Can it! Start Canning and Preserving at Home Today (Hobby Farm Home)

Can It!, from the editors of Hobby Farm Homes, gives readers a contemporary perspective on this favorite, traditional kitchen art. As the "eat local" movement sweeps the country, so too does the popularity of canning and preserving the harvest from our own gardens and hobby farms. Filled with nearly 200 full-color photographs and illustrations, here is a detailed beginner's guide that takes the reader step-by-step through the process of canning fruits and vegetables, emphasizing cost saving, sustainability, and food safety. From canning tomatoes and squash to preparing homemade salsas, relishes, and jellies, this book simplifies the processes so that even modern, busy people can find time to do it themselves. The book begins with a chapter on preparing and planning, helping you decide which methods are right for you and figure out what produce you like enough to take the time to preserve. The methods discussed include freezing, flash freezing, water bath canning, and pressure canning. Author Jackie Callahan Parente is a lifelong canner, and she shares her insights, secrets, and shortcuts for each of these methods of food preservation. Charts throughout the book detail methods with specific timings, temperatures, and required equipment. Summary pages give the reader a point-by-point wrap-up of each technique's important takeaways. The chapter on freezing offers general guidelines on which foods freeze best (and worst) with safety instructions and processes to capture the freshest flavors. The author offers information on freezers, containers, thawing processes, energy-saving methods, and more. Sidebars offer tips on avoiding and solving common problems, such as freezer burn, discoloration, texture issues, etc. Included are 36 recipes for freezing fruits and vegetables as well as prepared items, such as strawberry jam, creamed corn, and stewed tomatoes. Beyond fruits and vegetables, the chapter also gives instructions for freezing breads, pastries, dairy, meat, and complete meals. The chapter on canning offers information on high- and low-acid canning as well as the differences between water bath and pressure canning, with details on proper use of jars, lids, and bands; selection of the right utensils; instructions for filling the jars; and safe storage. This chapter offers 15 water bath canning recipes and 12 pressure canning recipes for the most popular fruits and vegetables. The chapter Jams, Jellies, and More offers required background for the properties of fruit, pectin, acid, and sweeteners. This chapter provides over 30 recipes for everyone's favorites, such as blueberry jam, grape jam, and peach preserves, plus some delicious unexpected delights, such as rhubarb conserve, slow-cooker apple butter, and pear ginger preserves. Also offered are solutions to commonly encountered problems with canning preserves. Pickles, Relishes, Salsas, and Such salutes everyone's favorite condiments, giving recipes for 20 delectable jar-ables and providing a primer for pickling produce. Beginning with basic kosher dill pickles and pickled mixed veggies, the author shares recipes for summer and winter relishes, zesty salsas, festive chutneys, ketchup, sauerkraut, and more! The appendix offers instructions for important techniques critical to the processes described in the book: blanching, treating for discoloration, preparing sugar syrups, altitude adjustments, processing times, and more. The volume is completed by eight helpful charts for equivalents, conversions, and yields, plus an extensive glossary, resource section, and index.