Review: Very comprehensive guide
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2013
Thank you to the author for creating a guide that covers such a wide range of canning projects. The recipes are unusual and I am looking forward to trying some of them to put a few jars in my pantry this year.If I had to pick a favorite section from the book, it would probably be the instruction on how to prepare your own pectin using tart apples. I would have loved to see a recipe or two using the home-made pectin. Perhaps in a future book?A close runner up is the recipe for home-made vegetable juice like V8 or Snappy Tom that can be used as a drink or as a base for soup. In that recipe, I especially like that proportions are used rather than a specific measured amount.I agree with another reviewer that mentioned that paraffin is no longer recommended as a safe practice for sealing jellies. My mother did that when I was growing up and I ate a lot of it and it obviously didn't kill me... however, if the FDA and county extension services are telling us not to do it, it would probably be best to put a disclaimer in the book that this is a practice that is no longer recommended. Then, it can be left to the forewarned reader to decide if they want to do this or use the hot water bath method for sealing jars. Because this is labelled as a beginner's guide, I think that makes it doubly important to point this out. This is the ONLY reason I did not give this book 5 stars. I would have given 4 and a half if that were an option.With all that said, this book has so much more than jellies that I definitely DO still recommend it! There are good overviews of the various canning processes (hot water bath and pressure canning), some recipes that are a bit different than we usually see in other canning books, and a wide variety of recipes from which to choose. I've added it to my collection (obviously) and recommend this for others interested in the art of home canning.Jennifer Shambrook, Ph.D.Author ofI CAN CAN BEEF!! How to can beef to save money and time with quick, easy, delicious family recipes (I CAN CAN Frugal Living Series)