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 am going to be canning some cherry ice cream topping with some of my 20 qts of frozen cherries!!:)
canning dill pickles before they are no more.
Great giveaway! I’ve been wanting to tackle pickled green beans, but haven’t gotten around to it yet!
Most of my kitchen is a project. I am one of your formerly far away readers who moved the USA recently and now struggles hard. Ingredients taste and even react differently. My usual spelt flour is incredibly expensive, I have far to much mint and still take pictures of certain fruits, roots and squashes to check with google. To figure what I could do with it and where it comes from! I love making my own dressings, condiments, relishes, and could do with lots of help in this new kitchen and home country of mine. Thanks for hosting this giveaway!
I need to put up tomatoes. My garden is churning out a glut of them and I plan to make soup, sauces, and salsas.
This book looks amazing! My next kitchen challenge I plan to conquer is making homemade ricotta. yummmm
I want to take advantage of the season and can some candied jalapenos.
My next kitchen challenge will be to learn to smoke cheese. I’ll start with one of my homemade goudas and then go from there.
A kitchen project I want to try? Easy: chutneys and mustards. Intermediate: cheese. Hard: bacon and other meats.
I love her other book. I make her crackers regularly.
I am determined to find an outstanding tomato sauce to can, even though this year’s tomato harvest hasn’t been as bountiful. Or maybe we’re just eating too many of the tomatoes.
I love curry, so my challenge this year are chutneys.
I just moved into my new apartment and I’ve got a huge pile of wine glasses that I need to hang up. I purchased some of those under the cupboard glass holders, where the stem of the glass slide into place and hangs upside down for easy reaching. I’ve just got to figure out a way to screw them into place without going to deep into the cupboard above since this is a rental.
Love your website!
My major kitchen projects are pickles, jams, and bread. It’s a never ending cycle at my house.
I love any new ideas of what to do with produce. My favorite items include making all sort of syrups for holiday gifts, especially ones which can not be found in stores. Pear with ginger, cinnamon scented peach, or mixed berry blend.
That books looks cool! I have wanted to try smoking meats for preservation for some time. It would make a great kitchen project!
As for the kitchen project I have been meaning to tackle, all this week I have been needing to make cuccumber agua fresca. I have never done it before, but I have a load of garden grown cuccumbers waiting to take their turn 🙂
Volleyball season is around the corner, so I’m planning on making jerky for an easy portable afternoon snack for my girls. Summer may have arrived in the Northwest, so I should have a bunch of ripe tomatoes for salsa before I know it & I’ve got a bowl of red currants in the fridge needing attention. I’m thinking a lovely pie.
Canning is on my summer list of things to do this year…..would love to have this book
I am cooking healthier this summer…..mostly more vegetables less meat. Also eating more organic. Big project is to tackle would be to bring our 1980’s kitchen up to date. This book looks delicious!
That book looks great! I am looking forward to using my new pressure canner!
Experimenting with a juicer to find new ways to combine fruits and veggies into a delicious healthy drink.
Just trying to keep up with the pickles. But I’d like to work on spiced jams. I know that’s simple for some, but I’ve never done it.
This book looks fantastic! If I don’t win, I’ll have to go look for this at the bookstore!
Something I’ve been wanting to tackle in my kitchen is my grandma’s green tomato relish. I have fond memories of eating it as a child, and I just recently got the recipe from her. Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time finding green tomatoes at the farmer’s markets right now. Since there’s still plenty of warm weather left for tomatoes to get ripe, the farmers don’t seem to be picking and selling the green ones just yet. And with a baby due in the next few weeks, I’m not sure I’ll get to this project this year. But I’m still hoping to squeeze it in!
I have this book on my Amazon wish list. My kitchen project is to stop reading about canning and actually can something! I’ve never canned by myself (only with my grandmother) and I feel intimidated by the idea. I would love to take my food preserving into my own hands!
I want to perfect a signature bloody mary mix. The boiling, peeling, and deseeding the tomatoes is deterring me from getting started! I think I’ll have to set a September 1 deadline for myself to make sure it gets done.
I want to start a garden. I know- that isn’t in the kitchen but its results would be! I also want to start learning to can meats.
What a pretty cover! My next “project” is making homemade vanilla. Should have started it months ago so I could have it for Christmas presents, but oh well!
Oh my list of kitchen projects where do I start….
homemade vanilla extract
canning beans
dehydrating fruits
jerky
fruit leather
Thank you for all of your information.
Misti
I have really been wanting to grow, and then can the tomatoes. I wanted to can the puree, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and then salsa. This year we were out of town too often to have a garden,but this next year I really want to. But I also need to learn how to can first;p
I think I say this in your comments all the time, but I really would like to try canning. Someday!! I’ve also been really fascinated with the idea of making seasonal candy recently. I think it’d be great fun!
I’m trying to make one or two new preserved items per week. Pretty comfortable with jam type items and now venturing into pickled items. So far, pepper onion relish, giardiniera and sauerkraut (I’m lucky to have a husband who loves it so I experiment with krauts, adding various flavors). Dill pickles today as the pickling cucumber in my garden is bursting. I’ll have to pick up Karen’s first book and hope I win this one 😉
I’m such a baby when it comes to canning. I feel less intimidated by freezing. So..I’m really wanting to leap out of my comfort zone and try my hand at pickles, tomato sauces, and some fruit preserves!
My biggest kitchen project is repainting my kitchen cabinets!!! ‘nough said ;o)
I would like to can some tomatoes or make some more jam.
This year I have 300 lbs of tomatoes coming from a local farm so my project is canning lots of salsas and sauces!
I want to make ketchup and tomato paste.
Today, I am going to tackle 25lbs of pickling cucumbers and 10 lbsof jalapeños!
This year I made pineapple salsa with tomatoes from my backyard. I planted pickling cucumbers but got a total of 3! I would like to become a better gardner so that I can preserve more of my own food. (PS. I am in an urban neighborhood with a little too much shade for a great garden.)
I really want to tackle canning good soups and other recipes. I have a pressure canner and do use it, but I’d love some great recipes for making the basic soups extra special.
I’m dying to make my own marinara sauce and can it. That’s the plan for next week.
My current kitchen project is to find a decent tasting homemade salsa recipe. So far, I’ve made it way too spicy, way too tart, and the most recent batch tastes like I mixed tomatoes, peppers & onions with taco sauce. Rather disappointing. Here’s hoping the next batch comes out a heck of a lot better! (The sad salsa moment changed to pure delight though when I cracked open a jar of homemade pickles made with Ball Pickle Crisp and to my delight they were CRUNCHY!!!)
Our garden did well enough this year that I am wanting to tackle canning.
My weekend project is to create more storage space in my tiny 6 x 10′ kitchen. I have way to much canning stuff to store and canning isn’t seasonal for me anymore!
I just picked up some red currants at a farm stand, so I am excited to try making a syrup with them this afternoon from another great new canning cookbook, Tart & Sweet, and try it in drinks, and maybe even marinades and stuff. Should be yummy!
Reubens! I want to feed my friends hot pastrami and homemade sauerkraut on my own dark rye with gooey swiss.
My to-do-list includes canning tomatoes and tomato jam for this winter (can’t beat it with a stick!) My want-to-do-list includes mint jelly. Jelly is new for me this year and so far I made orange rubber once and cherry jalapeno jelly (with more success than my first attempt.) I have chocolate mint in my garden that screams for attention every 2 weeks or so – and I usually dry it for tea in winter. There is always more than enough though, and so I think mint jelly will fit the bill. I hope I get to it!
I’d really like to master crockpot yogurt! I eat yogurt almost daily and it would be great if I could make it at home. And I have a lot of canning projects planned for the next month. Our garden did great this year!
Planning on making plum sauce and plum jam. Been spending my time on creating my canning recipe home binder. Anything canning is in this binder.
This book looks fantastic! I am excited to tackle canning peaches and I would love to make peach butter as well!
This site has reinvigerated my already obsessive relationship with food. I have started canning again – small batch and have found utter joy at the end of a long day – just me and my jars. My spare time is now spent looking for good prices on organic fruit – not many organic orchards in the South Jersey/PA area. My goals going forward are simple 1) use what I grow either today (fresh) or months from now (frozen and canned) and 2) shop my pantry first – that means knowing what is there to begin with.
I hope to finally organize my spices.
Oh, the list of projects I am eager to tacke! I want to learn to make mozzarella cheese from our own goats that we milk every day. I definitely need to find a great pasta sauce recipe so I can do something with the bounty of tomatoes about to be ripe in a week or so. Hope you pick me for your giveaway!
I want to make some homemade tonic for a real gin & tonic!
I’d like to make some wine and fig preserves. I’m thinking of using some pretty little jars I found and making enough for Christmas gifts for my wine loving friends!
I have been wanting to learn how to smoke tomatoes at home since the dawn of time. This book looks amazing!
I have been wanting to make peach jam for my DIL–she is *mad* about peaches!!!
Been canning for two years now. I want to tackle the pressure canner I have some day and try and use it. So far I have just used the water bath canner.
My favorite type of cookbook, one with beautiful photos! Does it count that we have already started working on this project? Smoked salmon, batch #6 coming up today. With my hubby taking a fishing trips to Seward, we have lots of salmon in our freezer and we think we have been pretty successful so far. He will take lots of the little packages to his hunt camp in Eastern WA this fall and we will have many as gifts.
This is my summer of learning to make cheese, cultured butter, sour cream and all things dairy. My Jersey cow is producing 6-7 gallons of beautiful, sweet milk per day so between the calf and I – we have a lot of milk to play with!
My next project is to finally get around to trying to recreate some ‘spice jelly’ I saw in Barbados. I’ve canned jams and fruit butters, I’m a little nervous to make my own recipe.
I’ve been meaning to get back into homebrewing (beer) for quite a while now. Unfortunately I’m about to move into a smaller apartment, and will have even less kitchen space for project supplies. Even still, I’m sure there’s something in the book I can take on!
I would love to tackle sweet corn relish. I’ve had it several times & would enjoy making a batch myself.
Just found this website, love it!
I have a week off so I’m planning on using it to gather and organize canning supplies, to be ready for the figs, tomatoes and peppers ripening in the garden 🙂
Karen’s first book was on my list, but you’re right, there are so many to choose from now! It’s hard to keep up. This one sounds, and looks, delightful.
Count me among those overwhelmed and perhaps intimidated by Charcutepalooza. But I would love to try a homemade linguica one day; and there’s always more to learn about making your own food. I’m very intrigued by the puffed rice recipe, as I was researching that at some point to make a truly from-scratch Rice Krispie treat. Because – I’m wacky that way. 🙂
Ooh – I’ve really been wanting to try to make my own yogurt!
I want to learn the knack of cooking without a recipe so I can invent my own things. (I’m making a few tentative steps — I have an idea for an ice cream that’s based on the cafe au lait you get at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.)
I also want to try fried clams, a clambake on my stove, and pig’s feet.
I’d like to can tomato sauce from tomatoes I’ve grown. I’d also like to try canning chicken, but alas, I have no pressure cooker. Someday though…
Want to try making some salty, crispy, thin crackers for snacks. Need a good receipe.
Carol
I need to put up hooks for hanging utensils and oven mitts to clear up cluttered cupboards.
Thank you for the fun giveaway!
I have only recently discovered your blog and find it VERY inspiring. A newly diagnosed celiac sufferer, I am currently in the process of completely revamping my entire way of eating and looking at food. The cupboards have all been cleaned out and the next big project is going through the cookbooks, especially my personal recipe collection, the ring binder with all my favorites and the family recipes and the notes (you know the one). I am finding processed foods of any kind are almost always painful for me to eat, so this book will be instrumental in the restocking of my new kitchen! I look forward to reading it, even if I am not the lucky winner this time 🙂
I just got a dehydrator and I am going to have to conquer canning, as I have a huge garden. I can only giveaway so much, as my neighbor also has a large garden and we just trade veggies back and forth…LOL! Thanks for such a great giveaway!
I have ordered some Gravenstein apples that will be delivered on Tuesday. I need to make a plan for what I will make with them!
Old fashioned cherry olives are on the “to do” list. They are nostalgia for your taste buds!!!
I would really like to make & bottle my own ketchup. Just waiting for the height of tomato season……..
Currently on my to do list: fermented veggies, kombucha, and sprouts (which I’ve grown before but want to get into the habit of doing regularly).
This book looks fantastic!
I have a confession to make. I have never made jam, or other such fruit preserves. Okay I feel better now. I’d like to tackle that some day.
My whole kitchen needs a reorg…cupboards, shelves, countertops…yikes. I’m procrastinating by making refrigerator pickles and hopefully something delicious with my CSA blueberries instead though!
I just got a pressure canner for my birthday and can’t wait to try it out! Also, as soon as the tomatoes are ready in bulk (probably another 2 weeks or so here in Pittsburgh) we’re planning to put up at least 2 bushels (maybe 3)!
Love, love, love your posts…so addicted to foodie blogs these days…I had my sons’ girlfriend reorg my pantry, more time for blogs! But, I really need to touch up the paint job on my cabinets!
Always have a project or two I mean to tackle when it comes to the kitchen 🙂 There is always organizing my canning recipes, but food wise I’d like to tackle canning pickles and pressure canning chicken. I would appreciate this book so much!
I am waiting for several varieties of chili peppers to come in to can them up, I love the color and taste of freshness. I love canning and wish I could do more, my garden didn’t do as well this year… but that wont stop me 😉
making my own ketchup! but now possibly home made cornflakes too…lol
Got to get my canning items organized!
With the lack of rain, My peppers are not growing well {yet}. I am so anxious to get started making pepper butter {mustard}. Everyone is asking it for it and I love the aroma of it throughout the house a I prepare it. guess I will look through other recipes and see what I can “do” while waiting!
I always seem to have a project looming in the kitchen no matter how much time I dedicate to canning & jamming. However I have been putting off making a Shallot Confiture that takes 3 days to make for weeks now! I swear I’ll get to it soon, right after I put up the blueberries… I also have an unfounded fear of the pressure cooker I hope to get over.
I would like to have most of my spices and vegetables be home grown. I am a beginning dehydrator.
Staying busy with canning from the garden but I want to can some pickled ginger. Saw this recipe recently and can’t wait to try it. The cookbook looks wonderful; would love to win it!!
I want to make Beef Jerky, then smoke it in our smoker (not exactly kitchen equipment!) to ‘pasteurize’.. mmmm
Paneer! It is essentially a fresh cheese and is apparently relatively easy to make, but it’s $9 for a small block in my local market. So expensive! I need my Indian food, and eating out does not fit into my budget or my lifestyle aspirations.
I’m a college sophomore and I’ve been detached from a real kitchen for too long! I’m finally getting the chance to have my own kitchen in a few weeks and I’m determined (since I’ll be shopping from the ground up) to have everything be as homemade and natural as possible, from my jams and jellies to sauces, etc. I’ve been missing canning season!
I have been wanting to make pickles and make my own bbq sauce. And I really want this book!!!!
I’ve been wanting to reorganize my spice cabinet. What a mess!
Bacon jam! Have been dying to try it.
Looks like a lovely book! I want to completely reorganize our cupboards, but it seems like a huge project that never happens 🙁
My big kitchen project(s) is/are to get all my cherry tomatoes sundried and canned and get ready for apple picking and canning at the end of the month
This book has been on my wish list! The kitchen project I’ll be tackling soon is Fermenting Vegetables. I’m slowly getting into the world of culturing and it’s baby steps for sure. I’ve accomplished Kombucha but still need to try sour dough, made milk kefir but would like to try water kefir. I actually took (& organzined) a course at our local Extension Office for water bath canning & am waiting for a course on pressure canning to can soups for the winter. So many goals, so little time. I’ve been so absorbed in all these tasks that I haven’t blogged a thing all summer 🙁 Thank you for all you do!
On a whim, I bought a whole mess of clearance Roma tomatoes at the store yesterday, so I’ve got to learn how to make and can tomato sauce today! No pressure, or anything.
I would share this book with my friend Tom. He’s single but has a huge garden and cans and freezes all his garden goodies and lives on them all winter. Two big projects need to be done in my kitchen, painting the walls and getting back in the habit of making my own bread.
I would really like to make either bacon or guanciale
I had a pretty good experience making goat cheese back in the spring, but I think I can do better! I want to perfect it!
I love the idea of narrow shelves for my canned goods & I hadn’t even considered smoking my own salt even though I love smoked salt. What I really need to do is empty & re organize my cabinets & pantry. (I’ll probably end up making smoked salt first, though!)