Customer Reviews

Canning and Preserving For Dummies

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read this cookbook cover to cover, sampled some recipes, and I'm impressed! Karen Ward took all the guess work and concerns I had out of both canning and preserving. The balance of taste in her recipes is extraordinary. Her Pear Chutney's the best I've ever had (and I've had plenty). My husband adores her bread and Butter Pickles! A great cookbook to have on hand to make holiday food gifts, too.

I have NEVER canned anything before in my entire life, and I decided to try it. I was extremely apprehensive but bought all the ingredients/equipment necessary. I read this book one time, and followed the directions. VIOLA!!! I had perfectly canned jam. I must add though, if you order any kind of water bath canner set, you will probably get a free Ball Canning Book which states the same information.

When I was a kid I spent summers at my grandmothers house where she put me, as well as all my other cousins under her care, to work in her big garden. We spent about half the summer cultivating the likes of corn, tomatos, broccoli, and cauliflower, as well as fruits like blueberries, grapes, and strawberries to name just a few. Everything had to be cut, cleaned, spiced, and preserved in a large room in the basement. The work involved didn't mean much to me back then but a lot of time taken away from more important things like going to the movies and playing baseball. That is until the cold winter months came along when we ate supper at my grandmothers and were treated to the most delicious meals from the freshest produce I was to ever enjoy. We even got to enjoy our salad with genuine home made vinegar with garlic that my grandmother made herself as well. Home spun meals of that delicious caliber were to never really come around again in my life. Unfortunately when I got older and was no longer required to be under my grandmothers care I drifted away from her and never had the opportunity to either learn, or remember much of anything from those wonderful days of my youth. Now all grown up and working from home finds me wishing I had paid more attention to all the knowledge and lore my grandmother was so free with that was all but ignored or forgotten over the years. The "dummy" series of books are a collection of which I own quite a few of. Everything from weather to bird feeding. I have always found them to be plainly written, very well researched, and even humorous in many cases. They all seem to have the same home spun quality to them regardless of what the subject matter happens to be. "Canning and Preserving" is certainly not one to be an exception. Anyone that is planning to grow and preserve their own veggies and fruit should read this book. It is wonderfully written, very thorough, and above all is presented in such a way that it begins with the assumption that you barely know what canning and preserving is. It offers a wealth of tips, procedure, growing and spicing suggestions, the hardware you will both need and can manage without, and even recipes that one would tend to never encounter anywhere else. It is quite simply the most comprehensive book I have encountered as to canning and preserving. If you're like me and not only want to make the best preserves possible, or are just interested in not making a mistake and poisoning yourself, by all means buy this book. It is a wealth of instruction, tips, lore, and wit and wisdom for those of us that spent more of our time chasing butterflies in the summers of our youth, than paying attention to what would later become invaluable in life...

Being a former research scientist, it is perhaps unfair to critique a book for beginners. The recipes, trouble shooting and sources chapters are great. You will never get sick following this book.
Corections: One piece caps designed for home canning of jams are fine. All jars designed for canning may not be used. Those manufactured prior to WWII will break if used for pressure canning due to internal stress created by movement of the high soda glass over time. Used tomato sauce jars that use a standard cap are fine. Regular green beans (formerly called string beans) have not required destringing for 40 years. The jar lifter is gripping the jar where it will slip. Do not use wet dishtowels to wipe the lids. Your toilet bowl contains less bacteria. Use a paper towel. 2 piece (dome) lids on higher silica jars were used throughout WWII in Victory Gardens. I still use my mother's made in May, 1943. Do not bury your spoiled low acid food in deep soil or go through the detoxification process. Your sewer authority will probably tell you to dump it down the drain. If you do not trust their advice, take the food to your toxic waste drop off. If you have followed the directions as to pressure and time (you may not cheat), you do not need to boil all your canned low acid foods. Eat your food before canning the same veggies next year (a problem in WWII). Always can with a friend(s), especially the first time. It's more fun that way and safer should there ever be a rare problem (like a sticking valve in the MIRRO canner - tap with a wooden spoon and get your husband to fix it later). Botulism bacteria are killed at 212 degrees (actually 10 min. @ 80C according to the CDC). It's the spores that require 240F for the times indicated. In nearly 40 years of canning and raising three children from our large garden and orchard, we have never had food poisoning. Just remember, cleanliness is next to godlineness.

I have always fantasized about canning and preserving my own locally grown garden vegetables and fruits. One day on a lark of what my partner called "Pure Insanity" I bought a Water based canner and equipment to put my dreams into reality. I would have panicked had I not reviewed and purchased this book the day before.

In only a matter of a few hours I read the book from cover to cover and felt like an expert. Soon thereafter when I found a wonderful source of locally grown cucumbers I "canned" 8 pints of 'Bread and Butter pickles' from a recipe provided in this book. Three weeks later I was the recipient of a Blue Ribbon at a local fair for my "Prize Winning Recipe". I was astonished! They will never know the secret of my success was "The Dummies Guide" but I will never forget. I've since gone on to do Corn Relish, Apple Butter, Lime Pickles, and tonight I shall can Green Beans and Carrots.

This is the book that will bring success to the otherwise accident and disaster prone "cook". Don't start this hobby without it!

I used to take insult to "dummy" books, but this book is wonderful. Since I had everything to learn about canning, this book written with it's simplicity and step by step detail, has been a great resource.

I would rate the ball blue book as #1, but this is up there as an all around book on canning & preserving. I have been canning for many, many years & this book gives good advice for novice or experienced canners!!Buy it you won't be sorry to have added this to your food preservation library!!

Good overview for a beginner, but I wanted more canning recipes. You'll need to go to another book to get that. This one just had a few jelly, salsa, pickle and a few directions on canning specific fruits and vegetables with very little on food dehydration. If you decide to get this, you'll need another book down the road if you decide to can or preserve anything else.

I've never canned before and thought this would be an excellent resource. I've found at least 2 significant errors in this book and when it comes to canning and potential food poisoning, that's unacceptable. One recipe calls for adding 4 cups of sugar when there's no sugar in the list of ingredients. It should have been 4 cups of water. Be cautious. Read the recipes through and if something doesn't make sense, search the web for a similar recipe. I was disappointed that the errors weren't caught before the book was published.

"Canning & Preserving for Dummies" was a quintessential "Dummies" book. I had never done anything remotely close to canning before and by the time I made my second batch of pickles I had a system in place and cut my time of processing by 50%. I even felt compfortable enough to look for recipes on the web and to purchase a canning recipes book. I would strongly recommend this book for canning neophytes.