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.