorite coffee table book, because it is gorgeous, and the profiles of all the different people in it are extremely inspiring.
I would give it 6 stars if I could, because it goes far above and beyond my expectations for a canning book. Instead of just being a boring manual, it represents a beautiful world view, inspiring us to develop a deeper relationship with the food that we eat, and the communities that it comes from.
