The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food (Back to Basics Cooking) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food" is a comprehensive book covering the in's and out's of safely packaging food for long-term storage. Author Angela Williams Duea displays an obvious passion for the subject and vividly describes the various aspects of the selection, preparation, and combinations of certain foods so that they may be stockpiled. Whether you are looking to preserve food in order to save money, to have organic options at your disposal, or you are saving the extra from your garden, this book has more than enough information to get you well on the way to your culinary and storage goals.
"The Complete Guide to Food Preservation" is extremely thorough and meticulous in its descriptions of the full range of possibilities when considering what type of preservation method to utilize. I was almost overwhelmed with what could actually be done with even the simplest of foods! Williams Duea keeps her readers from being totally inundated with information by separating the methodology from the recipes; step by step directions for correct preservation processes take up most of the book, structured as easy to find chapters and sections while the actual recipes are located in an appendix. All in all, I found the book to be extremely well organized and edited but I did find two `off' spots. While very minor, one was a caption noting a picture's `bright colors' yet the picture was black and white. The other was a caption about halfway through the book naming the person pictured and what she was doing (ie. `Laura uses her juicer to make fresh and nutritious carrot juice') yet no other picture in the entire book gives such a personal indicator caption; it didn't fit with any of the other pictures and captions which reflect a very general and impersonal feel.
"The Complete Guide to Food Preservation" is the perfect read for anyone interested in saving food for the long-term, regardless of reason. As I am completely inexperienced at any aspect of canning, I found the descriptions and processes easy to follow and am excited to try some of them out for myself. Beginners will love Williams Duea's clearly motivating style and more experienced will find it a useful reference book. An appetizing read!
Reviewed by Vicki Landes, author of "Europe for the Senses - A Photographic Journal"


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Storing food can be a major challenge for any family or individual who wants to increase the amount of food available without spending additional money. With rising food costs, the advent of at home gardening and the potential represented in storing your own food, it is no wonder that freezing, drying, and canning are becoming much more popular. Freezing alone, which the National Freezing and Refrigerated Foods Association has stated can add as much as 600% to the lifespan of many common refrigerated foods, is an easy, available action to anyone, but only if it is done properly. This book will show anyone interested in storing food for future use how to do so to optimize the amount of money saved and minimize the risk of damaging food or spreading food borne illnesses. You will learn how to grow for harvest and how to subsequently handle that harvest with this book s crop by crop guide of everything that you might possibly want to store away. You will learn how freezing works and how to go about organizing your freezing. You will learn the various methods of freezing and why failure occurs. In addition to freezing, you will learn about canning and preserving and how each technically works and what problems you may encounter. All of the equipment you may need is laid out in easy to read charts and you will be shown the various final products you can expect. Experts in food preservation and storage have been interviewed and their commentary has been included here to help you understand what all you will be able to expect from your preserved foods. Learn how to create jellies and jams, pickle vegetables and fruits, dry foods, juice them after storing, and even how to create a simple root cellar for long term storage. No matter your situation, this guide will help you learn how to store multiple forms of vegetables and fruits and to understand how they perform, why failure occurs, and what you need to be successful.

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Yes, You Can And Freeze and Dry It, Too: The Modern Step-By-Step Guide to Preserving Food Review

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(More customer reviews)Disclaimer: I work for the publisher of this book, but I didn't see it until I held my copy in my hands! (It was basically done when I started working for them.)
So-my review. I love this book! (I pretty much only review books if I love them, so you won't see me give too many less than stellar reviews.) This morning, I started my first project from it! I'm fermenting some extra collard greens. I went a little crazy at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It was preview day. Anyway-
I have taken an interest in all of the home preservation interest lately, but I haven't really done much of it. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I would pit and freeze sour cherries by the bag-full, because they're so hard to find. But that was the extent of my food preservation. And even that was suspect. I would freeze the cherries with so much water in them that my pies would frequently not set. (I could have used Daniel's handy tip about freezing things like peas, cherries, corn, etc. on cookie sheets and THEN bagging them to avoid excess water.)
Tips like that (They're called "From the Tip Jar" in the book) are one of the reasons why I like this book so much! In addition to step-by-step instructions for each different preservation method (freezing, canning, drying, dehydrating, fermenting, pickling, etc.), there are tons of asides and tips. I learned a lot about food and cooking while reading the book.
I haven't tried much in the way of canning because I've been either 1) terrified of killing myself or loved ones with food poisoning or 2) I had yet to discover a book that would help me do it successfully without being overwhelming. I have to say, I really like the step-by-step photographs and the descriptions in this book. Many home canning books or pamphlets I've seen are mostly pen and ink illustrations, and those just don't do it for me.
This book seems like it would be great for new gardeners, people new to food preservation, and people interested in saving money. Also, I'm intrigued by the flavors and recipes in the book. I LOVE fermented pickles and they're almost impossible to find. Until I read this book, I didn't even realize that the reason why I love New York Deli pickles is because they're fermented, not pickled in vinegar.
I'm planning to try many different projects from the book, and it is making me think more about what I plant in my garden this summer so that I have things to experiment with. The author also gives strategies for getting great, in-season and affordable produce at farmer's markets, too.


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Preserving food is hot! The local food movement gains even more popularity as consumers return to vegetable gardening to grow their own food. They increasingly have become interested in the techniques for "putting up" their bounty. Driven by the recession; the need for healthier, chemical-free food,and taste, people everywhere are preserving the abundance of fruits, vegetables, and herbs harvested from their garden (or someone else's). You don't even have to grow your own to preserve freshness; non-gardeners too are learning to preserve with locally grown produce bought from local markets. Targeted at anyone who wants to capture the flavor of freshness, whether it's from making tomato sauce, drying herbs, or preserving jams and jellies.

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