Food Preservation Books
Jan 13, 2019 23:19:10 GMT 10
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SA Hunter, blueshoes, and 2 more like this
Post by tomatoes on Jan 13, 2019 23:19:10 GMT 10
The question was recently asked in a different thread for a recommended book on food preservation. I thought the question deserved it’s own thread, and perhaps others can comment on the books or add to the list.
I have a lot of books, including cookbooks, and I’ve been preserving for a long time. I’m a stickler for preserving safely, because I know that if I am not confident of the safety of the food it will just sit there and not get eaten, and my time and money will be wasted. I also regularly read up on food poisoning in detail - latest cases, etc. A lifetime ago I taught food safety, and I’ve taught various jam making, etc, courses.
The official guidelines for preserving are updated regularly, getting more and more cautious every time. Although I have successfully preserved using older guidelines (long ago, when those guidelines were current), I stick to the most recent to play it safe. For that reason, although I love reading old cookbooks and methods, and I have some very old preserving books, I buy the most recent ones to actually use, and generally there are only a few that I trust. I also rarely follow recipes for preserving from blogs.
So now here’s my list.
There are a couple of “classics” that cover a few methods of preserving:
Greene, Hertzberg and Vaughan, “Putting Food By”
and
Hupping, “Stocking Up”
These are the only ones that I think are worth getting that cover many different methods, BUT generally I end up referring to books that just deal with one method. So I don’t use those two general books very much. They are just a good starting point if you don’t want to buy too many.
For preserving in water bath, get the books that go with the system you use. If you use a Fowlers Vacola, which I highly recommend, you must get the Vacola recipe book to go with it and really, that’s the only book you’ll need for putting fruit in jars.
If you use Ball Mason jars (which I also love and use a lot, but for simple preserves I’ll almost always reach for my Vacola) you need the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and if you want more, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. These books also cover pressure canning which you’ll need for vegetables and meats, and they have a little bit about dehydrating.
Really, you should stick to the methods and recipes in the Ball and Vacola books.
I have a lot of books, including cookbooks, and I’ve been preserving for a long time. I’m a stickler for preserving safely, because I know that if I am not confident of the safety of the food it will just sit there and not get eaten, and my time and money will be wasted. I also regularly read up on food poisoning in detail - latest cases, etc. A lifetime ago I taught food safety, and I’ve taught various jam making, etc, courses.
The official guidelines for preserving are updated regularly, getting more and more cautious every time. Although I have successfully preserved using older guidelines (long ago, when those guidelines were current), I stick to the most recent to play it safe. For that reason, although I love reading old cookbooks and methods, and I have some very old preserving books, I buy the most recent ones to actually use, and generally there are only a few that I trust. I also rarely follow recipes for preserving from blogs.
So now here’s my list.
There are a couple of “classics” that cover a few methods of preserving:
Greene, Hertzberg and Vaughan, “Putting Food By”
and
Hupping, “Stocking Up”
These are the only ones that I think are worth getting that cover many different methods, BUT generally I end up referring to books that just deal with one method. So I don’t use those two general books very much. They are just a good starting point if you don’t want to buy too many.
For preserving in water bath, get the books that go with the system you use. If you use a Fowlers Vacola, which I highly recommend, you must get the Vacola recipe book to go with it and really, that’s the only book you’ll need for putting fruit in jars.
If you use Ball Mason jars (which I also love and use a lot, but for simple preserves I’ll almost always reach for my Vacola) you need the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and if you want more, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. These books also cover pressure canning which you’ll need for vegetables and meats, and they have a little bit about dehydrating.
Really, you should stick to the methods and recipes in the Ball and Vacola books.
