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Last Updated on June 8, 2020 by Diane Hoffmaster
Ball Home Canning Products are the gold standard in home preserving supplies, the trademark jars on display in stores every summer from coast to coast. Now the experts at Ball have written a book destined to become the "bible" of home preserving.
I received one copy of this book at no charge in order to write this review. All opinions are my own.
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Title: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Subtitle: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today
Author: Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine
Publisher: Robert Rose (April 14, 2006)
ISBN: 978-0778801313
Format/Length: Paperback ( 448 pages)
My Review: 5/5
From the Publisher:
Ball Home Canning Products are the gold standard in home preserving supplies, the trademark jars on display in stores every summer from coast to coast. Now the experts at Ball have written a book destined to become the "bible" of home preserving.
As nutrition and food quality has become more important, home canning and preserving has increased in popularity for the benefits it offers:
- Cooks gain control of the ingredients, including organic fruits and vegetables
- Preserving foods at their freshest point locks in nutrition
- The final product is free of chemical additives and preservatives
- Store-bought brands cannot match the wonderful flavor of homemade
- Only a few hours are needed to put up a batch of jam or relish
- Home preserves make a great personal gift any time of year
These 400 innovative and enticing recipes include everything from homemade salsa and savory sauces to pickling, chutneys, relishes and of course, jams, jellies, and fruit spreads.
Purchase Link: Buy on Amazon
Complete Book of Home Preserving
My Review: I am pretty much a novice when it comes to food preserving and was looking for a good resource to help give me the confidence to start canning the summer bounty. I have made refrigerator pickles and freezer jam and really wasn't sure what I needed to get started canning. This is an excellent selection for a person like me with zero experience! The author starts out with the basics like what types of equipment to buy and each recipe includes step by step instructions that are extremely detailed! Along with those detailed instructions, each recipe also has tips that pertain to the particular food you are using or the recipe you are creating. This includes things like how to easily peel a tomato, how to select the freshest produce, or where to find cheesecloth.
The selection of recipes is extensive and do not include just fruits or vegetables. I was surprised to see recipes for seafood, beef and poultry as well. I really never realized you could can chicken! There is also quite a selection of soups, stews, and sauces included in the book as well. Each recipe tells you right up front approximately how much final product you should expect to have.
The last section of the book has a ton of information like a glossary of terms and a produce purchase guide. The produce guide lets you easily convert the weight of your produce to volume.
As someone with a science background, I was particularly interested in the chapter titled "The Art and Science of Home Food Preservation". The author discusses how acidity effects canning, preventing contamination by microorganisms, and a detailed look at each step of the process. There are a few nice pictures scattered throughout the book as well.
I think this book would be the perfect addition to the kitchen library for someone just getting started with food preservation.
Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She has two college aged kids, one husband and more pets than she will admit to. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire but left her career in science to become a stay at home mom. Years of playing with LEGO and coloring with crayons had her craving a more grown up purpose to her life and she began blogging and freelance writing full time. You can learn more about her HERE.
Ellen Christian
I love canning and preserving. It's a great way to save money and to eat local.
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I'd kind of like to try this in the upcoming fall season! Interesting book, thanks for the post. 🙂
daisy
I'd love to try this book, especially with everything from our garden!
Minta
I have done any preserving but would love to try it. I don't have enough room for a garden either.
Terri
We always had fresh berries when I was child. Blackberry and red raspberry bushes, blueberries and strawberries. My mother canned but I haven't tackled that project on my own yet. This book would be a big help!
Grace Hodgin
I use to do this all the time and now we are planting a fall garden I'm going to start canning and making preserves again.