Preserves: The Complete Book of Jams, Jellies, Pickles and Preserves [Hardcover]

Catherine Atkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2003

There is nothing more satisfying then stocking your shelves with your own home-made preserves, and this book is the perfect guide.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Catherine Atkinson is a trained Cordon Bleu cook and holds a degree in Home Economics. After graduating she worked in various hotels and restaurants, including the Roux Brothers' patisseries. Her catering experience led to work in publishing - creating recipes and styling food for photography - and she became Deputy Cookery Editor Woman's Weekly and later Me Magazine. Catherine currently works as a freelance writer and is a consultant for various food and lifestyle magazines, and contributor to several books. Maggie Mayhew is a freelance cookery writer, food stylist and home economist, contributing features to several national women's magazines such as Family Circle, Essentials and Homes and Ideas. Before starting her freelance career, she was Deputy Food and Wine Editor of Living Magazine for five years.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Anness (November 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754813037
• ISBN-13: 978-0754813033
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Ideas, frustrating details, April 2, 2011

By 

Greens and Jeans - See all my reviews

This review is from: Preserves: The Complete Book of Jams, Jellies, Pickles and Preserves (Hardcover)

As you page through this book it makes your mouth water. The authors have come up with interesting and creative combinations of fruit and spices to entice your tastes. However the recipe are not written in a very user-friendly way.

My biggest complaint is that the expected yields are given by weight. Who knows how much a half-pint jar of jam weighs? It would be more helpful to give the yields in volume so you could prepare the correct number of jars, or anticipate if you want to double the recipe. Some recipes give very large yields 6 or more jars of jam, while others result in just over one. This can be frustrating after going through all the work to execute a recipe.

Secondly, the authors do not give any processing times for water-bath canning these recipes. Most recipes end with "Ladle into sterilized jars, seal and cool." This does not fit with USDA recommended canning practices and I always look for a similar recipe in another book (jam, butter, jelly etc) to find an appropriate processing time. The book is obviously written for a European audience (with measures in both metric and imperial) and with different expectations for canning practices.

I would recommend this book to an experienced canner who is looking for fresh ideas, but is willing to modify recipes to fit best practices and deal with the unknown yields for the recipes.