Monday, September 07, 2009

More Books on Canning

Here are more books about food preservation.

Canning and Preserving for Dummies, Amelia Jeanroy and Karen Ward

It includes only USDA approved techniques, it also has a small pressure canning section. Nothing remarkable in this book - you'd do better with the "Ball Blue Book", I think.

The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving: Over 300 Recipes to Use Year-Round, Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard

This book boasts over 300 recipes, but many are for the finished product - -i.e. using your preserved food as an ingredient. That's a pet peeve of mine! Also, I don't consider books that suggest me combining ingredients and putting them in a container in my fridge as "preserving". There are other better books about canning out there to keep on your bookshelf.


Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning, by Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivant

Interesting read, but many of the ingredients and processes aren't common to the U.S>

Preserving Summer’s Bounty: A Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, and Preserving, and Drying What You Grow, Rodale Food Center and Susan McClure*

This book is more for the "cooking once a month" type of person. Lots of casseroles and soup recipes for the freezer. Not much canning.

Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz

This book is as much about gay pride as it is about fermentation and it is an engaging read. However, there are some really strange foods in this book I don't think many would try. Linda Ziedrich's "Joy of Pickling" is probably more accessible for most people interested in fermentation. It advocated eating live cultures for your health (Sandor Katz is living with AIDS) long before the "probiotics" food marketing trend of today.

More about canning books here.

1 comment:

Buttercup said...

I read the "Preserving...without freezing or canning" cover to cover. It's true most of the recipes are not formed around our expectations. They are rather odd in the flavors presented, as well as the methods (I take them to be traditional rather than scientific.) It is thought-provoking though, in making you consider different approaches, especially if your equipment is limited. Some root-cellaring, lactofermentation, etc. tips of possible value. My favorite is for dried fish: after brining for a couple of days, "let the fish dry completely for two or three days by hanging it from the top of the pole...(you can) rehydrate it and cook it just as you would fresh fish".