Customer Reviews

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been canning for over 20 years, and without a doubt, this book provides the best instruction on how to can properly. This is important if you want to successfully can, and enjoy the food you can.

First: you are provided with numerous methods on how to can, water bath and pressure cooker for instance.

Second: you are provided with chart of what type of processing works best for which type of food (main ingredient in your canning).

Third: you are provided with a chart on how long to process each type of food, and better still, they have not forgotten that people are not at the same elevation across the country. As someone who started canning in Iowa and then moved to Colorado, this book makes all the difference.

Fourth: you are provided with clear, easy to follow recipes (many of these have been around for generations).

Fifth: the final products taste good! I gladly share the canned products with friends and family. Many items end up as birthday or Christmas presents.

Whether you are a novice, experienced, or somewhere in between to canning, this is a must have book.

A must-have book if you want to can, freeze, make jam, applesauce, pickles, etc., whether you have an expensive pressure canner or a simple large pot. My grandmother had a copy of this book when I was a child. The recipes are simple and tested by generations. The instructions are clear and use standard kitchen supplies. There is also a nice section that explains how water bath canning works and how to do it right. With this book and a nearby pick-your-own farm (I find them at www.pickyourown.org) you can get the fruit inexpensively then make your own jam, preserves, applesauce, etc without chemicals or preservatives.

I just started this wonderful world of canning and preserving and as I surfed the internet for information everyone kept saying that the Ball Blue Book was "THE" best source for canning info. I ordered it and I understand why it is such an important resource. It has excellent, up-to-date information about canning and includes explanations of why you have to follow the steps exactly. It has a trouble shooting section and has beautiful pictures and illustrations. It's not a very thick book but it's chock-full of recipes for everything from berries to fruits and vegetables. It includes jams, jellies, sauces, salsa and preserves. It has a section for people with special diets and my diabetic father-in-law really liked and appreciated the reduced-sugar recipe for strawberry jam. The only flop of a recipe I tried to make was a pineapple jam recipe that did not call for pectin - I was stirring for a very long time.... Just a quick note that I learned AFTER: pineapple contains a natural enzyme that prevents it from jelling... : ) Otherwise, I would highly recommend this book for both beginner and experienced canners.

I was a little intimidated as a beginning canner, but this book broke everything down into very simple steps. I'm looking forward to trying everything. Amazon was really great on delivery too. But wouldn't you know, when I went to Wal-Mart to look for jars, there was the Ball Blue Book of Preserving next to the other supplies for the regular price of $5.72.

This book has a good all around introduction to canning, freezing and dehydrating and contains a lot of good recipes.
It begins with a thorough introduction to canning principles and methods, equipment, processing and storage, and food types. From there the chapters clearly define the type of food(high/low acid)and recipes(jams, pickles, special diet, etc). Each chapter starts with information on ingredients, techniques, and equiptment needed. The text is an easy read without getting too technical and to the point. The recipes that follow are in alphabetical order and easy to follow.The recipes are pretty basic; for instance, there are 22 jam recipes from 3-7 ingredients including apricot, elderberry, kiwi, peach,raspberry, tomato. No fancy designer blends here. Other topics with recipes include juice, jelly, meat, seafoods, veggies, condiments, salsas, low sugar/salt, leathers, jerky. There are not a lot of pictures but the featured illustrations are clear and comprehensive. At the end of the book is a section called 'Problem Solver', glossary, and index.
This is a great book for a beginner as it covers the basics of the different type of preserving and its a great collection of favorites for any home preservers library. Highly recommended!

This is the first year I have done any canning and I wanted a book to describe the how to and some tasty recipies. This book gave me all the information I needed. We now have some tasty pickles, zucchini pickles, apple butter, and apple preserves!!!

I also like it because it also covers freezing to preserve.

Overall a great basics canning book!

This is the resource book everyone refers to when canning. This book has information about canning safely, canning methods, recipes and more. If you have an abudance of some fruit or veggie this book will have a recipe to help you save your harvest for eating later. This has been an invaluable resource and has paid for itself many times over in the money we have saved canning just some of the simple things like jams.

I love this book. I made the pork and beans with tomato sauce and also the Boston Baked Beans. They were both delicious and excellent. The best beans I've ever tasted! The information in this book makes it a must have for people who can food.

I just started canning this summer, when it became clear that I could not keep up with the cucumbers and green beans coming from the CSA. I bought this book because it's pretty much required reading for all canners. So do buy the book if you're new to canning.

It was very helpful in providing general information, as well as for figuring out vinegar-to-water ratios required to get the right acidity. And the recipes for Dilly Beans and Roasted Red Pepper Spread are fantastic.

The fresh-pack Dill Pickle recipe, though, includes waaaay too much salt. I made one batch of pickles according to the Fast Favorite Garlic & Dill Pickles recipe on Epicurious.com, and it was perfect. I made several batches of pickles according the recipe in this book, and they were inedibly salty. When I open a jar of them, I now pour out all the liquid, rinse the pickles with cold water, than refill the jar with 2/3 fresh water and 1/3 white vinegar, then refrigerate. After a few days enough salt has been leached back out of the pickles that they're edible again, but life would be better (and the pickles more flavorful) if I didn't have to take this step!

Again, though, I do believe that every canner should own this book, but don't use it as the only source of canning recipes.

My mother and I have canned for years, she is from the depression era. This is a good basic book, but beware, cooking times for chutneys is about 4 hours short. the stuff willtaste like vinegar.
The other ball book is much more complete. The sugar in these rescipes is very high!!! The other ball book has a better intro to explain when you can change sugar ratio. Sugar and vinegar ratios are not, NOT, random numbers. Nor is cooking time!!!! several kinds of food posioning occur when directions are not understood. Several results in death,,, check the pioneer journals. good luck, with caution.