Customer Reviews

The Quest for Wild Jelly

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I borrowed a copy of this, years and years ago when I was a student, from an old friend. It's how I learned to make chokecherry jelly that tastes like chokecherries and not like flavorless goop (which is what happens when you add commercial pectin and loads of sugar). The author makes the point, an admirable one at that, that quality is the goal here -- not quantity. You might not get a lot of jelly from your pick of wild berries, but what you get will be awesome, an experience not to be missed.

This is a great little book. Not only is it useful for its stated purpose (making jelly), it is great for identifying and quantifying wild plants from which syrups and wines can be made.

Kathryn March amply asserts that jelly can be made from almost anything growing wild that isn't toxic. This agrees quite well with my long standing assertion that if its not toxic and will support fermentation, you can probably make wine out of it. Thus, I like this book a lot. And, it uses tried and tested techniques for making jelly without using pectin, although one certainly can in many instances.

While not exactly a field guide for identifying edible wild plants, the book can be used alone or in conjunction with a field identification guide. Although it is not a new release, it is still available and still a valid and valuable resource. For the naturalist or pioneer spirited, this is a unique and worthy addition to one's library.