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 love pretty much anything in jars, but I could eat through a jar of pickled squash at an alarming rate. Congratulations on your beautiful book!
homemade jam! good for so many things, PB&J, mixing with yogurt, adding it to coffee cake, so yummy.
I use jars for everything … flowers, tea bags, left-overs, jam, jelly, etc.
Cheers!
JAM!!!! I loveeeee raspberry jam!!!!!
I love making chutneys–sweet, spicy, hot–what’s not to like?
Pear honey! I make it using my grandma’s recipe with pears from my own tree!
pickled red grapes
I’m a huge jam fan, and your recipes are always amazing. I’m so excited for your beautiful book!
My favorite food in jars is, hands down, pickles. I love dilly anything.
Congrats and best of luck with the new book!
Canned peaches are the most amazing thing in the middle of winter. It’s like eating summer.
Definitely tomato jam. The whole family is addicted!
Jam & Jelly!
I love coffee in a jar, especially since discovering the “cuppow”! But I’d say my true love in a jar is salsa, for it’s endless possibilities and versatility : )
Homemade jams and apple butter! YUM!
I love canning my spiced peach jam that has cardamom in it.
Pickles, hands down. But I do like a jar of tasty canned peaches.
Jam and pickles – not in the same jar.
Of all the things I have put in jars, strawberry jam is my favorite (and the simplest). Congrats on the book!
whole tomatoes!
Jam! Eating jam I made 4 months ago is like getting a hug from my earlier self.
That’s a tough question. I did a Boozy Fig last year that was really yummy. My dad loves my Dill Pickles, my mom loves my Bean Soup and Tomato Soup, and my sister loves my Chipotle Ketchup.
Congrats on your new book. My favorite to eat and to can is jam. In particular, my late Grandmother’s Fig Jam. It is different from any other fig jam I’ve eaten. It has orange pulp, juice, and peel which adds such a nice flavor.
It’s a toss-up between strawberry jam and iced coffee. I have been carrying my iced coffee around in a Mason jar to work because I can put a lid on it during my commute and it is the perfect size. My coworkers pointed out yesterday it looks like I am drinking dirty paint water, as their only experience with these jars is painting – ha!
My favorite kind of food in jars is definitely jam. And when I used to buy store-bought jam I always went for strawberry but now that I am making my own, I’ve found I love raspberry and blueberry more! 🙂
I love jams!
I love fresh tomatoes that I can open in December and smell the garden again!
Pickles. Far and away, PICKLES!
Anything strawberry or peach!!
The book is BEAUTIFUL! You must be tickled pink.
My favorite thing to put in jars is jam. It is the first thing I ever learned to can, and I have fond memories of watching my grandmother make it when I spent time with her in the summer.
Again Congratulations on the beautiful book! One of the favorite things I put into jars last year was pickled beets. I also love making homemade almond butter. As you know it’s hard to narrow down all the good things that can be put into jars.
Right now, it’s Kosher Dill Pickle Relish… so awesome!
Pears are my favorite at the moment! And I could really use some help from a canning cookbook as my first batch of blackberry jam turned out almost solid and very unspreadable. However, this morning I had the brilliant idea to add warm water and use an immersion blender to turn it back into something spreadable. Since it was so condensed when it was hard, the flavor was somewhat overpowering and now it’s more toned down.
I hated pickles until I made them myself. Now I can’t stop eating them! Definitely my favorite food in jars.
My current favorite is the balsamic strawberry jam I made last summer, but I’m always looking for new inspiration!
Fruit Butter is one of my favorites. I’m just starting to explore some fruit/savory jam experiments too, largely based on what I read here. Congrats on the book!
It would truly be an honor to have this book in my collection! Peaches, oh, peaches, how I love thee.
My husband and I absolutely LOVE your Unfancy Pickled Jalepeno Peppers. So much so, that we planted 12 jalepeno plants this year in anticipation of filling jars and jars with them!
Honestly my favorite? Milk – it’s the only container that doesn’t leak when transporting!! Besides that I keep all my seasonings in them……apparently, I really need this book 😉
Tomatoes and bread & butter pickles, definitely!
I’d have to say my favorite would still be in my mind…I’m thinking some kind of delicious rhubarb stuff. But I have used the meat I canned last year gratefully and often. My citrus marmalade experiment hasn’t been too far off favorite, either.
My favourite is definitely jam. Congrats on getting your cookbook published! It looks beautiful, and I can’t wait to buy a copy (assuming I don’t win the contest!).
I don’t know a favorite – my hubby calls me a hick cuz I put everything in jars, as a matter of fact I’ve given up on using the cheap glasses from Walmart cuz they just crack all the time, we use Mason jars for our dinner glasses – their indestructible!
Iced coffee, ice tea, smoothies, water (awesome in the car for the kids, they have lids!), spices, herbs, and other baking items – baking powder, baking soda, chocolate chips, nuts, etc. They also work great for craft items & decorations!
and of course canned goods 🙂
My favorite is straight up strawberry jam from my own strawberry patch. Simple, sweet, strawberry goodness! It doesn’t get much better than that!
Jams, applesauce, tomatos, all good stuff!
I’m so excited about your book – I LOVE your blog! And marmalade is by far my favorite 🙂
Pickled asparagus-YUM!
Anything pickled! Congrats on the book!!
Jam is my very favorite. I also want to experiment with pickles this year.
I love jellies and relishes in jars. I love looking at pantries stocked with food in jars…whether they are preserves or just everyday grains/nuts/dried fruits. Something about it is oddly satisfying.
Blackberry jam, for the win! Or maybe fig. Or raspberry. . . My mom and grandmother put plenty of jams and jellies away every summer- peach, plum, muscadine too! So, my young taste buds were spoiled rotten, and jams and jellies are still my all-time favorite food in jars. 🙂