The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves: 200 Classic and Contemporary Recipes Showcasing the Fabulous Flavors of Fresh Fruits Review

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(More customer reviews)I am giving this cookbook 5 stars for originality and information, and only 3 stars for ease of use.
If you are a beginner, I recommend Ball Blue Canning Book #21400 for your first tries. While these recipes require pectin, they do not require the more extensive methods required in this book, and the information is a little less intimidating. Most of my first tries came from this book.
If you have a little experience under your belt, this is an AWESOME book.
It begins with the history of canning and preserving and a great deal of information on why it all works. This information is expanded at the beginning of the chapter on each fruit. That information is necessary, since all of these recipes are designed to avoid the use of pectin except what is naturally occurring in the fruit. As a result, most of the recipes require additional steps to ensure success.
Ms. Ziedrich is an experienced cook and incorporates many advanced techniques and equipment that the "newbie" probably does not have in his or her kitchen, including a food mill and steam juicer, however, she offers simple alternatives that you can use instead.
While the title calls this book "sweet preserves," there are a number of vegetables included: carrots, pumpkin & winter squash, and even a method for preserving zucchini. It also includes items you won't find in normal preservation books - I didn't even know bananas, kumquats, or cantaloupe COULD be canned! The recipe for Coconut Caramel Jam starts with instructions on opening a coconut!
AND this is not simply a "canning" recipe book. It includes recipes for fruit leather (you need a dehydrator for these), cherry flavored brandy, methods for preserving nuts, and many other original ideas.
Our county fair just ended (I got 3 blue ribbons this year), but I have found several recipes here that I WILL be using in next year's fair! I am grateful that I had the chance to try this through the Amazon Vine program, and I have a couple of friends I will be buying this for come Christmas.

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Homemade preserves are the perfect way to enjoy a favorite fruit all year long. They're also inexpensive and, in this book, are made without commercial pectin or other artificial ingredients. For novices, a thorough guide to equipment, techniques, and safety is followed by essential recipes such as Raspberry Jam, Apple Butter, and Concord Grape Jelly. More experienced preservers will be delighted at innovative offerings including Blackberry Vinegar, Red Grapefruit Marmalade, and Brandied Peaches with Vanilla.

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How to Store Your Garden Produce: The Key to Self-Sufficiency Review

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(More customer reviews)Piers Warren starts off with basic instructions for storage methods: clamping (storing large quantities of roots outside) and other methods of dry storage, freezing, drying (from oven to dehydrator), vacuum-packing, salting, bottling/canning, pickling, relishes & sauces, jams & jellies, and fermenting. This volume isn't meant as a full-blown wine-making or jam-making resource, so these are only the most basic instructions.
The rest of the book covers individual types of produce in alphabetical order. Since the focus of this book is supporting yourself on your own produce, Warren discusses some topics you might not expect. For instance, how best to harvest a vegetable so as to encourage further harvest throughout the season. He discusses varieties that will have longer harvest times, or that will produce during different times of the year. He talks about how some plants can be started at different times so as to result in a longer harvest period as well.
One potentially useful feature is the section of recommended varieties. For example, the apples section lists out two good varieties of cooking apples, a crab apple, and a handful of eating apples, noting which ones keep particularly well or work best for wine-making or the like. However, in some cases this won't be as useful outside of Britain (the book was written & published in Britain but is also being distributed in other countries). For instance, I don't recognize many of the apple or tomato varieties. However, I do recognize a number of the carrot and chard varieties. It just depends on whether a particular type is available & grows well where you are.
The one other small potential snag is a couple of terminology issues. Most of them aren't a big deal (what US readers call canning, Brits call bottling, but the author notes this). One or two types of produce might be listed under a name unfamiliar to you (plenty of people have heard eggplants called aubergines, but not everyone in the US knows them by that term). Don't let this deter you from buying this book if you're in the US, however---the information is incredibly useful, and in most cases there are enough informative notes included that you can substitute varieties as appropriate or easily figure out the terminology differences. Also, all measurements for recipes and such are given in both metric and English measurements.
If you want to become more self-sufficient, or you just want to make better and less wasteful use of your garden produce, I definitely recommend this book.

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How to Store Your Garden Produce: The Key to Self-Sufficiency has been completely revised and is the modern guide to storing and preserving your garden produce, enabling you to eat home-grown goodness all year round. The easy-to-use reference section provides applicable storage and preservation techniques for the majority of plant produce grown commonly in home gardens. Why is storing your garden produce the key to self-sufficiency? Because with less than an acre of garden you can grow enough produce to feed a family of four for a year. But without proper storage, most of it will go to waste since much of the produce ripens simultaneously in the summer. Learn simple and enjoyable techniques for storing your produce and embrace the wonderful world of self-sufficiency. In the A-Z list of produce, each entry includes recommended varieties, suggested methods of storage, and a number of recipes. Everything from how to make your own cider and pickled gherkins to how to string onions and dry your own apple rings. You will know where your food has come from, you will save money, there will be no packaging, and you'll be eating tasty local food while feeling very good about it!

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How to Dry Foods Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a fantastic reference for drying food.
The author takes the time to explain in detail the different methods of preparing food for dehydrating food. She discusses sulfiting, steaming, no prep. etc. The author also explains the various methods of drying food (oven, dehydrator etc.) The pictures only enhance the text. Further more, the author provides several charts (one for fruit, one for vegies, one for meat, one for herbs) regarding how well certain foods dry, how long each food will save when dried. I particularly liked the recipes that used dried foods.
This is a great book to have if you are interested in drying foods. I constantly refer to this book every time I dry the extra food we have on hand.

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A kitchen favorite for more than two decades-revised and expanded. Includes more than 100 irresistible recipes. When you dry food, you're saving everything: energy, nutrients, money, and, best of all, taste. This step-by-step guide to drying all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and nuts is also the most comprehensive reference available for methods of drying and home dehydrating equipment. The only book needed to master this age-old culinary tradition, How to Dry Foods includes: - Step-by-step instructions on how to dry a wide variety of foods - Updated information about equipment and drying techniques - More than 100 delicious recipes, from main courses to desserts and more - Helpful charts and tables for at-a-glance reference - Food safety tips - Clever crafts that are made from dried foods

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Nesco American Harvest FD-61WHC Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator All-In-One Kit with Jerky Gun Review

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(More customer reviews)I was in the market for a dehydrator mainly for making beef jerky, as I am a jerky lover. I visited frequent local chains such as Walmart (in 4 different cities). All stores seemed to be out of the base Nesco FD-61 model. I reluctantly ordered this kit from [...] as it contained all the 'extras.'
When it arrived I opened the box to see:
o) Nesco American Harvest FD-61 Food Dehydrator. One base, 4 large trays, and a power head rated at 500 watts, variable climate control (~95-155 temp range for various things). Most of the accessories that came with the kit were located inside the trays. Made in the USA! The dehydrator is rated as whisper quiet and is rather quiet. The emitting hum is close to quiet window-mounted AC unit. The unit is very stable and the construction is excellent. This unit really does get warm.
o) One extra tray (totalling 5 trays). Keep in mind that although this unit is expandable to 12 trays, you may have to begin rotating lower trays to the top during the drying process. With the included 5 trays it doesn't seem necessary, though I do trade the top tray with the bottom tray after the first hour during jerky drying.
o) A Jerky Kit. The Kit included a jerky gun, 3 tips, and 5 cures and 5 seasonings. The Jerky gun holds almost 3/4lb ground beef jerky mix. The tips included extrude a strip shape, narrow beef stick shape, and wide beef stick shape. The seasonings and cures are for ground beef as well. For each one pound of ground beef, you mix in one packet of cure and one packet of seasoning. The gun is great and works well. My only complaint is that that when the plunger is at the end (expelled all beef mix), there is some jerky left in the tip. This is especially true to the narrow and wide beef stick tips as they hold almost a full piece left.
o) Two Clean-a-Screens. These are screens with narrower holes for placement on a tray to prevent smaller food from falling as well as preventing sticky food (bananas, pineapple) from being hard to release once it's done drying. I have not used these yet though I have seen them used and they work well.
o) Two fruit "roll-up" trays. These are trays that cover the existing trays to prevent anything from falling below. The material is on the softer side so food release will be easy once drying is complete. I haven't used them for fruit rolls yet, though I hear they work great for that. I do, however, use them on the bottom tray to catch grease and other 'junk' when I dehydrate my beef.
o) Recipe/Guide. This book has the usual instructions and care handling. It also includes many recipes and instructions, tips and suggestions for preparing fruits, vegetables, meats (i.e. jerky), herbs, desserts, hobbies/crafts, and more. There are many cool recipes in here along with neat crafts such as wreaths that I plan to use.
Overall, this is an excellent kit and well worth the money. All items separate cost quite a bit. Don't forget, it's also made in the USA!

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