Jamlady Cookbook, The [Hardcover]

Beverly Ellen Schoonmaker Alfeld (Author), Jim Smith (Photographer), Sherman Kaplan (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2004

A resource cookbook for the canner, gardener, gourmet chef, baker, and beginning home cook. More than 400 recipes for jellies, jams, butters, and preserves, with recipes for cooking with delicious homemade potables.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alfeld's enthusiasm for "putting up" nature's bounty and her background in organic farming, teaching, science and cooking make her the perfect instructor in this book on canning. She assures readers that creating homemade jams, jellies, butters, chutneys and relishes can be safe, satisfying and, of course, delicious. Although hers is not exactly a book for beginners, an early chapter dealing with processing methods and general troubleshooting, and a later one on pH measurements (essential for safety) are indeed thorough. In between are several hundred recipes, incorporating a diverse assortment of fruits and vegetables, all of which have been tested on Jamlady's admiring customers at Chicago's farmers markets. Novices will enjoy making Classic Pineapple Jam, which uses canned fruit; and speedy Microwaved Orange Marmalade. However, Jamlady's heart is in the more complex concoctions, such as Marnier Strawberry-Peach Jam, Tomato-Basil Jelly (nice on hamburgers), Nectarine-Almond Conserve and Pear Honey. Alfeld (who refers to herself as Jamlady) stocks each chapter with how-tos, ingredient information, sources, history, chemistry, philosophy, family stories and humor. Color illus.
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From the Publisher

A resource cookbook for the canner, gardener, gourmet chef, baker, and beginning home cook. More than 400 recipes for jellies, jams, butters, and preserves, with recipes for cooking with delicious homemade potables.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing; 1st edition (July 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589802357
• ISBN-13: 978-1589802353
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #974,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, Delicious Recipes, October 10, 2004

By 

Jennifer A. Wickes "Food Writer" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jamlady Cookbook, The (Hardcover)

The Jamlady Cookbook is a very thorough reference guide for canners, gardeners, chefs and new cooks. It provides mouth-watering photographs, hundreds of recipes for jams, preserves, jellies, and many other homemade products.

The author, Beverly Ellen Schoonmaker Alfeld, was raised by parents who ran a commercial greenhouse. Later, as an adult, she received her Bachelor's Degree as well as two Master's degrees. She completed training through the Food and Drug Administration. Using her teaching skills, being an educator for over 23 years, she has dedicated her life to educating home cooks on how to can safely. This is her first book.

This book is so nice. There are over 400 recipes, color photographs deliciously displayed, and a lot of information. The book is very easy-to-read; the recipes are easy-to-understand and a wonderful book for anyone, especially gardeners who are looking for new ideas to can their bounty!

Some of the information you will find in this book are: processing methods and trouble shooting; definitions of jams, jellies, preserves, butters, marmalades, conserves, spreads and chutneys; recipes for jams, jellies and preserves, including sugar free versions; a recipe section on how to bake with your new "jams"; many butter recipes; and an excellent appendix showing the pH of foods and measurements.

Some of the wonderful recipes you will find in this lovely book are: Wine Jelly, Orange Marmalade, Hot Mango Jam, Pumpkin Butter, Cherry Vanilla Preserves, and Red Pepper Marmalade. I was so impressed with the unusual recipes and tantalizing combinations! I plan to try the Cantaloupe Conserve next.

The Jamlady has her own website. There you can purchase some of her creations. She offers recipes, and locations to find her if you would like to purchase her products in person. She even gives her email address if you have any questions. Some of the products you can purchase through her site are; Hot Crocodile Chutney, Strawberry Butter, and Jalapeno Pepper Jelly.

This cookbook is well worth the price of $35.00. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Having this book inspired my creativity and made me want to try all the recipes. In fact, after getting this book, I plan to buy it as Christmas gifts this year, and start a small garden next year so I can try more recipes with my own produce!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A coffee table book and a jam book!, September 12, 2005

By 

Country Cook (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jamlady Cookbook, The (Hardcover)

The Jamlady Coobook is a special, reference cookbook. This cookbook is interesting to a cook, but also interesting to the non-cook, someone who likes to read about food history, new techniques of cooking, and horticulture. The lovely photography by Jim Smith makes you want to get busy and cook some "jams" or bake with them. This cookbook is full of all sorts of information from allied fields of knowledge--history, chemistry, philosophy, and more. The Jamlady Cookbook also defines jellies, jams, preserves, butters, marmalades, and spread. Do you know the difference?

The Words to the Wise, on page 19, is a must read. Jamlady's short-cut notation system makes recording recipes on note cards easy and sets up a method for passing along recipes --so everyone will know exactly how long to process the canned batch. The solo word, SEAL, just doesn't tell enough and that's what's in most books, or nothing at all. Jamlady also explains, on page 29, how pectin actually works and why you need sugar with regular pectin. I especially enjoyed seeing how jars were sealed in 1899 and enjoyed the quotes from early books on canning. One of the early methods for extracting juice actually used cellulose tissues!

Of special note is Jamlady's Original Tango Jam recipe for making jam with mangoes and blueberries using a Champion juicing machine. As Jamlady says "This recipe is a perfect example of 'having the recipe, but not being able to make the jam.'" This is only one of several instances where Jamlady manipulates the variable of what part of the fruit is used or the ratios of the fruits used to affect the color of the end product. Jamlady's Original Tango Jam is red, not blue. Variations (created by manipulating the number of times the blueberries are run through the juicing machine or the ratio of one fruit to the other)can be blue and not red.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lov'in The Jamlady Cookbook, March 26, 2006

By 

Rodney A. Basten - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jamlady Cookbook, The (Hardcover)

The Jamlady Cookbook not only has amazing recipies, but is informative, educational and fun to read. The author dissolves the myth that making preserves need be a laborious, day long task. Even the busiest of people could make a terrific jam using any of the Jamlady's small batch recipies. Her formula to create a proper seal in the canning jar is a "must read." Try the Jamlady's recipe for Blueberry Almond Preserves--fantastic!!