Review: A winner for experts or beginners
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2012
Trust me, if you've never had homemade jams, jellies, preserves, marmalade or fruit butters, you've never really tasted them. Canning was something I learned as a very young girl from my mother, my grandmother and a host of their friends.I still make some of my own jams and I now make excellent apple butter with almost no effort using organic no sugar added applesauce in my microwave. The store stuff costs five times as much and often has unwanted ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup. Those who are diabetic or just calorie conscious can make great spreads now using Splenda or other alternatives, but my family loves the apple butter with no added sugar at all.In this book, there are recipes using pectin and those made with fruit alone and the Hillbilly Housewife carefully explains your options. (Less ripe fruit usually has more natural pectin but ripe fruit tastes better.) I would add that if you are reducing or substituting for sugar, it's likely that you will need to add pectin. If your batch doesn't "jell" she suggests you can use it as syrup or ice cream topping but she also explains how to add a little more pectin and cook a bit longer.This book has freezer recipes that require no further processing while explaining beautifully how to use a water bath. I did find a bit odd that in her suggestions for canning jars she doesn't mention that a great many large supermarkets also carry them now.Making jams and jellies is a fine activity to get your kids cooking and they will love the end product and be proud to serve (and eat!) it. You can make a much better quality product at home for far less money than the premium ones would cost.This book is generous with tips for substitutions.My only disagreement is that she warns to "never" double batches. For real beginners this is not terrible advice, but we routinely made gigantic batches of whatever was in season with no problems. I can remember turning an entire bushel of wild plums into fine jelly.This delightful book has been free over the Labor Day weekend but it is well worth the full price. Get it and try your hand at some yummy stuff. And you might want to check out her website and free newsletter for more recipes and frugal tips.