What a wealth of cookbooks on pickles, jams and other staples for your dinner table.
Preserved foods to inspire the home cook
Make the most of all that home-grown, locally produced or even foraged food with these luscious kitchen guides.
By BETH DOOLEY
December 5, 2012 at 11:46PM
"Marmalade: Sweet & Savory Spreads for a Sophisticated Taste," by Elizabeth Field, photographs by Helene Dujardin (Running Press, $18). Lest you think marmalade is always orange, open these pages to the range of possibilities -- rhubarb, double ginger pear, orange-pomegranate, and savory options with onions, tomatoes and tomatillos. This sweet little book is old-fashioned and lively, and I felt as though Field herself were standing beside me, showing me when to pull the pot from the stove to ladle the pink grapefruit marmalade into jars. I imagined we'd sit down afterward with scones and tea.
"Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year Round," by Marisa McClellan (Running Press, $23). This collection is a charming introduction to preserving food in small batches. McClellan's recipes for jellies, marmalades, chutneys, pickles, jams, even nut butters and granola, are simple and inspired: strawberry vanilla jam, honey lemon marmalade, maple almond butter. Buy a copy now to use in making your holiday gifts and if you run out of time, simply wrap and give the book itself.
"Preserving: The Canning and Freezing Guide for All Seasons," by Pat Crocker (William Morrow, $30). An encyclopedia of preserving, the book is a straightforward, no-nonsense guide to putting up the year's bounty. The book's sections are organized by season with sub-chapters arranged by fruit or vegetable alphabetically. It's a hefty 500-plus pages with two to three preserve recipes per fruit or vegetable and several related recipes and ideas for using them up.
"Preserving Wild Foods: A Modern Forager's Recipes for Curing, Canning, Smoking, Pickling," by Matthew Weingarten and Raquel Pelzel (Storey, $19.95). This is a serious book for the committed forager who sallies undaunted o'er beaches, hedgerows, fields, forests and wetlands. With lovely photos and detailed recipes, the authors offer a range of pickles, preserves, smoked, brined, fermented foods. Some are as easy as pickled rhubarb, others as tricky as duck prosciutto.
"D.I.Y. Cookbook: Can It, Cure It, Churn It, Brew It," by America's Test Kitchen. (America's Test Kitchen, $26.95). Do it yourself, indeed. Whether it's making your own mustard, wine vinegar, apple butter, harissa, caramelized onion jam, duck prosciutto, Greek-style yogurt or more -- much more -- the experts at America's Test Kitchen will show you how in great detail and with photos.
Beth Dooley is the author of "The Northern Heartland Kitchen."
about the writer
BETH DOOLEY
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