So often over the life of this blog, I’ve written about beautiful cookbooks. These posts are fun for me to write because I love any excuse to sit awhile with a new cookery volume and explore what it has to offer. Many of you take the time to write me an email or leave a comment, to tell me how useful you find these cookbook pieces, because they give you a chance to peek inside a book in a way that’s different from the experience on Amazon.
Today’s cookbook feature is a particularly unique joy, because this time, I’m sharing my own book
. Now, I realize that I’ve been talking about this book for many, many weeks now. Thing is, for all that excited chatter, I haven’t taken much of a chance to tell you what you’ll find when you open the cover and why it might be a good canning book for you.
To my mind, the book is a tangible embodiment of this website. It brings together the most popular recipes from the archives as well as a number of new recipes you’ve never seen before. All the previously-published recipes were retested and rewritten before being included in the manuscript to ensure that they were the best versions of themselves. Many were also scaled down to yield just three or four pints, to keep with the small batch theme.
It includes detailed canning instructions (with helpful instructional pictures!), tips on how to determine whether your jam has reached its set point, a guide for adjusting processing time for altitude and all the best safety practices.
The recipes are sorted by genre, so that all the pickles are in one chapter, jellies in another and so on. Within each section, the recipes are arranged by season, so that each spring, you can start at the beginning of the jam chapter and then work your way through to the end.
The book is also full of really gorgeous images. Truly, my jars have never looked better. The photography was done by Steve Legato, at his Philadelphia studio, and it was such a pleasure to watch him work. Also, I made all the canned goods pictured, so you can trust that your finished products should look pretty darn close to what you see.
Another way I tried to keep the book tied closely to this site is that it’s not just about canning. Towards the back of the book, you’ll find sections devoted to nut butters, granolas, bread and scone mixes in jars and even flavored salts. There’s also information about how to best freeze different fruits and vegetables, and some details on pressure canning low acid foods.
Finally, the reason I think so many of you will like the book is that it’s me. It’s my voice, the same one you read here day after day. I’m always working to write about food preservation in a way that conveys the fact that it’s a joy, not a chore. That feeling ribbons throughout the book. I love joining so many of you in your kitchens through this blog and I hope I’ll get to do the same through the book.
Thanks to my kind publicist at Running Press, I have three copies of the Food in Jars (the cookbook) to give away to Food in Jars (the blog) readers. Here’s what to do:
- To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post and share your favorite kind of food in jars. Jam? Jelly? Pickles? Chutney? Canned peaches? Granola? Iced coffee? There is no wrong answer.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Sunday, May 27, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) and will be posted to the blog on Monday, May 28, 2012.
- Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers.
- One entry/comment per person, please.
If you can’t bear to wait and see if you win the giveaway, you can always order a copy by clicking here: Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round.
Either jams or my grandma’s apple butter. I love experimenting with new jams but not much can beat Grammy’s apple butter recipe…I’ve just recently dived head first into canning and preserving…it would have never interested me 5 years ago, but now I’m obsessed!
I love jams and pickled everything. Would adore winning a cookbook!!!!
Definitely jam. It’s so versatile. Of course it’s amazing on home baked bread., but we love it even more for cocktails!
It’s a tie: I love jam, apple butter, and applesauce. 🙂 I just ordered another batch of tattler lids and I’m excited to get into the kitchen to do lots of canning this summer. Last summer was my first time canning and I feel as though I have so much to learn. Keeping my fingers crossed for this gem of a book.
Anything that tastes like summer! Jam that reminds me of fresh berries or pickles that give my winter foods the tang of some other time of the year are both equally pleasing to me. There’s just something special about cracking open something I made months ago. All that work on one day is a gift to myself on another day.
Oh, pickles have got to be my favorite to eat. Jam’s my favorite to make. But I’ve also got to acknowledge the wonderfulness of a gin and tonic in a pint jar. Perfect.
I’ve looked through the book, because I requested that my public library buy it (which everyone should do! they just might purchase it), and it’s lovely. Would love to have my very own copy.
I love a good chutney. Your cookbook looks gorgeous!
I’m a big fan of fruit butters. Concentrated fruity goodness. Whether or not I win, I absolutely can’t wait to see your book!
Red currant jelly! The red currant I planted two years ago is full of fruit and I can’t wait!
This looks like a gorgeous book.
I love jam! Your book looks fabulous!
My favourite food in jars is canned cherries. 10 years ago I got a jar of canned cherries from my grandmother, I loved them so much I couldn’t bring myself to open them. They sit in my pantry as a reminder of those summers we spent on the farm eating canned cherries with fresh cream.
Congrats on the book, Marisa! Everybody knows jammy jam is where it’s at!
My absolute hands down favorite thing that comes from one of my jars? Jam. All the way. Peach, strawberry, raspberry, cherry….doesn’t matter what kind. Good ole jam.
the vanilla pear jam I got from this website, I make it constantly!!
Oh, I really want to win your book, Marisa! I always vote for pickles because I love anything with a jolt of salt and a good pucker. But I am so interested in your other jar makings like fruit drinking vinegar and fruit syrups. Last fall I tried canning for the first time and came away with a few jars of great nectarine jam & some pickled beets. What’s next??!! I’m sure it will be good.
Just one favorite? Tomato anything. Or jam. Or pickles. Ah, dang it, I picked three, ha. I love all food in jars, how about that? Thank you for the inspiration!
Right now, my favorite food in jars is homemade vanilla flavoring (vanilla beans sitting in mid-range vodka) and homemade ginger flavoring (dried, “cracked” ginger from Penzey’s in the same mid-range vodka). I use both in my pancake and french toast recipes. I find the ginger one much less oversweet than typical ginger liqueurs, which makes it a much nicer addition to baking and cooking, and doesn’t make mixed drinks so oversweet (like mixed with pomegranate liqueur or non-alcoholic lemonade).
But give me another month or two, and I’ll be all about the jams again!
I can’t wait to get a copy of this book! The food I put in jars most is jam, but my favorite canning project last summer involved pears in a light vanilla syrup. Yum!
I have really gotten into jellies lately, but I have to say pickles will always be my number one go-to food in jars! Congrats so much on the beautiful cookbook.
Pickles for me as well. I have never canned but due to an abundance of Meyer lemons at our new house I made some lemon marmalade this year and I have to say, it turned out great. Looking forward to expanding my repertoire.
I don’t want to enter the giveaway, because my copy came in the mail yesterday! I sat down and read it cover to cover. I’m a chef at a restaurant that grows most of it’s own produce, and relies heavily on local farmers for just about everything else. We are expecting (hoping) for quite the bounty this summer, and your beautiful book was just what I needed to read to get me excited about all of the canning, pickling, and preserving I will be doing for the next several months at work. Thank you. I loved it not only for the professional inspiration, but because your personal touches reminded me of being little and doing this with my mother and grandmother, something I took for granted then, but memories that I cherish today. I can’t wait to share your book with my colleuges and loved ones!
My family has a long tradition of making jams, but recently I have been infusing alcohol with fruits. Where else but in Jars would I be doing this?!
My favourite food in jars (right now) is a yummy blackberry-lime jam I made with blackberries I picked from the yard =)
I love jams but my current favorite is granola. Yum!
How fun to have your own book to give away! Congrats.
As for me, I love me some pickles. Especially okra and asparagus pickles.
Jam may be the most fun, but I love, love, love my home canned chicken!
congratulations on the new book! it really looks fantastic…i’m sure in the event that i don’t win, i’ll be purchasing it very soon! anyhoo…my favorite food in jars, geez, so many. love my iced coffee of course, but my favorite has been the ginger quince jam i made last year.
How fun to have your own book to give away! Congrats.
As for me, I love me some pickles
I make a lot of jam – especially any kind of berry! I picked chive blossoms today to make vinegar.
Pickled green beans, pickles, cocktails, water …. Everything is better from a jar.
Jam of any kind.
Hmm…. This is really tough. I love just about anything I put in a jar… which is a lot! 🙂 But if I had to choose – salsa and pickles.
I can’t pass up a delicious homemade jam. Yum!
I love apple butter, and peach jam. I’d love to try that blueberry butter recipe in your book. Congrats! I look forward to reading your book!
Pickles are definitely my favorite food in jars. The first and only refrigerator pickles I make are your garlic dills. We loved them so much the first time I made them that I haven’t even bothered trying new recipes, I can’t wait to make more.
I think my favorite kind of food in jars has to be pickles!
Clearly you understand what it is to be giddy about a new cookbook. I must tell you that this is my year to really develop my mad canning skillz. I am so so excited to see not only a fabulous new book dedicated to the subject, but one filled with gorgeous photos. As a photographer who loves shooting food, and a cookbook girl who needs pictures to really *love* a book, I have a feeling your book will be well-used on our little farm in my well-loved kitchen.
Favorite canned good- I think interesting mixes of jam. I want to learn to find good combinations of things for jam. With four boys, we go through a LOT of jam!
Crossing my fingers!
xx
My favorite is blackberry jam. Mostly because it is what is most appreciated at my house.
My favorite food in jars has to be country style brown mustard 🙂
Dill pickles! Jam! Salsa! Frozen leftovers!
The book looks beautiful – both the pictures and the glimpses of text. True to your voice, and clearly a labour of love! Congratulations!
I must say pickled green beans. Fell in love last year.
My favorite food in jars…since before I can remember has always been green beans, fresh from the garden, strung and snapped and pressure canned with just a bit of salt.
Pickles, pickles, pickles! Although I love jams & sauces…I can’t get enough of pickles. Especially carrots and jalapeños.
I think, above all else, Applesauce is my favorite thing to come out of a jar. While I love all my jams and my baked beans are fantastic, applesauce is always what I reach for when in a meal pinch.
Ja-Ja-Ja-Ja-Ja-Jam! Thanks for the book preview, I’m looking forward to seeing it in person.
Pickles! But jam is also pretty great.
Jam, jam, jam. Your tomato jam recipe was my first venture into canning. I’ve been addicted ever sense. If it was healthy to eat tomato jam 24/7 I would.
Thanks for doing this giveaway.
It has got to be pickles but to narrow it down beyond that, I am hard-pressed to pick a favourite. I really love spicy pickled carrots though.
Fruit butter has been the most exciting thing to put up so far, but my favorite food in jars is the oatmeal I eat out of half-pint jars every morning at work. The jars are perfect for transporting and heating up in the microwave!
Jam is, and always will be, the best.