Customer Reviews

Art of Preserving

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When the book arrived I had been puréeing apricots for smoothies (even freezing some) to cope with the ample apricot crop. We had already dried three batches in our new electric dehydrator. What else could we do? Looking in the Art of Preserving, I found two choices: Apricot and Cardamom Chutney and Fresh Apricot Jam. With our pantry almost out of apricot jam, I decided to go with the jam instead of chutney. Immediately, I noticed that the recipe called for twice as much sugar as I normally use. My basic proportion is one cup of sugar to one pound of fruit. Depending on the sweetness of the fruit and personal taste, one can always add more sugar and correct with lemon juice to get the right balance. On the other hand, I liked the idea of using cardamom with apricots. I had made a quince-cardamom marmalade last fall and decided to make apricot-cardamom jam, beginning with only one-half of the prescribed sugar. The results were remarkable even with less sugar.

As I looked at other recipes, I found the amount of sugar most of the time more in line with my personal taste. One other exception was Strawberry Jam although the addition of the juice and zest of three oranges was a nice touch. In the same way, many other familiar-sounding recipes contain a unique ingredient that sets them apart from the ordinary. For example, whiskey in Orange Marmalade, ginger in Grapefruit Jam, cardamom in Preserved Lemons, cayenne pepper in Gooseberry Chutney, sunflower seeds in Apricot and Cardamom Chutney, golden raisins in Plum Sauce, toasted walnuts in Apple Chutney, ripe tomatoes in Pear Chutney and nutmeg in Pickled Asparagus.

The author, Jan Berry, grew up in the Australian outback, learning to cook from a mother who, in keeping with her outback lifestyle, was of necessity resourceful. Berry's first cookbook, published in 1993, is called The Proud Tradition of Australian Cooking. She also leads food tours to Italy, a country that has long been a source of inspiration for her cooking style. Given these sources, it is striking that she credits her mother directly in only two recipes (Plum Sauce and Pumpkin Chutney) and an unnamed Italian for one recipe (Mediterranean Sweet and Sour Fruits). For the rest, she has been practicing the art of preserving for decades, amassing a collection of treasured recipes along the way. As you can imagine, this combination of inspiration from Australia and Italy is perfect for Californians, especially those with a surplus of home-grown fruit.

In my own decades-long experience as a home orchardist, I continually seek out new ways to enjoy fruit freshly picked right from the tree. Most years it is impossible to consume all the fruit at its peak. Now Art of Preserving, with its over 130 easy-to-prepare recipes, guides the home cook in extending the odyssey of fruit the year round. For example, one chapter includes enough ideas to stagger even the most avid grower of citrus fruits, with recipes for Blood Orange Marmalade, Orange Chutney, Spiced Orange Slices, Orange Ratafia, Blood Orange Pomander Brandy, Orange Wine, Chunky Grapefruit Marmalade, Citrus Marmalade, Grapefruit Jam, Lime Marmalade, Lemon Oil, Lemon Curd, Preserved Lemons, Lemon Vinegar, Lemonade, Mandarin Jelly, Kumquat Jam, Tropical Marmalade, Candied Citrus Peel, Whiskey Tangelo Marmalade, and Tangerine Conserve.

Art of Preserving is beautifully illustrated with color photographs taken by internationally known photographer Rodney Weidland. I fully appreciate Berry's comment "Whenever I look at this photograph of Whiskey Tangelo Marmalade, I'm reminded why I love making preserves." The book is a visual feast, jam-packed--one might say--with an astonishing variety of unique gourmet foods to enliven any meal throughout the year. Here is a brief sampler of the recipes at the top of my list:

Fig and Rhubarb Jam
Tomato and Walnut Jam
Sage Jelly
Tamarillo Chutney
Pumpkin and Rosemary Jam
Pumpkin Chutney
Red Onion Chutney
Brinjal Chutney
Mediterranean Sweet and Sour Fruits
Melon and Passion Fruit Jam
Fig and Almond Conserve
Pear and Ginger Marmalade
Plum Sauce
Whiskey Tangelo Marmalade
Tangerine Conserve

Berry recommends her Red Onion Chutney containing prunes as a tasty accompaniment to cold meats, terrines and pātés. I plan to serve it with raclette, the Swiss melted-cheese-over-potatoes dish. The Mediterranean Sweet and Sour Fruits would also be excellent with raclette. I have made Fig and Rhubarb Jam before, using a recipe from another Australian cook, Pamela Allardice, but Berry adds a twist with cashew nuts. Similarly, I have made Pear and Ginger Marmalade, following a recipe in the Fanny Farmer Cookbook, but Berry's version substitutes apple cider for water. Intriguing recipes using vegetables include Green Bean Chutney, Red Bell Pepper Jelly, Brinjal Chutney (made with eggplant) and Turnip Chutney. The list goes on.

In the caption to a photograph showing both the preserve and the fresh pear, Berry says, "Pear and Ginger Marmalade was made from a glut of corella pears." Corella pears? On the previous page, she writes, "Tiny pink and green corella pears are ideal to pickle, and they look interesting on an antipasto platter." My dictionary says that corella is either of two small white cockatoos, found in Australia. The corella pear appears to be the same size as the Seckel pear or the Forelle pear, but Berry says nothing further about this unusual, presumably Australian, variety. In a similar vein, she writes, "When I was growing up in the country, my father grew an abundance of Queensland Blue pumpkins. These sat for months maturing on the hot tin roof of the outside toilet, waiting for my mother to make into delicious dishes like this (pumpkin) chutney." In the photograph, the Queensland Blue pumpkins retain a green skin color perhaps with a tinge of blue. Again, it would be nice to know a source for this variety.

Berry begins the book with a chapter on the basics of preserving, guiding novice and expert alike in the use of the right equipment and how to recognize a good set in various preserves. With each recipe, she indicates how long one should wait before sampling the finished product. Thankfully, many are ready to consume immediately. She provides sidebars with tips on selecting ingredients, processing techniques, and serving suggestions. Each chapter begins with a literary quotation from writers as varied as Andrew Marvell, Mohammed Ibn Omar, William Shakespeare, John Keats, André Gide, and Waverley Root. Art of Preserving is a worthwhile addition to any fruit enthusiast's library.

I love this book! It is a must-have for anyone whose collection of cookbooks numbers more than ten. This is the book for you if you have been canning and preserving for a while and have started to feel either bored or limited. This book, with its intriguing and beautiful photographs, will give you new ideas. The combinations are unusual and mouth watering. I read and reread this book whenever I am feeling like trying something new and exciting.

The recipes are well balanced and interesting. My problem with this book is the method of sealing. Jars are often sealed after the ingredients have cooled, so no true seal occurs. Covers such as parchment and cellophane are used. I would certainly want to use USDA approved sealing methods with these recipes. This includes sealing the jars with rubber rings or Ball/Kerr type jar covers and screw lids and processing the jars in a hot water bath from 10-30 minutes depending on the recipe ingredients. (Check web site canning sites maintained by university home economists) I would not feed these recipes to my family without using standard (USDA) food safety precautions for preserving.

For years now I have been waiting for a cookbook full of preserves- not your typical strawberry jam and apple butter type, however. I have enjoyed giving unusual preserves, jams and jellies to friends as gifts, but finding the recipes for this exotica was difficult. This cookbook, however, finally provides me with well-written recipes and beautiful pictures. My only complaint is that this book only now came out. As a collector of a few hundred cookbooks, this is a star in my collection!

The Art of Preserving is filled with exotic jams,jellies,chutneys, and relishes which are artfully packaged and beautifully photographed. The book is a treat for the eyes! Unfortunately, the author does not provide sufficient detail in her recipes to accurately and safely produce these items. Although an overview of the canning process is provided at the beginning of the book, specific information on how long to process jars is not included with each recipe. If you are a novice canner, I would recommend the Ball Blue Book as good start to your preserving library. Once you are familiar with canning and the necessary steps, you can use the The Art of Preserving for inspiration to jazz up your recipes.

This a beautiful and inspiring book as you gaze at the pages, but the recipes are not concise. I am an avid canner especially in the art of jams, and find these recipes hard to understand. As far as the canning process goes, I ladel into sterilized jars and process in hot water bath. I do not allow it to cool. This will never provide a good seal. I had great success with the Whiskey Tangelo Marmalade pg32. but the Grapefruit Jam pg. 21 was a disaster. I read and reread the ingredients and instructions and followed them to a T. How can you add 8 c. water to a recipe and cook down for 15 minutes, add sugar, cook down for 30 and get 4 c. of product. I ended up with 8. It never thickened. I, with my knowledge of canning, even cooked it down longer and added pectin and still never set. I would love the author to check out this recipe and see what went wrong. With the citrus recipes, the author needs to specify peeled or unpeeled. In most cases she gives an approximate amount of fruit in numbers, in the grapefruit she says 2 lbs. of grapefruit. That came out to 2 grapefruits for me. Would probably be more successful if she gave an amount in cups after it is prepared. Certo gives you an approximate amount of fruit but also indicates how many cups once prepared. My hats off to Rodney Weidland for his photography, that is encouraged me to purchase this book.

The pictures and the recipies are just wonderful, but I have a problem with "Blueberry Jam", page 42. She says to use 1/2 the blueberries initially, but never says when to add the other half to the jam. Anyone out there have any input. My thought would be to do so when adding the sugar, but I'm not so sure...Feedback please...Thanks

At some point after you've sealed your umpteenth jar of strawberry preserves and peach jam, you find yourself asking, Is this as exciting as it gets? Really, your sister and office mates are probably (secretly of course) just as bored with your yearly batches of apple jelly as you are. To keep motivated every harvest time, you repeat to yourself over and over, like a mantra: Made with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup...

Well imagine their eyes popping out of their heads when you triumphantly hand them your Pear and Ginger Marmalade, Green Tomato Relish, and Plum and Raisin Chutney!
When the title of a cookbook claims the status of Art, expect that it contains inventive, quirky and elegant combinations in addition to the more pedestrian basics. Also, assume that it was not meant for rank beginners any more than it was written by a rank beginner. Jan Berry, the author of Art of Preserving has decades of experience with preserving a wide range of fruits and vegetables, and while she discusses the basic methods in a short preface chapter, it's barely sketched. But more on that in a moment.

In the ten years that I have owned my copy of Art of Preserving, I have tried perhaps a dozen of the 300 or so recipes in this book. It's all I have the nerve, resources or the gourmet gumption, to have tried. From this book I have produced Blood Orange Pommander Brandy, Orange Wine, Lemon Oil, Candied Citrus peel, Blueberry Jam, Apple and Geranium Jelly, Figs in Brandy, Red Bell Pepper Jelly, herb-infused vinegars and sugars, Preserved Ginger, and Banana Jam. I am eager to try several more as time and ingredient availability permit, such as Pumpkin and Rosemary Jam and Melon Jelly. Ah, for an acre of garden space to grow the stuff and a few months every year to harvest and preserve it all! That would definitely be somewhere in my heaven.

In a way, the Art of Preserving is like a look back to pre-industrial times. The author apparently grew up in the Outback under poor circumstances. She had to learn to make do and be very careful with her resources, so I believe that is why none of her recipes here list commercial pectin. Instead, the jams and jellies are set with the natural pectins in apples, quinces, citrus seeds, etc. Some of them require elaborate preparations of more than one day's time to draw the juices out through jelly bags, or marinate ingredients to perfection. In a nutshell, Jan Berry's preserving style is not for those looking for instant gratification.

As to Jan Berry's recommended methods for sealing up jars: waxed paper and a lid. If you want to be decorative, she suggests additionally covering the tops with paper and twine or ribbon. I'm the first to admire the simple rustic charm in this style, but I can rarely use it as I like to ship my jams and jellies as gifts and enter them in fair contests now and then; the official rules prohibit anything but hot water-bath canning methods, sealing lid and screw-rings only. In order to translate her sealing instructions for modern times, it might take a bit of know-how from a more intermediate canner. See what I mean about this book not catering to complete amateurs?

Finally, the photographs are works of art in themselves. Truthfully, TAOP is one of the best-photographed cookbooks I have ever seen, and thankfully, a little more than half of the recipes are displayed in these artfully arranged shots.
I have never seen such a complete and extensive collection of offbeat jam, jelly, chutney and etc. recipes in one place, as in The Art of Preserving. It is certainly a must for preservers who love to gift their jars.

This book, sadly out of print for several years now, is well worth the time and effort to search out if you enjoy preserving above and beyond its original, practical purpose.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

Some folks have noted that they had trouble with the recipes in this book. I have made jams for 25 years and I found these recipes delightful. As for the USDA, how can you trust an organization that thinks BPA is not harmful, bio-engineered crops are fine, and bovine growth hormone should be in milk? By all means, read the recipes carefully, compare ingredient amounts with other cookbooks and use your common sense. My six oranges might not be anywhere near the size of Jan Berry's 6 oranges. As a rule of thumb, after you have the ingredients partially cooked, measure. Adjust sugar to 1/4-1/2 c. per cup of fruit. I have just completed the most gorgeous blood orange marmalade. I used mason jars with Leifheit lids (BPA Free!) and I hot water bath canned them for 10 minutes (I'm at sea level). I have the melon marmalade on the stove now. I did not warm the sugar, because I'm adding Pomona's pectin. (1/2 t. per C. of fruit). I froze the melon in summer to use with the blood oranges now taking over the kitchen. My experience with frozen fruit is that it may not set up, even with the natural pectin in citrus, hence the Pomona's. This book has some great unusual combos. Making marmalade? Buy a Zyliss zester; it will change your life.

Great collection of preserve receipies for those who can't give away all the fruit and vegies they grow.