Canning recipe book?

[LovinLife]

This year I'm going for it! I'm gonna can! (that's the same as putting things in jars, right?) I want to jar a bunch of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, but I also want to make chutney, roasted red peppers, PICKLES, and more pickles. Can anybody recommend a recipe book for beginners?

 

[BarredBuff]

The Ball Blue Book it can be found virtually anywhere

 

[i_am2bz]

Yep, what BB said. That's how I learned.

 

[moolie]

I've seen the Ball Blue Book at the library, but we don't have Ball canning supplies up here--in Canada we have Bernardin canning supplies (with the tag line, "because you can" lol) and the Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving is available anywhere that canning jars and supplies are sold.

The other canning book in my cookbook library is my 1973 version of Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning and Freezing.

But check the cookbook section at your library, there are some fabulous preserving books out there--there are way more that Ive checked out, but I've copied down recipes from:

The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard

Better Homes and Gardens presents America's all-time favorite canning & preserving recipes

Canning and preserving without sugar by Norma McRae

Put a lid on it! : small batch preserving for every season by Ellie Topp

The big book of preserving the harvest : 150 recipes for freezing, canning, drying, and pickling fruits and vegetables by Carol Costenbader

Preserving food without freezing or canning : traditional techniques using salt, oil, sugar, alcohol, vinegar, drying, cold storage, and lactic fermentation

Preserving nature's bounty by Frances Bissel

I should add that it is a good idea to check out different versions of the Ball or Bernardin book, as different editions have different recipes--I actually have the 1995 and 2003 versions of the Bernardin book for that reason.

 

[farmerlor]

A source that's been invaluable to me is the canning2 group on yahoo.com. There's hundreds and hundreds of tried and true recipes in the files and there's always someone who's very, very experienced there to help you with questions or ideas. It's a wonderful resource. You'll even find a couple of my recipes there! LOL!

 

[LovinLife]

Thanks! My first stop will be the library. Then I can copy the ones I want AND see which book I like best. I will also check out canning2 group at yahoo.

Anybody ever canned roasted peppers before? I buy them from the store in a jar I don't see why I couldn't do it myself.

 

[freemotion]

I did....only once. They turn to mush in home canning. They can do things in a factory that we can't do at home, not sure how, but they do!

 

[mrs.puff]

Putting Food By is an excellent book which gives a lot of info about the WHYs of canning. For example, WHY you have to blanch tomatoes, instead of just "blanch the tomatoes". It also has info about freezing, drying, and root cellaring. It's got tons of info about fruit, vegs, meat, convenience foods, etc. It's not pretty with lots of pictures like the Blue Book, but it's great.

 

[LovinLife]

Sounds good I'll look for it!

 

[farmerlor]

Putting Food By is an excellent book which gives a lot of info about the WHYs of canning. For example, WHY you have to blanch tomatoes, instead of just "blanch the tomatoes". It also has info about freezing, drying, and root cellaring. It's got tons of info about fruit, vegs, meat, convenience foods, etc. It's not pretty with lots of pictures like the Blue Book, but it's great.

I LOVE my Putting Food By book. Talk about your one stop guide to being self sufficient!