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
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
- 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
i am only a beginner in preserving
as for putting food in jars, as a child of a farming family on the prairies, there was plenty of
canning
my all time favourite: pickled beets
My favorite food in jars? Pickles! Honestly though, that’s a really tough question. One thing is for sure, though. My favorite jarred foods come from recipes on your blog.
My canning is limited because I live in the desert. The most economical things I can is Beans, I also can chicken and pork for convenience of quick meals, and occasionally I make a jam or butter.
Pickles! Carrot pickles currently, but truly, any type! (I may just be obsessed with vinegar) and congrats on the book, again!
Pears, always!
Duh, Jam….yyuuummmmm. Jam.
It’s totally jam for me! 😀
My husbands grandma’s Strswberry Rhubarb Jam. It’s great on toast, in yogurt or oatmeal, in vanilla ice cream, or straight out of a jar. She just past away at a young age of 88, and I’m now the family’s source of it. RIP Dolly!
I have not had many first-hand experiences with canning yet, but I was happy to receive my sister’s strawberry vanilla jam, made with seascape berries picked near her home in northern California – yum!
I love to make herb syrups when they come in season. So refreshing with sparkling water or in a cocktail!
Cranberry ginger chutney – I made a few jars of this right before Thanksgiving and each subsequent taste brings back all the love and warmth of the holidays.
We started canning last year and are so into making jam and its cousins. We had a really proud moment last year when we created Peach-Jalapeno jam on a whim and it turned out to be our favorite all season. I really want to get pickles and canned fruit into my repetoir this year, and your beautiful book looks amazing for all of these things and more!
I love jam and pickles (not together, though!). And I really love those hot chocolate in a jar gifts where the ingredients are stacked on top of each other in the jar.
Pickled beets! I would LOVE a copy of your book – when I timidly began putting food in jars about a year ago, I stumbled upon your site and found a wealth of ideas and inspiration that has made me love this delicious art!
I already have a copy of your book, but I want to win one for my mother. We always had tons of fruit every year that went to waste because she didn’t know how to preserve it or give it away fast enough. Sadly, two of her best plum trees died this year due to my sister’s husband’s overzealous pruning of them, and now I am scheduled to take a class with you in stone fruit chutneys! I tend to like the sour things in jars myself (like pickles or umeboshi), but with your book I will venture into many different kinds of foods. I’m so excited for your class and looking forward to lots of experimenting in the kitchen this summer.
I made a couple of 8oz jars of Banana Vanilla Rum Butter from the “Put Em Up” book, and I kid you not, I’ve never tasted anything closer to heaven than a piece of toast slathered in peanut butter and this canned goodness! Can’t wait to start canning again. It’s been a long winter…
I do love jam, but my absolute favourite thing to put in jar (and to take out) is applesauce. So comforting, so yummy!
Homemade salsa…hurray! Every year 40-60 pints that my kids and husband devour!
Jams and jellies because they can be sweet or savory. The sky is the limit for flavor combinations.
I love jam. I cant wait to get your book. The most loved recipe in my house if you vanilla pear
I have to be honest, I can’t believe that anyone here is entering this contest. Doesn’t everyone already have a copy? Mine showed up here in Alaska last week and it really is beautiful.
Funny Nicole, I was going to type the same thing…. 😉
Marmalade! But jam is a close second…
I’m a bit torn on this, but I think I’d have to go with jams.
Jam – but I’m open to inspiration!
My favorite food in jars are actually supplies – I love the look of flours, sugars, popcorn, nutra-yeast, coffee beans, etc in jars in my cupboard. It feels good to see them all so clearly and often inspires me to open one up and see what happens (usually a big mess). 🙂
Peaches
Love. Jam. But wait…iced coffee is pretty magical too…
BOOZE! Liquors of all kinds. Hells Yes!
Congrats on your book. Seriously, if I don’t win this drawing, ok whatever, because I will go buy it.
Of course, if I do win, I should say I will still buy it for someone else as a gift. 😉
definitely my cold-brewed iced coffee in the morning. congratulations on the book!
honey…..or things soaked in honey!
Homemade strawberry sauce to drip over ice cream!
pickles!! pickles pickles pickles. I could eat pickled ANYTHING all day long. I’ve been eyeing your book for awhile and can’t wait to see more!
homemade jam – especially strawberry vanilla bean!
My favorite is anything fermented: kimchee, sauerkraut, asparagus, sour pickles, etc. They get better the longer they spend in the jar!
Fave jar is homemade strawberry jam, hands down!
Though to be honest: any homemade jam makes me happy ^_^
When I was young, my father canned his own fresh-caught tuna in olive oil. The stuff in the cans will simply never compare to my memories of that tuna-in-jars!
when I was young, we bought these gigantic bottles of peaches in light syrup. Each bottle contained maybe 10 whole peaches– no one knows where to get them again 🙁
“let the ice melt” margaritas in mason jars… made with homemade triple sec made in WECK jars!
I’ve only canned strawberry jam so far and I was so pleased with it! So for now, jams are my favorite 🙂
Without a doubt, strawberry jam is my favorite. I made it with my grandma every summer when I was a kid.
Pears. I think pears are my favorite food in jars. But maybe applesauce. Jam? Pear butter? Nope- it’s green beans. Definitely green beans are my very favorite food in jars!!
Thank you for the giveaway Marisa! Your book looks amazing!!
Chrissy
congratulations on your book! i can’t wait to read it. favorite food in a jar? gotta be apricot jam!
I love pie fillings in jars such as bumbleberry and blueberry. Nothing better in the middle of the winter. Delish!!!
it is a tie between jam and pickles, but not at the same time 🙂
I am a big fan of jarred foods of all types. As for picking a favorite, I’m going to have to go with my original love, PICKLES! As a little kid, I didn’t like the texture of jams and jellies (although that has certainly changed), but I have always loved a good pickle.
After a year-and-a-half long flirtation with pickles, jams, fruit preserves, and tomatoes it was finally lemon curd that ultimately turned me into a loopy canning person.
My favourite food in jars is jam and pickles – not together, though!
Off the top of my head, pears in chai spice syrup – so yummy!
I have recently become obsessed with sauerkraut. And anything rhubarb. And ketchup, and salsa. Really anything that goes in jars at this point. <3
favourite food in jars… today it’s pickles (specifically pickled lemon); tomorrow who knows? Congratulations on the book, it looks fantastic!