Sherri Brooks Vinton

I LOVE this cookbook and am planning to buy my own copy. Put 'em Up! Fruit is a good introduction to preserving fruit, with a heavy focus on canning using the boiling-water method. It includes other preservation methods -- drying and freezing -- but the star of the show is definitely canning.

First off, this is a beautiful cookbook, but it is also laid out very cleverly, and it's not style-over-substance: the photos are as helpful as they are pretty. There's a boiling-water canning guide in show more the front that incorporates great reference photos, and I wish I had seen it before I ever started canning. Maybe I wouldn't have tried using the wrong end of my canning tongs to pick up hot jars.

There are troubleshooting guides (ah, FRUIT FLOAT, that's what happened to my strawberry jam last summer) and photos demonstrating what terms like "julienne" and "dice" mean when it comes to prepping your produce.

The info in the front would be enough for me to recommend this cookbook, but the included recipes are also great; Put 'em Up! Fruit contains a nice range of recipes, organized by fruit, from jellies to to vinegar to dried lemons, which look a little alarming but are supposedly delicious. Even better: behind each recipe, there's a recipe that shows you a way to put your newly preserved produce to work. For instance, a recipe for blueberry syrup is paired with a recipe for blueberry lemonade, which uses the syrup as a flavoring.

As usual, I picked a recipe to test out. My grocery store had blood oranges, which I love, so I figured I'd try the recipe for blood orange marmalade. This was my first attempt at marmalade, so I didn't know what to expect, but the instructions were easy to follow and Vinton's easy-going but knowledgeable style helped me not to stress about it. I made a smaller batch than the recipe called for but didn't run into any problems downsizing it.

The blood orange marmalade turned out really well! And it's very, very pretty. My only criticism is that I think the oranges should be cut in eight pieces, not four, as the pieces of rind in the marmalade were a touch too large for me -- but I think that's a matter of personal taste. I'm looking forward to trying the accompanying recipe for salmon with orange glaze that incorporates the marmalade into a sauce. There's also a variation, brandied blood orange marmalade, that I'd like to try, if I can find more blood oranges.

I try not to hoard cookbooks these days, as I turn to the internet for recipes more often than not, and I have already have too many books to fit on my bookshelves as it is, but I make exceptions for cookbooks I know I will use, and this is definitely a good one for my little canning shelf. show less

I've been obsessing over the idea of canning - preserving - freezing - dehydrating - you know, anything to save all my goodies from the garden this year. Freezing's great, and fast, and easy, and simple, but... even with an extra freezer, my freezer is so jam packed right now, as fast as we're trying to empty it, it's just full full full.

I actually borrowed this book from the library twice, but didn't write a review the first time, and when I started reading this book for the second time, show more it dawned on me why I felt deju vu. So this time, I'm actually writing it up.

It's a canning book (duh) and I'm still not quite sure how to review cook books. I've been reading a LOT of canning books, like I said, and I don't know what I'm supposed to say about it. Since I haven't actually canned - yet - or followed any of the recipes - yet - I can't really attest to how well written the recipes or the book is, though it seems to be a straight forward enough book.

The book is broken up into different parts - getting started, the recipes (divided up further by fruit), and resources. It's handy because if you have 6 quarts of blueberries in your freezer (oh, that's me, that's right) you can look up blueberries and see you can make blueberry syrup, or use that blueberry syrup and make blueberry lemonade (doesn't that sound like Heaven!) or blueberry ketchup (ok, sounds good, but when would I actually use it?), blueberry vinegar (ditto) or blueberry shrug (double ditto). Then there's the classic blueberry jam recipe (in every canning book or site I've found), and a chicken recipe that uses the jam (which I can't eat). show less

There's been a movement lately to try to get Americans back to the basics when it comes to food - plain food, done well, with local and organic ingredients, prepared simply. This book is another in that vein, but presented in a simple format. This one takes us 'aisle by aisle' through the basic food types and tells us first what's wrong with absolutely everything you like and then what you should do instead.

Perhaps you can tell from my grumpiness that I'm not completely converted to this way show more of thinking. As I sat last night at the dinner table, eating my Rice-a-Roni and frozen chicken prepackaged and preseasoned, plus my canned mandarin oranges (I got that one right, at least! I think.) I thought that I probably could make a few changes.

There is certainly some important stuff in here. I know buying local, organic ingredients is best. But my basic objections remain. This way of life is really only practical for those with the money to shop that way. People living on the edge of their income will not make these kinds of changes. I know; I've been there. When your grocery budget for the entire month is measured out by each careful dollar, you simply can't afford to buy these organic ingredients. It means going without.

But what I have decided to do is read my labels more carefully and see what exactly I am buying. My favorite quote from the book: "Good food should be valued on its quality, not its ability to turn your tongue purple." show less

A good beginners guide to canning and preserving food. This is set up in a question and answer format that goes through the processes and methods, tools and prep work that you will need to learn in order to begin canning.

I did not really like the layout and organization of the questions and answers. It seems like some questions you would want answered first, like the actual process of canning are a quarter of the way into the book, and recipes are mixed in with the questions and answer show more sections before you are even introduced to how to can things. However, everything you need to know before canning, preserving or drying is in here if you want to sit down and read the whole book before actually making anything.

The drying, fermenting and infusion sections were set up better and are usually things left out of other food preservation methods, so that was nice to see.

This is a good how-to book for someone new to canning and food preservation methods, not a recipe book. There are several recipes interspersed throughout that are easy and go along with the questions and answer section before it.

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review. show less