Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today

Impressive book which lays flat when opened - great when using it in the kitchen. Lots of informative details on the processes and interesting recipes. It’s an American book but I didn’t find this an issue.

Beautifully put together ! a very informative, clear , safe approach with step by step instructions to follow on over 400 recipes for canning , water bathing , fermenting or pickling all your favourite recipes .. everyone’s larder will be a thing of beauty with colourful preserves and pickles by following mouthwatering recipes from this beautiful book ! I can’t wait to get started ! It contains all you need to have and know . As well as a problem solver when things didn’t go to plan ! a must have for beginners and Advanced preservers alike , especially if you have a big yield from growing you own produce in your garden or allotment , no more waste , you will be eating you home grown bounty all through the year !

On time and safely packaged. Another exciting product for me to review. This is absolutely everything you need to know about home Canning/Preserving. Easy to read instructions. If your a beginner, it lists everything you need to have and some of the gadgets you may want to treat yourself with. Clear pictures and diagrams as well as tasty and easy to follow recipes. I purchased this in Paperback and after using it in the kitchen, I wish I had purchased the Spiral-Bound edition. This way its just easier to keep your pages open. So I will look at getting the Spiral-bound and compare the two and report back. Overall, this is the book you want if your looking to homestead, home-cook, ferment or just live a more self-reliant lifestyle.

I watch a lot of food youtube channels one of which reccommended this book and I can see why. Gives a good rundown for the leyman about what "canning" is and how to do it along with recipes that have been tested......now both of these points are important. While canning is a fairly popular food preservation method in the states it lost favour over in the UK/Europe for home use decades ago so i should probably quickly cover that. Canned foods in the UK are commonly seen as food that has been processed in a factory inside a metal tin can. This while using the same principles is not that. This is the home preservation method using special glass jars (like Mason jars/ball jars etc), special lids and equipment designed to SAFELY process your food so its shelf stable .....without killing you (more on that in a bit). If you are new to any of this then this book does help with well thought out lists of required equipment and as mentioned runs you through the scientific principles of why and how to do stuff. I should at this point probably mention that I am by trade a trained food scientist whos background was in product development and process trials to launch products with a specific focus on foods produced using the principles mentioned in this book. Why do I mention this?? because this brings me to the only real gripe I have with the book...... because canning is not that popular over in the UK most books like this are American but that does bring in a small issue to do with weights. An american ounce is not the same weight as a UK ounce and fluid measures can differ even more, so when converting recipes please do take care to make sure you are using the correct weights and fluid measures as when it comes to canning this can actually impact on the safety of the product and making sure it has been processed correctly. This brings me back to my earlier point about the recipes having been "tested" - when it comes to this type of food preservation tested doesnt just mean "is it tasty?" it actually means "is it safe?" and not to scare people off trying canning but there are some food nasties out there, in this case the baddie is Clostridium Botulinum, that can actually kill you if you do not process your food correctly. No im not exagerating and yes it is a pretty horrible way to die. I spent most of my working career making sure i killed it so it couldnt kill people eating my products. It really is that serious. These recipes have been tested with that in mind so please follow them. If you dont have a good understanding of what you are doing any changes you make to a recipe could be unsafe as the processing times they will have tested can be affected by changes in pH, salt levels, viscosity of sauce, amount of each ingredient in the jar etc. Please be careful!! Now ive potentially scared people - anyone who still is with me then well done - the book is great - just be careful. Read and reread the rather sizeable chunk of information at the start of the book about safely processing foods until you understand it before jumping in and trying the recipes then just be careful about converting your weights and measures and follow the recipes. Do all that and you are onto a winner. Happy canning!

It is a very good book, it contains a lot of recipes...recipes that you would not imagine making...or contemplating...I was pleasantly surprised. I am very grateful for the content of the book. I think the book is amazing... The recipes have measurements both in metric and imperial which was important to me. I did give it 5 stars...and that is very rare coming from me, I am a very precise and just person (no grey areas). The only...not criticism, but observation or preference I would have is that I .would have liked to have a picture for each recipe so I can visualise the end result and what I am aspiring to. I do understand that this would mean a book of probably 800 pages. The book has 400 recipes and 448 pages in total. There are some pictures, but not for each recipe. I personally do not like culinary books which do not have a picture for each recipe. It is my preference to have a picture agreed by the writer / the professional, so I know what the finished product should look like.

Detailed recipes and instructions for safe and tasty preserves. Thorough canning instructions and explaination of food safety.

This book covers everything you need to get started with canning and preserving. It is mainly aimed at water bath canning but does include a section for pressure canning. It is easy to follow and user friendly. I cant recommend it enough really. its sectioned well and indexed so tis easy to find the recipes you want quickly and offers lots of variations on recipes within. good comprehensive book. if you are only getting one book, this should be the one!

If you want good, old-fashioned canning and preserving instructions with time-tested recipes and safe variations THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU! Unlike their "New" book with a similar name, this one contains all the old standards along with some new variations and ideas which is just perfect for me. If you only buy one canning book, especially if you are new to canning this book will talk you through it easily and safely. UK residents can use the KILNER Jars with rings for their water-bath canning or if they order a pressure canner from the US.

Very handy book to have, top marks

Knowledge

É um livro muito bom, mas com poucas receitas e dicas de fermentação ácido laticas, que era o meu interesse maior. Tudo é fermentado com vinagre.

This is my story. My husband came home from work with 18 lbs. of Concord grapes, what was I to do? If we have lemons, we make lemonade, so I figured if I have grapes, make jelly! I've never made jelly before. How do I get started? As a self-learner, I've always believed that if I have the best information and follow it carefully, I can accomplish my goal. If experts are not available in person, tutorials written by experts have always worked for me. Attention to detail and following instructions EXACTLY are the keys to creating an end-result to be proud of. In this instance, I started with Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Within the pages of this hefty, 448 page "how to," I found everything I needed to know to start my jelly making. I learned jelly-making is done using the water-bath method. What else? This book had all the answers. Equipment? I started with a "boiling-water canner." This can be any deep pot, with a lid and a rack. I purchased, Granite Ware 0707-1 Steel/Porcelain Water-Bath Canner with Rack, 21.5-Quart, Black , but the Ball book explained that any pot big enough to completely immerse the jars in water and is at least three inches deeper than the height of the jars elevated on a rack, (jars must be kept off of the bottom of the pot) will work. The jars must be covered with at least one inch of water and you'll want extra room for the water to come to a full-rolling boil. A specialized rack isn't absolutely necessary either, a cake cooling rack that fits inside the pot, or tying extra screw bands together to make a rack, will work. (Canning racks are also sold separately.) I didn't have a pot on hand to meet these specifications, so I bought the pot/rack combo above. The racks made for water canners have handles, which I think, are the way to go. I'm glad I made the investment because after making jelly, which was out-of-this-world good, I got the canning bug! As I read through the 400 recipes in this amazing book, I went on to make a few other yummy treats. I made strawberry jam, apple pie filling, spaghetti sauce, and salsa. Truly, making these items with the freshest ingredients resulted in the best tasting product we've ever tried. I would have made more recipes this year, but in the middle of all this industriousness, I had to pack up for moving across the country! Once I get settled...onward and upward. As a novice, I can't claim any wealth of knowledge or experience, but I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to get started in home preserving. In my quest, I bought a total of four home preserving books but I only needed this one. I feel that by using the information given in this book I've started out on the right track. I found everything I needed to know about equipment, how the process works (boy, am I grateful for everyone who figured all this out, way back when), and have lots of recipes to try in the future. By using Ball's instructions, I didn't feel overwhelmed, confused, or like perhaps I should re-think the whole home preserving decision. In future, I will make many more water-bath items (fruits/vegetables high in acidity~~don't worry this book explains all of that). Some things that I'm tantalized by are: fruit butters, preserves, conserves, marmalades, more jams and jellies, fruit in syrup (peaches, pears, and the like), apples in all kinds of ways, compotes, more pie fillings, fruit sauces, (think cranberry among others), juices, (which is where I started to make the grape jelly), fruit syrups, more salsa, relish, pickles, (it looks like you can pickle just about anything), condiments, (ketchups, BBQ sauces, chili sauces, mustards, vinegars, and the like), and tomatoes, (whole, chopped, and sauced). In total there are nearly 350 pages of water-bath recipes! I'm going to use this book, to branch into pressure canning. Ball outlines all of the equipment I'll need. In fact, I have a pressure canner, on my wish list right now! I especially want to make soups and stews. There are numerous recipes for vegetables, but for me, I'll probably stick to freezing those we primarily eat. However, I'm intrigued with the idea of canning potatoes and carrots. Meats, seafood, and poultry can also be preserved in a pressure canner. You'll see amazing color photographs of several of the recipes, charts for translating ingredients from pounds to cups, neat tips in the margins, (i.e. I added ¼ tsp. butter to my jelly mixture to reduce foaming), condition-cause-solution charts for each section, (i.e. what is the possible cause and suggested solution when soft spreads are tough or stiff), and a section on the "art and science of home food preservation" teaches everything I wanted to know about safely preserving. I thought the science was interesting while at the same time thankful that I didn't have to figure this stuff out. I'm originally from the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, and found the altitude charts helpful. Processing times vary based on altitude. I'm currently moving around and this is important info...thanks to Google, wherever I live, I can know the altitude! There's a glossary of terms in the back of this book along with an excellent index. Below is a list of the equipment I acquired for water-bath preserving, based on the recommendations within this book. By using the search engine, you'll see there are several to choose from. Some of the tools I purchased separately, are sold grouped together in kits. As I continue to home preserve, I'm sure I'll find more helpful tools to make it easier and therefore keep it enjoyable. Don't try filling your jars without these items or similar: Progressive International CKC-300 Regular and Wide Mouth Canning Funnel Progressive International CKC-500 Canning Scoop You MUST HAVE a jar lifter! I use Norpro 600 Jar Lifter . Because the seal on the lid can be damaged, using metal tongs is a no-no using Norpro Magnetic Lid Wand or similar, is necessary. Good luck on your journey! I hope you have as much fun as I have!

Goed startersboek, maar ik hoopte op meer foto's om inspiratie op te doen.