Well Fed Network

Posted by Sarah Caron on Fit Fare.

Something clicked this spring and I decided that I wanted to try canning jams, veggies, pickles . . . you name it. It’s not something I have ever done before though or even seen done. And frankly, I can be a bit obsessive when trying to do something new. True to form, I bought two books on the subject and read everything online that I could find. Seriously, it was a lot of prep for a simple job.

The first book I bought was Preserving Summer’s Bounty, which has a fantastic overview of the whole canning process with diagrams and everything. It goes beyond canning though and tells you the best method for preserving a wide variety of produce and also has many, many recipes. There are a few pickle recipes that have me intrigued, for sure. My only compliant was that the jam/jelly/preserves section was rather short and didn’t have the simple just-strawberry recipe I was looking for.

Then I remembered a book that was reviewed on Paper Palate a few months ago. Preserving Memories was exactly what I was looking for in recipes. Not only did the book tell you how to make your own fruit pectin for the recipes that need it, recipes like strawberry jam don’t even call for it. It’s totally the purist cooking method that I love. The book also has clear instructions on canning, though they aren’t as detailed as the ones in Preserving Summer’s Bounty.

So, after all my preparation and reading, was I ready to get started? YES! But you will have to check back next week to read about my first experiment.

This post originally appeared on Cucina Bella.