Customer Reviews

Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America's Classic Preserving Guide

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book covers canning, freezing, juicing, drying, cold storage/root cellaring as well as making and preserving your own dairy products. It provides a lot of helpful illustrations and many alternative methods of getting the job done given the equipment available (or not available) to you. In fact, this is the first time I've seen directions on making ice cream without a fancy maker!

This is actually the first book that made me think I could actually make my own cottage cheese or fruit flour.

They also walk the produce-newbie through choosing good produce and the differences in varieties; but for us suburban gardeners, they also help us find varieties good for preserving (including actual company names) and tips on harvesting at a good time.

The meat chart was priceless. I don't intend to purchase an animal to be butchered (although there are yields and advice given for this) but I found knowing what type of meat cut came from where was incredibly helpful in buying my meat in the grocery store! I also found the section on cutting up a chicken into pieces very valuable as well--since I can find whole chickens very easy. Likewise with instructions on filleting a fish. Knowing how to do this allows me to save money when purchasing! They then, of course, show you how to preserve them... and other seafoods and meats.

Last, they also cover nuts, grains, seeds and sprouts--getting/harvesting, preserving and recipes for using them.

I wanted to begin putting up food like my grandparents but didn't have the background or knowledge. After reading this book, I feel like the expert. Extremely easy to understand and very useful. From storing garden vegetables in the Fall to putting up pickles, making raspberry jam, canning tomatoes, this book is excellent. Expert safety advice, how-to instructions, recipes, diagrams, etc. This is the only book you should need to begin putting up your garden produce. This really is the canner's bible!

It's a little disconcerting that we need a book to teach us what our Grandmothers new instinctively or by shared knowledge. But, in our whirlwind world of prepared food and fast food, even the most basic preservation techniques can seem like a foreign language.

If you only use one tenth of the valuable information in this book to prepare your own organic dishes, your life will be made that much more whole and healthy. This is a complete guide full of know how that will get your do it yourself juices flowing.  The four main headings are:

Vegetables and Fruits make up the first chapter which covers everything from picking the best variety of tomato(or any other fruit or vegetable) to grow for freezing or drying, to how to dry, freeze, pickle, can, or juice that tomato. It also teaches you how to turn your tomatoes (or other veggies) into relish, jelly and more. The recipes in this chapter have been created with the freezer in mind, but they are so good, they may not make it that far.

Dairy Foods ,the focus of the next chapter, churns up all the facts on milk, cream, eggs, butter, cheese, ice cream and even yogurt. I like the 'what can go wrong sections'; they must have anticipated I would read this book.

Meats, Poultry and Fish make up the third chapter. Here we learn how to freeze combination dishes (so they aren't little blocks of ice when we go to cook them later), as well as, the proper way to dry and can these staples.

Nuts, Seeds, Grains and Sprouts is one of my favorite sections. Making fresh herb and nut breads and spreading them with nut or herb butters makes me head for the kitchen.

This book was revised in 1990 and it may differ slightly from the information above. You see I have been using the book since 1978 when it first came out. Some information is timeless.

Beware, in this third edition, the author has decided that you should not have salt, nitrates, sugar or vinegar, these are staple ingredients for food preservation.Because of this, the chapter on preserving and smoking meat has been deleted. Also, many of the pickle recipes have been much altered for the worse. Additionally, imagine the preserves and jellies without sugar (honey as a substitute) . I feel I have been cheated by not being informed of these changes in the description of this book.If a cookbook author decides to set themselves up as the food police, they should inform you of that fact up front. I find the book useless. I am still looking for a real food preservation book.

I enjoy canning and preserving and saving food for later. This book enables me to do all of that safely. There are recipes for using what you have put up so you don't wonder how to use the ten jars of pickles you have made (for example). This is a useful book. Now when I luck into a great sale on fruits or veggies or we have a bumper crop in our garden I can figure out what to do with it.

Enjoy.

Stocking Up III: The All-New Edition of America's Classic Preserving Guide

In today's economy, It's time to learn how to grow your own food, and make it keep till the next growing season. Your grandparents had victory gardens, we need survival gardens. This book covers what to preserve, and how to do it. It's a primary survival guide.

This book is very useful. It contains great recipes, but it also gives lists of specific fruits and veggies, and which are best for canning, freezing, or drying for perfect results, and lists the seed companies that carry those varities so you can plan your garden effectively. The "Tomato Junk" recipe is worth the price of the book alone. It's a great freezer recipe for the end of summer when you are overwhelmed with tomatoes and need something quick and practical to do with them. The book covers canning very well, but also has great ideas for freezing and drying and covers all types of foods including meats.

At one time I had an older edition. I do think it was more comprehensive than this edition. The third edition did not seem to cover drying and dryers as thoroughly as earlier edition. Some recipes were a little weird.

I had a hardcopy of this book long ago and gave it to a family member. This is really everything you need to know about preserving and storing food.

I had to read the book from to back before using it, there was soo much wonderful information. So far I have used the recipes for making Jam and Jellies with the Universal Pectin and refer to it for dehydrating. I absolutely love it!!