It is stunning to me how much the world of information around canning, preserving and DIY food arts has expanded in the last couple of years. When I first started this blog in early 2009, it was so easy to be familiar with the canon of books on the topic. I had them all and they took up about 18 inches of space on the bookshelf.
Then suddenly, a new wave of books started to flow onto the market. One of the best of this first round was Karen Solomon’s Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It. It offered instruction on canning, easy home dairy items and a variety of other projects that were universally welcomed by home cooks who wanted slightly more control over their food.
Karen recently published a follow-up volume called Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It that is just as delightful as her first book. It includes a handful traditional preserves, as well as instructions for homemade cereals (cornflakes! puffed rice!), miso, rice milk, smoked nuts and so much more.
For those of you who were intrigued but overwhelmed by Charcutepalooza and its many meaty challenges, you’re going to want to take a peek at the Hunt It section of the book. Karen has included a series of accessible, easy to follow recipes for corned beef, pastrami and hot dogs (as well as instructions for how to transform those hot dogs into corn dogs.
Every time I sit down with this book for more than a few minutes, I start to itch for the kitchen. The urge to cook become irresistible. My apartment has seen her Sesame Rosemary Granola, the Basic Barbecue Sauce and the Pickled Grapes (so good).
Last fall when I was in San Francisco, I got to meet Karen. We were both judges at the Good Food Awards and during a break in the tasting, she bought me a cup of coffee and we shared tales of obsessive preserving and cookbook writing. Somehow, that led to a request that I write a blurb for the book’s back cover. Entirely flattered, I was thrilled to do it.
All that said, here’s the point I really want to make. Even if I’d never known the first book, never met Karen and never spent hours pouring over a xeroxed galley copy trying to concisely say why I thought it was so good, I would still like this book. The recipes are super solid. The head notes are full of personality. And the pictures are pretty. It’s definitely a buy it, use it, love it book.
I recently made a batch of Jalapeno Apple Jam – which is spectacular on pork, btw – and now itch to whip up some Ancho Strawberry Jam…
Lacto-fermentation and cheese making!
My upcoming project is sauerkraut. I have the old crock from my parents and am just waiting for the cooler temps in late Sept and Oct. With our high heat and humidity, I’d have a moldy mess on my hands if I started it now.
Next year I will be hopefully be the proud owner and user of a food dehydrator AND a pressure canner 🙂
So much I want to learn! #1 pick? I want to make my own outdoor brick propane canning sanctuary. That’s all.
I have been wanting to make “Wickles”- wicked spicy pickles since my brother introduced me to them last summer.
I’ve really got to get over my fear of pressure canning. I’ve done it a few times but some how it intimidates me.
My top non-food project is to finish painting the kitchen cabinet doors so they can be installed. My next food project is tackling peaches. I’d also like to start making artisan breads ( in 15 minutes a day), plus making my own butter & cheese!
I’d like to make more staples from scratch — like crackers, pasta, and cereal.
I want to learn to make jerky.
Today I am tackling tomato sauce and blueberry/ginger jam!
i want to evolve my small garden to a 2 (or 3!) season patch.
The Texas heat we have been having has done wonders for the jalapenos and cayennes in our very first garden. Problem is-I don’t know what to do with them all! I have heard you can dry them out, and I want to attempt this, but am a bit intimidated!
This book sounds awesome! I’ve been needing to dehydrate eggs, make jelly and I’m waiting for this years tomatoes to started some roasted pizza sauce! Mmmmm…
Canning tuna. And making marshmallows. 🙂
Looks like an awesome cook book. I read cook books just like novels….late @ nite…nothing better than to dream of making all the goodies. I collect cook books like the guys collect baseball cards…lol!
Yesterday was my latest “CANNINING PROJECT”. I made 10 1/2 pints of Peach Sauvignon Jam. It came out amazing!
I’d love to win a copy of this book! My next big learning curve is going to be cheese making. And I’ll be dehydrating my herbs and would love to be able to learn to keep them in this Mississippi humidity! This book will inspire me to try some new things, homemade cornflakes?
I’m going to go through all my canning supplies, jars, lids, seals, to make sure I’m ready to can spaghetti sauce when the tomatoes are ready!
My next kitchen challenge would be to make my own cheese. I also want to try fermenting some cabbage to make sauerkraut and cucumbers for sour pickles. I love playing in the kitchen.
Replacing our current countertops with butcherblock
I have a load of tomatoes here waiting to be transformed into something yummy. Salsa is definately on that list as I made 6 pints about 3 weeks ago and my husband just opened the last jar last night but I am interested in trying some tomato jam too. After that project is done it is on to organize my kitchen so that all of my canning stuff has its own place. I have started small batch canning on a regular basis and would love to have easier access to my equipment.
We started our farm enterprise 10 years ago on leased land. Quickly realized our beef, pork, chicken, eggs, turkey, open pollinated, heirloom vegetables, honey, geese, ducks and fruit are nothing like what is available anywhere else. We are ready to add grains and to preserve everything..we can the usual stuff and want to continue to let our CSA customers know of other ways and methods they can use to hold onto our food year round. Currently providing a variety of foodstuffs to hundreds of families, we would love a copy to share ideas and food preserving options. As farmers we have little cash but lots of good eats!
I have so many projects in mind, I cannot choose just one. I just canned my first batch of anything two weeks ago. I started my own blog three days ago. I have tried making bacon (needs lots of tweeking/better recipe), we even tried smoking some of it in our charcoal grill (interesting to say the least). I would love to learn more about canning and I want to can everything! I would love to learn to make cheese, especially ricotta, mozzarella and goat cheese. But, right now, my first call of business is either baking bread or more canning. This winter, I plan on trying out more things (like making homemade dressing for Thanksgiving and canning cranberries). Thank you for a chance to win what looks like an amazing book and for sharing your awesome insight into your kitchen!
I just completed my first ever fermentation project. Homemade sauerkraut is GOOD! Next up is pickled beans…
Once I get past canning all the tomatoes in a variety of ways from the 100+ plants in my garden, I want to try my hand at making hot sauces from the habenero & other peppers. The book looks wonderful ~ thanks for the chance!
Great giveaway! This will be the year I tackle half sour pickles. My husband will be thrilled.
I’m hoping some carrot apple butter is in my future within a couple weeks… our carrots are starting to really pop and the apple trees in Vermont look loaded this year compared to the less-than-desireable harvest last year. Thank you for all that you do with this blog – what great inspiration!
A new kitchen floor! Ok but that’s not really what you meant. Recently I’ve tackled cheese making, though canning season has pushed it out of the way. So I’m looking forward to trying more cheese making this Fall. Also wanting to smoke my own paprika from the peppers growing in the garden. Hopefully my husband will fire up the smoker this weekend and we’ll give the first red paprika pepper a try.
I’ve definitely been wanting to try making cheeses-but I think my list of projects would change drastically with this book in hand!
I would very much like to make a hard cheese, but I’m waiting until fall.
i just started canning, and so far, i love it…. i would love to can some of the veggies that require a pressure cooker but the cooker freaks me out! i need to conquer my fear of the pressure cooker!
I am going to try to figure out how to use up of the pesto I made this week. We have had it in pasta, on bread, in my first attempt at homemade mayo and we need one or two more meals to finish it off!
Kitchen project as in cooking or project project? If it’s cooking it probably would be a marinted roasted pepper for canning. If it’s a “real” project, we’re getting our new kitchen (that was built in the 60’s!) remodel. We’re at the design stage right but it’s ALL changing, paint, floor, cabinets, countertops, appliances, lighting, patio door and a faucet on the stove wall is getting installed for my canning & hubby’s brewing 🙂 We’re in the beginning steps, but I’ve been dreaming about this new kitchen since we bought the house 2 years ago! Oh, and we’re also putting a bookshelf on a counter’s end for all my cookbooks 🙂
I need to find out ways to use whey. I have a lot of it leftover from making kefir cheese. I know there has to be something to do with it other than dump it on my compost pile!
Ravioli
Sauerkraut
Pickles
Baba Ganoush (overloaded on Eggplant from CSA)
I’m going to try making my Mothers mustard bean pickles. I used to love them as a kid, but haven’t had them in years! And if I can accomplish that, I’m going to attempt making pickled beets for Christmas presents!
My project would be to organize my junk drawer. But….then would I be able to “find it”? he he he.
I was just able to scratch “homemade mozzarella and ricotta” off my project list this weekend. Next up is a big batch of garlic sausage.
I also loved Karen’s first book, and made quite a few things from it – I’m excited to see she has a sequel! As for kitchen projects and ambitions, I’m hoping to get my master preservers certificate. I’m waiting until my kiddo enters school full time this fall, but it’s certainly an undertaking I’m ready for…
My current kitchen project is freezing and making jam and butter out of 18 pounds of blueberries.
Get my freezer reorganized to store all of our goodies from our garden this year properly and find a place to store all of the jams and pickles that my husband and I have started making this year for the first time!!
I’d love to do more with tomatoes. Every year I can up the same sauce and that’s about it. I have a freezer full of little cherry tomatoes awaiting my creative spark.
Thanks so much for the giveaway!!
soy bean based products. I eat them a lot prepackaged so I want to give a stab at making them.
I’ve got some end of season green tomatoes hanging on the vine. I want to try canning some green tomato salsa.
More pickled vegetables and chutneys. Spicy little bites to add to a meal
Writing my profile for online dating. I’m hoping to find someone who will be a kitchen companion. 🙂 Kitchen-wise myself, I’m going to make several little Oriental dipping-type sauces, mostly from the book Asian Tapas, to take to a potluck for departing neighbors.
I think I’ll focus on cleaning it so I’ll feel like doing a project so I can mess it up all over again!
I need to give homemade sourdough another whack. My fiancee and I made a batch back in Florida, but it was so darned hot and humid that summer that anything we left out to rise when overly nuts, and so we never used the remaining starter before moving. Once the temperatures start coming down, perhaps North Carolina will be more forgiving.
Cheers,
*Heather*
I am looking forward to one day having the time and energy to make croissants from scratch!