From Library Journal
Deliberately omitting the two most widely used food preservation methods in the United States (canning and freezing), editor Aubert (Hunger and Health: Eleven Key Questions on Farming, Food, and Health in the Third World) presents here an array of old-fashioned recipes for food preservation collected from the editors at Terre Vivante, a French ecological center. The result is a charming, compact collection about how to use salt, oil, sugar, alcohol, vinegar, drying, cold storage, and lactic fermentation to preserve foods. Though the contributors are European, similar recipes and methods were used throughout the world until the advent of canning in the late 19th century. But, since many of the recipes do not meet current American food safety standards, this book is more a curio than a practical handbook; it may, however, be useful for Y2K survivalists and historical researchers. Not an essential purchase for public libraries; recommended only for the most extensive food collections or where demand warrants.ABonnie Poquette, Shorewood P.L., WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This enlightening book offers options to the traditional methods of preserving fruits and vegetables from the garden by freezing or canning. In a foreword written by Eliot Coleman, the well-known gardener notes how the use of more natural methods serves to enhance the flavors as well as the nutritional values of foods. Contained here are 250 recipes that feature eight different ways to preserve fresh produce. In various instances, spoilage is prevented by using salt, sugar, oil, vinegar, wine, or alcohol. Some recipes preserve foods for weeks, while others keep foods good for many months. Should the millennium bug be a problem, look to this manual for information on how to preserve food by storing it in the ground or a root cellar, by air drying, by preserving with the condiments mentioned above, and by other techniques that deserve wider recognition.
Alice Joyce
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