Marisa McClellan

I borrowed this book from the library because I saw a reference to the author and this was the only book of hers in the library system. I must say, the whole concept of doing tiny batches of preserves to keep your kitchen clean and free of mess is somewhat foreign to me. With eight people living at home and six more who like to scavenge for home-preserved food when they visit, I'm more likely to do a full batch, and then another one, and then another two just to make it worthwhile to get the show more canning kettle and equipment out. Strike while the iron's hot, in my case becomes can while the water's boiling.

In all fairness, for this book she does choose mostly recipes that are unlikely to appeal to kids and many which contain hard-to-source ingredients that most people may not be able to buy in quantity. There is, unfortunately, no "here is a simple jam recipe that scales down the typical strawberry jam found in the pectin packet insert". There are a very few simple jam recipes, but all depend on lemon juice plus the fruit's native pectin plus boiling "until done" and hoping that your interpretation of "it's done when you pull a spatula through the jam and it doesn't rush in to fill the space" is correct. I've been making jam for over 5 decades and I have to say that after some experimentation in my 20s I went back to using commercial pectin as my mother did because it takes less boiling (fresher) and it's foolproof. I still might try the Blueberry Maple Jam and the Black Raspberry Preserves. Those are fruits that are found, when fresh, in small quantities. So are apricots, but I do not think my grandson, an absolute fanatic about apricot jam, will like Apricot Lavender Butter or Apricot Rosemary Jam.

Pickled Garlic Scape Segments is a delicious looking recipe and two half-pints might be about right for my family where we'll be lucky to find two people willing to eat them. There are some interesting pestos.

Pesto, of course, is a freeze-or-refrigerate food item. The author is very good about pointing out, right at the end of each recipe, which are low acid and unsuitable for canning. (It is quite a common way of compiling a canning cookbook in the 21st century and it never fails to drive me spare. I miss the 20th century preserving cookbooks that separated recipes by processing methods.) I give her full marks for awareness of food safety, but she is apparently unaware of the developments in jar lids in the past two decades. In *every* canning recipe, she instructs you -- before you begin food prep -- to start your jars boiling in your kettle to sterilize them (good!) and to put your lids into a saucepan of water and simmer them (no no no!). This is actually damaging to 21st century lids. No manufacturer recommends this. Even back in the day, my recollection is that they told you to simmer for 3 minutes, not however long it takes to make an entire batch of pizza sauce or green tomato salsa. These days we're supposed to wash the lids only, and I've been firmly reprimanded by safe canners for actually pouring just-boiled water from a kettle over my lids before letting them sit (I can't help it).

A good book with interesting recipes to try. Just don't boil your jar lids. show less

This book is the third of McClellan's preserving series. It continues her theme of small batch canning, while focusing on naturally sweet ways to can and preserve using maple, honey and other products to maintain a safe canning balance. The recipes are diverse, covering multiple seasons and offer a wide variety of preserved goods. (And, the maple-based recipes are especially yummy.)

This is a great book for someone, like me, who is new to food preservation.The only reason I did not give it five stars is it seemed almost every recipe is also in my Ball Blue Ribbon canning book. The author did a great job of adding additional details for each recipe that helps a newbie.

This book is the fourth in her food preserving series and offers a range of ways to utilize the items she has helped you create in her first books. I enjoyed the various suggestions offered, ranging form breakfasts, pastries, lunches and glazes.