Putting Up More by Stephen Palmer Dowdney is an excellent canning cookbook for those who want to push the boat out and explore a world of preserving projects that are outside the typical array of recipes.
Stephen Palmer Dowdney’s first book, Putting Up
While walking by the Cookbook Stall at Reading Terminal Market about a week ago, I happened to spot Putting Up More
One of the things that makes Dowdney’s books stand out in the pack of canning volumes is the perspective from which he writes. He owned a commercial canning operation for more than 10 years and so isn’t as tethered to the home canning practices to which we all cleave. He sterilizes his jars in a bleach solution instead of a canning pot or dishwasher, utilizes the inversion method for sealing, skips a processing step for hot pack recipes and even gives you the intellectual tools necessary to check the pH levels of your goods.
Though he doesn’t specifically say it, his instructions on how to test acidity and how to adjust to bring your goods into a safe range is the information so many of us have been looking for. As long as you’re willing to follow his directions (to the letter), this technique will finally set you free from the confines of tested recipes. If this sounds appealing to you, I recommend that you get your hands on both Putting Up
He includes a section of canning notes in each recipe, which details whether the recipe is one that will need to have its acid levels tested, what the yield will be, his recommendation for jar size (a hugely helpful bit) and whether the recipe can be safely increased or decreased. Dowdney has also taken a great deal of time to offer up suggestions on how to use and serve each recipe. For those of you who make things and then question what the heck to do with them, this is fantastic.
Other high points of this book include the safe for canning soups (including butternut squash, which I imagine will make some USDA canners devotees freak out), an entire section devoted to products made from hot peppers and an eggplant chutney that sounds incredible. As soon as the eggplant, peppers and summer squash are in season, I’m making it.
Because I think they’re excellent books, I’m giving away the pair of Putting Up
In totally other news, I just started another year of a photo a day over on my other blog, Apartment 2024 (I used my birthday as the start). If you’re curious about what else happens in my life, feel free to take a peek. Recently, I drank a really tasty glass of iced coffee with condensed milk, voted in my local primary election and took a day trip to New Hope courtesy of Chevy.
I’m looking forward to canning our tomatoes. We planted 33 tomato plants this year, which should last us through the winter with some to share.
I want to can everything this year! I am new to canning, I have made a few jams & pickles here and there! But, this year I would love to put-up tons of stuff from our garden…..just like my Mom used to do!!!
I’m not sure if I’m most looking forward to making family favourites like strawberry jam and dill pickles, or trying my hand at pickling the pepperoncini that we’re growing. Or maybe some homemade pickled jalapenos.
I’m most looking forward to canning pie filling for the first time, and also making some boozy fruit – like brandied peaches!
I’m looking forward to giving Concord Grape Jam (yes, jam, not jelly, ’cause it’s with the skins) another go!
I am excited to hear about these books. Sometimes my home canning ambitions outstrip my equipment availablility. I’d love to learn more alternatives. Planning to put up some Rhubarb BBQ sauce soon: as soon as the rain lets up a bit.
I am most looking forward to canning plain tomatoes. I ran out midwinter this year.
Definitely tomatoes, but I’m hoping to get enough mulberries for mulberry jam too!
Let’s see… I’m looking forward to canning zucchini relish, tomato jam and lots more tomato soup. And lots of jams and sauces. (We’ve stopped buying the little containers of yogurt and have been using jam with plain yogurt instead.)
I’m excited to can anything! I’m a novice and my canning adventure begins as soon as I can decide what to make. So far I’ve narrowed it down to something savory, but the possibilities are endless!
fascinating! these books look incredible. I’m getting excited about corn salsa. I thought I made too much last year, but I’m already out!
I am so looking forward to canning more tomatoes. We ran out about a month ago and nothing I can buy comes even close to the wonderful flavour of home canned. We’ll be doing twice as many this year so we can share.
As boring as it sounds, I’m looking forward to making a perfect batch of apricot jam for my perfect husband, who wishes I would stop with all the “fancy” stuff and just make him what he wants. 🙂
I realize this is a bit on the boring side for some, but I’ve got 18 tomato plants this year and I am looking forward to canning tomato sauce rather than freezing this year!
I am hoping my tomatoes and jalapeno plants actually product this year so I can do some salsa, and tomatoes. 🙂
My first foray into canning was last fall when I did a really small batch of apple butter. It was terrifyingand exciting all at the same time. I think this summer I’m going to try moving onto jam. Strawberry and raspberry and maybe even peach, if summer ever shows up…
Probably kind of boring, but I am really (really, really) looking forward to canning lots of pasta sauce! That and roasted red pepper spread. Mmmmm…
Also, it’s my birthday, so I think I should win! 🙂
These books sound awesome! I can’t wait to make more jam (we are almost out… just holding out until strawberries make their appearance in New England) and more of the green tomato relish I made last year. Delicious!
I can’t wait for blueberry-thyme jam! Not really summer, but I’m toying with the idea of a lavender-lemon marmalade too 🙂
I LOVE to can, and do up lots of things, relishes, jams, fruits, tomatoes, but what my family looks forward to most: homemade organic Ketchup. Super easy, and better than anything you can buy in the store. YUM-O! (I make a vat of it to take us through the whole year!) I also make a Honey Habanero Hot Sauce that my husband just loves. (too hot for me!)
This year I plan on putting bacon up in a jar and to be successful at pumpkin butter. My last experiment didn’t last a week with the pumpkin butter, I need to know more about keeping things with enzymes in them.
I am looking to try my hand at some new areas in canning. I want to expand into different jams to use in baking later and find more tomato canning recipes. Always have tons of tomatoes to work with! Maybe even a different recipe for cucumbers, too. Finding new recipes is part of the fun. Nice to see the subject of ph being discussed, that would be a great read! 🙂
I can not wait for salsa and strawberry jam time (which is almost here!!!) my big thing this year is to try to can wild violet jam. We’ll see how that goes. 😉 thanks for offering this book, it looks amazing!!!
I am really looking forward to making & preserving pepper relish for gifts at the holidays.
This year I plan to can “something”. This will be my first year canning which is why I’m so excited to find your blog. I was thinking tomatoes but the more I read about canning tomatoes the more freaked out I get. I think I may start with green beans or berries.
I would love to know how to create my own recipes…I have an abundance of berries and nuts, and I’ve often thought a more savory spread would appeal to me and my friends rather than the normal preserves, etc.
Honestly, I would try the pickled asparagus! I tried some at a farmer market here and wish I had bought some! I love it! Thanks!
I would like to try something with eggplant this year. I stopped canning for the past several years (not quite sure why.) But I have been bitten by the canning bug once again and have already put up pickled asparagus and pickled rhubarb, my first time for both. I can’t wait to do more this season and am so glad I’ve returned to something that I really love to do.
Does it count if I’ve already made the canned good I was most looking forward to? It’s the jelly that is the filling for one of the tiers of the wedding cake I’m baking for my Auntie: Lavender-Rose-Raspberry. Swoon.
I started looking making my summer canning schedule yesterday! in addition to the multiple jams, I’m looking forward to trying my hand at tomatoes this year. It’s a little scary, but I think I can do it!
Roasted tomato sauce – great as a pasta sauce, bruschetta, pizza sauce…and made entirely of ingredients from my CSA!
I hope to make a trip very soon to the same place my local farm stand owner goes to buy tomatoes. I want to buy a bushel or two to put up, and see what else I can buy to pressure can. As soon as the new apple crops are in this fall I will also can several dozen jars of my chunky cinnamon applesauce.
I’m excited to preserve as much CSA bounty as possible this year to avoid wastage and to get some nice surprises in the winter.
I can’t wait to put up more garlic dill pickles this year. We ate them so quickly last year and we’ve been missing them ever since!
So looking forward to spaghetti sauce and sweet pickles!!
My favorite thing to can each year is vanilla strawberry jam. I actually made some on Saturday, and I haven’t cracked open a jar yet, but I can’t wait.
With two little tykes, I have to streamline my canning and only can the really important stuff this year! For us, it’s 20-30 quarts of spaghetti sauce that lasts us about a year. YUM!
I am looking forward to canning all things with tomatoes. I believe I will try making your pickled asparagus.
tomatoes. i really can’t wait for tomatoes! we made this spicy garlic tomato jelly last year on a whim and I am dying to make it again. This year I am focusing on utilitarian foods- so lots of plain old jam for peanutbutter sandwiches, lots of pickley type things for the hubby to jazz up his sad little coldcut sandwiches and anything else i can put up from the garden. I would LOVE to know the recipe for a canned butternut squash soup so even if i don’t win i’ll be buying at least one of these books.
I am really looking forward to canning fresh peach jam this summer. And these books sound fascinating.
Wow, there is so much I want to do now that I actually have my equipment. Asparagus – even though the season is now or almost over! Jellies with the fruit juices. Tomatoes because I love homemade gravy! Haven’t even taken my pressure canner out of the box yet!
I’m hoping to perfect my pickle recipe for cucumbers… and, a sweet tomato chutney!
I’m excited about pickled snap peas! I did them last year and they were super tasty, but I just didn’t have enough peas.
I am looking forward to making salt cured fridge pickles.
Made Tomato Basil soup last year and just loved it! Looking forward to another year of canning.
I’m looking forward to having more canned tomatoes this year (didn’t do near enough last year, my first of canniing). I’m also going to try peaches, since my DH is letting me buy a pressure canner this year!
peaches! can’t wait.
I am looking forward to making dilly beans and zydeco beans again. I made them for the first time last summer and they came out so well. I can’t wait!
Neat books! I’m looking forward to making some pickled onions, and chili sauce (my grandma’s recipe). Can’t wait!
I look forward to my bushels of tomatoes, its such a time consuming project but I love it!
I’m looking forward to canning my bread and butter pickles.
I’d be interested in these books. I’ve generally followed the USDA guidelines up to this point. I’ve canned pickles, jam and tomato sauces. If the USDA is the ultimate word in canning though, can the directions in these books be “safe”? I’m confused.
I’m looking forward to making strawberry sauce and strawberry butter. I never do any canning with berries, since they’re devoured so quickly that I usually don’t get to bake with them, let alone can with them . . . but I want to branch out this year!
Jam! It’s pretty much fool proof – and I can use all the fool proof I can get. This year I’m going to experiment more with eleagnus jam [autumn olive – it’s a fruit, not an olive]. I’m interested to try it without pectin and in some fun combinations.
Canning seasonally has always been my focus. Plan to try some figs this year!
I’m looking forward to making tomato sauce for the first time this year 🙂 My seedlings got way too leggy and failed, so I’m going to have to buy plants, but I’m not deterred!
I can’t wait for tomatoes, peaches and apples. I made peach / applesauce last year and my husband nicknamed it “awesomesauce”
I haven’t been too adventurous in the past but I’d love to try canning broth or soup this year.
Hi Marisa
Oh my goodness, these books sound awesome! I’ve tried canning things that the USDA does not recommend for some time now (like squash butter and pumpkin puree) and these books would be a great addition to my library!
This year I’m hoping that garlic I planted will give me scapes so I can try my hand at pickling them. 🙂
Happy canning! 🙂
Oooooh, these books look good. I’m most excited about making peach butter, from the peaches at the farmer’s market. Oh my.
I am excited to can tomatillos again this summer as well as explore chutneys!
omg a book that teaches us how to test ph for our own recipes? I would love this! I want to be able to can my frijoles recipe. I make jars and jars and jars of them over the summer using my CSA box and have been freezing them. Canning would really free up some limited freezer space.
This summer I will actually have my own garden. I really want to make pickles, but also some shallot jam or items such as that to go with cheese plates
Quince Jelly if I can get the darn quinces off the bushes this year before the bugs get into them. And pickled anything my heart desires.
Blueberry jam. Mostly because our blueberries didn’t yield their usual crop last year, and, subsequently, I’ve been having to buy manufactured jam after running out of homemade stock early.
AAAH We can BEETs every year, great Christmas gifts. Have Peach, Apple, Cherry Trees (They were supposed to be DWARF, NOT) but last year they were prolific..this year late frost..so we’ll wait and see. DH makes a marvelous salsa! So glad to know of these Books…will buy if don’t win..they sound like winners thank you
This year I’d like to can more soups, as well as more veggies in general. I canned tomatoes last year, but we’ve expanded our garden and hopefully will have a lot more produce to see us thru the winter. We’re also growing a selection of rare, very hot peppers, and I need to know what to do with them once we’ve picked them!
Eggplant chutney?! YUM!
Bread and Butter pickles and blueberry jam….both so simple and so delicious and both make my mother happy!
Strawberry Jam is first and foremost on the list as it has the most likes in my family. My greatest hope is to put up apples this year (sauce, pie filling & butter). I canned 80 pounds of apples one year and they only lasted five months!
More homemade Salsa! I haven’t had to buy a jar since last September and I’m loving it.
I would love these canning books. I love to try new recipes. I’m looking for a good tomato sauce.
OOOOH, wonderful. I’m making the chive blossom vinegar this week. Last summer was my first experience with canning. Excellent tomato sauce, salsa, and quince jelly. Looking forward to trying a spicy tomato jam this year.
I’ve always been really traditional in my canning – grape jam, tomatoes, and so on. I’m looking forward to experimenting more, especially with infusing other flavors – like vanilla – into things like jam and canned pears.
Definitely pickles!
Tomatoes and tomato sauce! They help me make yummy meals all year long.
With my Grandma’s recent passing, this will be my first year canning solo, I am looking forward to jelly most, which was one of her specialties. Strawberry, Blueberry and Peach! YUM!! I can only hope my peach jelly is close to the deliciousness Grandma’s was! I don’t have any books on canning, these would be perfect to assist me! Love you Grandma!!
i’m really new to canning, i would love to make some nice jams, and see if i can find a good tomato sauce recipe that i can put aside for days i don’t want to cook, but don’t want store bought.
I’ve managed to connive a canning starter kit for my birthday (wooo, 21!), and I’m super keen to have a go at the snow peas in my garden : )
I love canning, so pretty much anything I can grow is fair game. I especially love putting up dill pickles.
I’ve been wanting to read these. The canning season is well underway here in central Florida. We’ve already done strawberries, tomatoes and blueberries from the u-pick fields!
I actually want to try your strawberry lemon marmalade. Sounds delish!
I am most looking forward to BBQ sauce. It is great for the me, the home cook, and is great for gift giving, especially to take to other hostesses as a last minute gift I can grab from my pantry.
I can’t wait for the u-pick places to open so that I can make strawberry jam!
That sweet onion jam page looks tempting! I think I’m most looking forward to canning up some carrots. That might sound boring, but I think they look so beautiful in jars!
Other than jams and marmalades, I haven’t canned much. We moved two days ago and are looking for a home to buy in NC. One of my first projects will be to work on a garden, and it’s my hope to can roma tomatoes roasted with a hit of lemon zest.
Cheers,
*Heather*
I had been looking forward to putting up more bread and butter pickles and some different tomato products (paste, maybe) this year, right up until I read the words eggplant chutney.
We have just taken on our first allotment (part of a shared community gardening space) and I have gone a little overboard with planting, so I image that I will definately have a lot of beans and courgettes to can.
Hot sauce with chile peppers from my garden!
I’m looking forward to making jam. 🙂 I would also love to learn how to make delicious pickles 🙂
I look forward to making the first strawberry jam of the season with balsamic vinegar.
Looking forward to salsa, and strawberry-rhubarb pie filling. Among many others!
As i am on the other side of the world in new Zealand we are coming to the end of our preserving but I still getting though the last of the fruit and vegtables, this season I have made Tomato sauce, relish and pasta sauce,sweet pickles,capsicum relish, chow chow (the kids love this with cheese on bread in their school lunches)Apple sauce,apple pie filling,vanilla pears,all kinds of berry jams and for the first time I tried out a pasta sauce with cooked spaghetti added at the last minute,just before canning, it looks amazing in the jars and the kids just love it, its fantastic knowing they are eating spaghetti that has no additives like the commercial brands! I would love to win these books!
Anything! We’re just learning to can. My mom always had yummy things on the shelf when I was a kid. Looking forward to reviving the tradition.
My husband moved my garden to a sunnier location for me this spring and it is already producing an abundance of greens. The broccoli, cauliflower, peas brussel sprouts, garlic, onions an asparagus are doing well and as soon as the weather improves here in MA (not likely) I’ll be transplanting tomatoes, peppers and starting cucumbers, zucchini, squash,beans, melons and pumpkins. So, I will need all the help I can get preserving that bounty as my freezer space is limited.
I’m looking forward to making Zucchini Relish, last year I didn’t make anywhere near enough. Also this season I want to try catchup and pizza sauce for the first time.
This book is now on my list. The fact that he gives you the tools to figure out acidity and Ph levels makes this book a must have for the next level of canning. Unless of course you subscribe to the canning police, which I don’t.
Mmmm… strawberry jam, kosher dill pickles, pickled scapes and tomatoes.
Pickles — asparagus, brussels sprouts, dilly beans and more.
I want jars and jars of beautiful different colored pickled peppers, onions, and cucumbers too display (and eat!). We have hard water so I’ve been concerned about the acidity level of canning, and aside from jams, I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t put anything by…yet!
Most of all I’m looking forward to putting up plain old canned tomatoes. Nothing beats popping open a jar of sweet, summery tomatoes on a cold & snowy day! I also have a great gnocci sauce that I like to can (even thought I’ve never had gnocci, it’s great on homemade pasta!)
Peach preserves. My coworker made them last summer and I only got a taste. It was the best thing I ate all year!