Customer Reviews

Well Preserved: A Jam Making Hymnal

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first saw one of Ms. Hassol's recipes in the New York Times and made it immediately - it was the peach ginger marmalade. It was so successful, I immediately bought the book. Most of her combinations are quite inspired - although there are too many that rely on ginger - that I was inspired to try some of my own new concoctions. However, I agree with other reviewers that the 1.5 packets of pectin she recommends is too much. One is usually fine. Also, her sugar content is quite high. Comparing her recipes with others, they seem to be 1 and sometimes 2 cups too much. This results in the jam being so sweet that it hides the fruit flavors. I've cut back on both of these with great success.

The best grape jam I've made. The best strawberry jam I've made. The best pear ginger jam I've made. I can keep going. This book has simple short lists of ingredients, lucid and basic instructions, and enough unique jam varieties to please any cook.

Her prose style invites reading and re-reading of the recipes, to the point where you make the jam with the ingredients in mind but actually *pay attention* to the cooking process. I have learned to watch the consistency change...thick and quiescent, then simmering, then boiling, then the beautiful last metamorphosis where everything gets crystal clear and you know the jam is done.

If you have never made jam before, this is a perfect book to start with. It's a warm intimate manual rather than a sterile cookbook. However, as other reviews have pointed out, I would suggest watching your sugar and pectin amounts. Hassol can be a bit...overzealous with those ingredients. But hey, one batch really isn't all that big and if you goof it up you will learn for the next batch. Try with something simple like grape jam, with such a short cheap list of ingredients that you can afford to lose a batch or two. I've also found that making notes in the margins is a great way to remember what you wanted to change for the next time.

Unfortunately Hassol passed away a few years ago, so this is her only book. I wish there had been more.

By mistake, I only had 1 packet of pectin for a recipe that called for 1.5 packets. (The strawberry with triple sec recipe.) The recipe jelled beautifully. I think 1.5 packets is a mistake! Only use 1, and it will turn out great.

The fact that there are recipes in this little jewel of a book is just a sweet bonus! This book is the poetic and poignant description of one woman's philosophical journey into the empty-nest phase of a rich, abundant life. Because she is also newly widowed, the story is just slightly washed with a light gray sadness -- the same color as the sky over the ocean in November in Massachusetts where the writing is set. Being the grandaughter of Mormon pioneers (big preservers of food), I completely related to the author's description of the jam-making process as a soulful, meditative craft that at once is productive and therapeutic. The way she describes the sound of children laughing when picking apples, and her own delight at discovering wild cranberries on the sand dune is so moving and real that you can almost feel the wind on your face. It reads quickly (I read it in traffic every morning) and is one of those books to just glance at every now and then for an injection of joy. I loved it!

I love her flavor combinations.

Some of her recipes have worked for me. Others I have had to adjust: they are too thick (too much pectin?) and / or the sugar doesn't completely dissolve (too much sugar?). It's an idea book and a trial and error book for me. I am so relieved to read the other reviews regarding the amount of sugar and pectin.

This isn't a book for a brand new jam maker -- in my opinion,the recipes are too 'hit or miss.'

When I bought this book I had no idea how to make or process jams. The instructions are easy to follow and the results are fantastic. I have noticed that 1 1/2 packages of pectin is sometimes too much, but the final product is still very edible. This book has inspired me to have a pantry filled with all sorts of goodies that I have made. I have also learned that just showing up for life every day and making the best of things as they are is essential for my happiness. Yes, this is a book about making jam, but it is also about making an anjoyable life for yourself.

The story line of the book is delightful. that in itself was worth the buy for me. However, I pur- chased the book for the recipes. That was a mistake. Unless the ingredients (fruits, etc.)on the East Coast are vastly different from ours on the West Coast Joan doesn't use these recipes. I tried a couple, but only a couple. Then I researched how to test a recipe, before wasting my precious fruit and sugar. A lot of her recipes call for 1 1/2 pkg. pectin. Well, let me tell you, that's a lot of pectin. I gave her the benefit of the doubt a couple times and then got a little wiser. For instance the recipe on page 43 makes such a thick glob of goo that one can barely incorporate the sugar. tsk tsk! Personally I'd like her to show me decent results using her recipe, straight from the book. I bet she can't do it. Furthermore, I would actually like reimbursed for the money I spent on the bogus recipes, I'll throw in my time for the learning experience.

This was a great book for beginners in canning. It gave detailed instructions for all the steps of canning.

I tried the recipe on page 43 (Cran-Raspberry Jam) and it turned out
beautifully, maybe it's because I'm an experienced jammer. This was
my first summer at the Farmer's Market as a vendor of jams and
jellies, baked goods, flowers and berries, and I found her
observations and musings on her experiences there very similar to my
own. Well worth the read and inspirational for the beginning jam
cook....

Like most people who do labor intensive archaic tasks, Joan Hassol has turned it into a creative, meditative act of love. For any serious preserver, the book is worth the price for the creative, unusual way Hassol combines fruits and spice. As for the "hymnal" part, well, that appears to be a way of fleshing this out into something more than just a recipe pamphlet, and some very compassionate publisher's largesse to let Ms. Hassol work out her widowhood. There are enough banal meanderings and minor errors in the text (not the recipes!) to make you wonder if the editor ever looked at the manuscript after giving it the go ahead. But like I said, the recipes speak for themselves. In addition to jams, there are chutneys, marmalades and spreads. Ms. Hassol makes a case for some of the more unusual combinations using her experience selling her wares at a farmers' market. She gives jam-making includes jam-making and canning basics, resources, and a few good tips. All of the recipes use pectin, and unfortunately, there is no non-pectin alternative directions included. Arranging the book by season is a clever strategy than any "real" canner will appreciate.