Customer Reviews

Jellies, Jams & Chutneys

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

 

 

The author is English, so you will find lots of unusual jam and chutney recipes here that you wouldn't see in an American cookbook. The one drawback is that the canning techniques used are foreign to most Americans, and not USDA compliant, but I say just use the recipe and can using the instructions on the USDA website if you are concerned.

I actually bought this book in Virginia at the Monticello gift shop. I have tried over half of the recipes so far, and I have loved every one of them..I have even used the guidelines the author sets down to create new jams..like a pineapple mango cardamom jam (delicious!!). I was looking for something that took my preserving to another level...and challenged me. I also like that she uses whole spices and grinds them in a coffee mill...the flavor this imparts is wonderful.

One note, although the author mentions water bath canning, there are very few directions on the actual recipes for doing so. I referenced my Ball canning book and found a similar recipe to use the canning times for and everything worked fine. Many of her recipes are to be refrigerated, but that doesn't mean they cannot be canned!

This book is a great addition because it has unique recipes, like plum cinnamon jam! (Very good, btw) Enjoy!

We made several of the recipes for Thanksgiving and found them delicious! All our guests loved the items we made. We were trying to spice up our meal with something that our guests might not have had previously. We found the recipes easy to follow and straighforward. I'm personally not a great chef, but I can follow directions. I was impressed with our end results! I have a newfound respect for Jams and Chutneys. Don

Jams and Chutneys demystified. Jellies not so much - the use of liquid pectin is not that correct...

Other than that, I recommend it!

This is the book - I have many - whether a novice or seasoned cook, this book has easy scientific explanations for the whys and hows of putting all those fresh fruit and savory items to use. It offers clear discussion of utensils and storage. The recipes are logical and easy to follow. And yes, great pictures that inspire trying those recipes I thought I wouldn't use.

i loved this book - the author has made making jams and chutneys seem so simple and the book is beautifully presented - it is a must have!

There's a reasonably wide range of preserving in this well illustrated book. The chapter titles are: Techniques, Summer berries, Stone fruit, Summer vegetables, Orchard fruit, Flowers and herbs, Wild Harvest, Tropical fruit, Chiles and spices and Winter citrus. The techniques section has a little insert about heat processing with a special canner that's obviously there for the nervous American market. I have spent a lifetime preserving and making chutneys and so forth and never yet resorted to that expensive and time-consuming technique and, no, I've never had any trouble with what I've made. The sugar and/or vinegar, jar sterilization in an oven plus the cooking have been used for centuries and have proved perfectly safe. But then the US is a country that's nervous about raw egg and mayonnaise or cheese made with unpasturized cheese so nothing I (or the rest of the world) can say will change opinions here.

The subtitle is 'Preserving the harvest' hence recipes for things like raspberry jam but the truth of the matter is that for most of us there is no excess production of things like raspberries. If I can get my hands on any (and I rarely can except if one is willing to pay through the nose at a supermarket or farmers' market), I would gobble them up in their raw state. And there's plenty more where this came from: chestnuts, sloes, blackberries, Seville oranges, rose hips, lavender, medlar, brandy. It reads a little as if Thane Prince has a large house in the English countryside with a big garden and, as she's written for years for the Tory "Daily Telegraph", I'd be disappointed if she hadn't. But, to be fair, the subtitle is accurate, and the chutneys especially use a range of more mundane (and, yes, less expensive) ingredients.

So this one hasn't become splattered with my bubbling attempts to follow Ms Prince but remains pristine - for the time being anyway.