Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and More (Paperback)

by Linda J. Amendt (Author) "Good, reliable recipes are essential for successful home canning, but they are only the beginning..." (more)
Key Phrases: pectin pouch, bubble freer, jam every minute, Best of Division, Santa Rosa, Best of Class (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
If you've been laboring under the illusion that your grandmother just smashed berries into a jar or that pickles grew on exotic pickle trees, prepare to be enlightened with Linda J. Amendt's Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades & More. Canning, as shown in this exhaustive edition, is as much a science as an art, and this book includes every detail to educate the uninformed on what it takes to make great preserves.

Her recipes include the standards, such as strawberry jam, and the obscure, such as Garlic and Onion Jam. Amendt also does the public service of explaining the real difference between jams and jellies. Special caution about food safety holds a prominent place in Blue Ribbon Preserves and Amendt teaches us how to chose optimal foods for canning as well as how to safely store preserves to avoid potentially lethal food contamination. Be prepared for a bit of a chemistry lesson, which can be a long and sometimes didactic read, but it's well worth it for the critical food-safety information.

So complete is the book that Amendt, herself a recipient of countless state-fair awards for her preserves, includes pointers on how to succeed at such competitions (in a very thorough chapter which includes insights into how judges pick their winners). Blue Ribbon Preserves covers everything that goes into a ball jar and more, and in the process earns not only a tight seal of quality but its own blue ribbon. --Teresa Simanton

From Library Journal
With more than 300 blue ribbons from state, county, and other fairs to her credit, Amendt is an authority on the subject of preserving and her pantry must be an impressive sight indeed. Here she provides an extremely detailed introduction to home canning, from U-Pick farms and other sources of ingredients to equipment to safety concerns, along with a lengthy troubleshooting section and a chapter on fair competitions. This is followed by more than 200 delectable small-batch preserving recipes, from classics such as Bing Cherry Jam to variations like Caramel Apple Butter to innovations like Margarita Jelly. In addition to jams, jellies, and fruit preserves, Amendt also includes canned fruits and vegetables, sauces and salsas, and pickles and vinegars. Valuable as both a reference and a cookbook, this is highly recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: HP Trade (June 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557883610
• ISBN-13: 978-1557883612
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #5 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Sauces, Salsa & Garnishes
  #21 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Canning & Preserving
  #30 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Preserves Cookbook!, September 30, 2001

By A Customer

Blue Ribbon Preserves is a great cookbook for home canners of all levels of preserving experience and skill. It is easy to read and follow, with the comprehensive canning text and detailed recipes presented in a clear and understandable manner. Linda Amendt's impressive wealth of knowledge, special techniques, recipes and expert advice make this delightful and impressive book a gold mine of information for anyone interested in home canning.

The author presents the latest modern canning techniques and safety precautions and explains the importance of each step in the canning process. She is also careful to explain why old-fashioned and out-dated canning methods should not be used, and how the use of old-style and nonstandard canning jars can lead to serious problems.

In entering my preserves at the State Fair the past few years, I have been disappointed at not winning blue ribbons. After reading the extensive chapter on fair competitions and Linda's helpful advice and preparation tips in each recipe chapter, I now understand the judging process and am confident I can win those precious blue ribbons. I am grateful to the author for her generosity in sharing her secrets to winning so many awards with the rest of us fair entrants.

I have made several of the delicious jam and jelly recipes, as well as fruit, juice, sauce and pickle recipes, and all have yielded perfect results. Blue Ribbon Preserves has become my 'Canning Bible' and I will use it again and again with each new canning season. I am giving copies of this wonderful book as Christmas gifts to many friends and family members who enjoy making preserves.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Home Canning Cookbook!, July 28, 2002

By A Customer

This book is wonderful! The recipes are outstanding and the selection is impressive -- from jams and jellies to ice cream toppings and pie fillings, and everything inbetween. The text at the beginning of each recipe chapter and the separate chapters on tools and ingredients are very interesting and informative. I appreciate the author's attention to detail and her emphasis on using proper canning techniques so that the food you prepare for your home table will be both delicious and safe to serve.

I have made dozens and dozens of recipes from this book and they have all turned out great -- outstanding flavor with beautiful color and perfect texture. The Salsa Jam, Banberry Jam, Cherry Marmalade, Peach-Pineapple Preserves, Jalapeno Jelly, Strawberry-Raspberry Jelly, Asian Marinade, Basil Marinara Sauce, Pineapple Upside-Down Ice Cream Topping, and many more have become family favorites.

I never had much luck with jams made using the long-cook method, or homemade pectin. They took forever to make, it was nearly impossible to figure out when they were done, and they just never worked right. My jams ended up being either thin and watery or overcooked and hard as rubber. So, I really appreciate the wide variety of traditional and exotic soft spread recipes the author offers that use packaged pectin. Now, my jams turn out perfect every time and they are very quick to prepare. For people who still prefer to make spreads using the long-cook method, there are several chapters in this book filled with many other wonderful recipes that make it well worth the purchase. There are recipes for butters, curds, fruit, juices, vegetables, pickles, sauces, vinegars, syrups, liqueurs, pie fillings and ice cream toppings.

I had never thought about entering my canned goods in a fair competition but, after reading this book, I just might try it myself for fun. It was interesting learning how judges use the USDA standards to evaluate the entries plus the flavor and texture criteria that are used to choose the winners. I now understand the reasons why it is so important to only use the approved, modern methods of canning and processesing, not just for fair competitions, but also for the foods I will serve daily to family and friends.

This is an excellent cookbook and I highly recommend it for both experienced home canners and those who discovering the fun and joy of home canning for the very first time.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT Find!, May 26, 2002

By A Customer

I am quite impressed by this cookbook. It is extremely well written, very thorough and interesting. The author presents her information and recipes in a flowing, easy-to-understand style that makes this cookbook very user-friendly. She explains every step in detail without talking over the heads of people new to home canning or talking down to experienced canners.

Unlike other preserved foods books, Blue Ribbon Preserves goes way beyond the basics. The author's special techniques and advice are invaluable and make home canning a wide variety of preserves easy for anyone. There is a huge selection of all manner of delicious recipes ranging from standard flavors to the exotic. The descriptions and instructions are so clear that every step is easily understood.

While I personally do not have any plans to enter my preserves at fairs, the author's stories and discussions on fair competitions are quite interesting and informative. I have used her competition techniques to improve the quality of every preserve I make and serve to my family. For someone who does enter their preserved foods into fair competition and wants to win blue ribbons, the author's advice and insider secrets are essential. For everyone else - they will help you create exceptional preserves for gifts and home use.