Customer Reviews

Summer in a Jar: Making Pickles, Jams and More

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An innovative idea drives this book, since canning single-jar and small-quantity preserves or pickles is a great way to keep up with a small garden's produce. The chapter called "Single Jar Pickles" contains 27 recipes for preserving a wide variety of vegetables in hot vinegar. The "Salt-Brined Pickles" chapter outlines ...well, pickling in salt brine, of course. The "Relishes and Chutneys" chapter and the section on "Quick and Easy Freezer Pickles" also cater to the home gardener who wishes to put up small harvests without much fuss. A couple of recipes for baked fruit butters eliminate much of the mess and fuss (and second-degree burns!) associated with open-kettle preparation. :) If you are interested in these topics, then by all means give this book a try. HOWEVER...if you intend to concoct jams, jellies, marmalades, preserves or conserves, you may want to seek another source. The low-sugar, no-pectin-added fruit preserves taste less like premium home-made jam than like barely sweetened mashed fruit. Leaving out commercial pectin, and cutting WAY down on sugar, necessitates steps like these: long boiling times (10-30 minutes versus 1 minute with added pectin); use of a jelly thermometer or other lower-tech method to test for gel stage; and an addition of diced tart apples to nearly all jams and jellies. Since the rest of the book is filled with recipies modified for modern needs, it seems anachronistic to revert to this older, messier, less convenient form of jelly-making. IF YOU NEED LOW-SUGAR JAM recipes for health reasons, this is your book. If you want soft-spreading fruit with a barely sweetened flavor, use Summer in a Jar. IF ALL YOU WANT IS SWEET, EASY, REGULAR OL' JAM, get another source--like the Ball Blue Book.

This is fantastic! I've started canning just this year. I bought four canning books, and 90% of the canning I've done has been from this one. Super for small batches, but they're easily converted to larger ones. Fantastic for the home gardener--even if you have a small garden. There are great recipes for salsa, tomato sauces, pickles of all flavors, hot peppers, &jardineres.

This cookbook does not look like much from the outside, but the recipes inside are a must for anyone who makes their own pickles, jams, or jellies. The recipes are simple to follow and there is a lot of variety to choose from. The Tarragon Green Beans are always a hit for me.

An innovative idea drives this book, since canning single-jar and small-quantity preserves or pickles is a great way to keep up with a small garden's produce. The chapter called "Single Jar Pickles" contains 27 recipes for preserving a wide variety of vegetables in hot vinegar. The "Salt-Brined Pickles" chapter outlines ...well, pickling in salt brine, of course. The "Relishes and Chutneys" chapter and the section on "Quick and Easy Freezer Pickles" also cater to the home gardener who wishes to put up small harvests without much fuss. A couple of recipes for baked fruit butters eliminate much of the mess and fuss (and second-degree burns!) associated with open-kettle preparation. :) If you are interested in these topics, then by all means give this book a try. HOWEVER...if you intend to concoct jams, jellies, marmalades, preserves or conserves, you may want to seek another source. The low-sugar, no-pectin-added fruit preserves taste less like premium home-made jam than like barely sweetened mashed fruit. Leaving out commercial pectin, and cutting WAY down on sugar, necessitates steps like these: long boiling times (10-30 minutes versus 1 minute with added pectin); use of a jelly thermometer or other lower-tech method to test for gel stage; and an addition of diced tart apples to nearly all jams and jellies. Since the rest of the book is filled with recipies modified for modern needs, it seems anachronistic to revert to this older, messier, less convenient form of jelly-making. IF YOU NEED LOW-SUGAR JAM recipes for health reasons, this is your book. If you want soft-spreading fruit with a barely sweetened flavor, use Summer in a Jar. IF ALL YOU WANT IS SWEET, EASY, REGULAR OL' JAM, get another source--like the Ball Blue Book.

Simply the best book for making low-sugar fruit preserves! I love to be able to taste the fruit, not the sugar, when I eat jam and preserves, so I decided to make my own. After searching high and low for a comprehensive book of recipes, I've found that this is the only one I need. I love that the recipes are set up in such a way as to allow multiplying and dividing of a batch. Perfect for making a few jars for gift giving. Haven't tried the pickles yet, but my family and friends have told me that the recipes from this book are the best they've ever tasted. One caveat: it has always taken me much more time to cook the fruit than the recipe states. Now that I know that, I just allow more time.

I've been canning since I was a kid... about 35 years now, on and off. I'm a home-gardener, so this book slid onto my cookbook shelf many years ago. It's perfect for those of us who have a jar's worth of stuff from the garden that we don't want to eat or freeze right now; the single-jar recipes mean that we can cook up a few batches of this and that and can it all for that winter day when that garden stuff is heavenly. I have especially loved the chutney recipes in this book, too. I have already got my favorite jam recipes, so never tried the no-sugar recipes here, though I do have access to a crabapple tree so I bet I could get 'em to gel without much effort!

As with any cookbook, there'll be favorites and non-favorites. This book's real contribution is the many single-jar recipes that got me thinking "hey, there's no reason NOT to just can this up!" The easy directions make canning accessible to those who might shy away from the more difficult setup and processing directions in bigger books. So, I give it 5 stars; any recipe book that can be on my shelf and regularly used for over 20 years has earned that!

This is the best book on preserving naturally I have found. Andrea Chesman, the author, teaches and explains everything you need to know, even if you have never canned or preserved anything.

Her recipes are well-tested and everything I have tried from this book has come out fantastically. She offers many alternatives to bought pectins and sugar, so you can do everything naturally, if desired. Her recipes are unique and fun, without being odd, and she tells you how to use the products you make. She even tells you exactly how to clean your vegetables and the simple drawings illustrating her points are very helpful and laced at each needful step.

Are you concerned about all the salt in pickles? She writes, "What about No-salt Pickles?" and tells you how to do that.

There are many recipes I want to try that I have never had the courage to try before. She makes it so easy, that I am confident it won't fail. I tried her strawberry-rhubarb jam. It came out tasting a lot like apple-butter (no pectin, using honey)and got rave reviews from everyone. I will soon try Peach Orange Chutney. Here is what she says about chutneys, which I've never tried before: "Relishes and chutneys have so many uses. I can't make enough of them...The chutneys, in particular, make wonderful gifts--because they are so special and unusual. Chutneys are traditionally served as a condiment to curry dishes, but their use shouldn't stop there. You can serve chutney as a condiment with any meat, fish, or fowl. Replace cranberry sauce with an apricot chutney at your next holiday dinner if you like. I think chutneys go particularly well with simple roasted or grilled dishes. And then there is chutney and cheese on crackers, chutney with Chinese eggrolls..."

Outstanding!!!!! I don't think I will need another book after this.

A good and very basic how to book. For someone getting started this would be perfect. I was looking for more than basics.

If you have small garden, or do square foot gardening, this is a perfect canning book for you... one quart jar at a time!