Putting Food By (Plume)

Most of the information is on canning and freezing (including different packaging and wrapping techniques), but they also go into salting, smoking, drying, and root cellaring. They don't expect you to live as if it were the 1800's either. They incorporate the use of vacuum sealers and microwaves--and trying to preserve food in the confines of the modern home. Likewise, they will also explain how to create the old types of environments or something that will work just as well.

To be honest, there is more educational information than there are recipes. And even the recipes they give are educational--covering jellies, jams, butters and pickling. These are prime opportunities for failure without appropriate instruction--and that's what they provide. Explaining how it all works--which is not common sense! It takes some learning!

They also explain the best preservation method for the food (often right down to a variety of fruit or veggie, or cut of meat) and how the preservation method used will alter the food. They also tell you what the food will be best used for after preserving. For instance, if freezing cabbage means it will never be crisp again they warn you about this and tell you not to expect it to be used for salads. Things like that make a difference--especially if you didn't grow up in a household where these were items of common knowledge!


Invaluable resource for those that want to learn to preserve food safely at home   June 8, 2006
 83 out of 84 found this review helpful

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". This book is exactly what I expected it to be, a vast collection of information regarding canning, and freezing, curing, and drying food.

I purchased this book last year after I decided to eliminate all preservative, chemicals and dyes from our food and had difficulty locating reasonably priced products that were prepared naturally. I remembered that my parents had gone through a hippy phase when I was young and found an old version of this book at their house. Since they wouldn't give up the book I bought my own copy and have learned a lot on preserving food from this book.

The book is subdivided as follows:
1.What is It?
2.Why Foods Spoil
3.Altitude and Metrics
4.Fair Warning
5.Common Ingredients and How to Use Them
6.The Canning Methods
7.Canning Fruits
8.Canning Tomatoes
9.Canning Vegetables
10.Canning Meats
11.Canning Seafood
12.Canning Convenience Foods
13.Getting and Using a Freezer
14. Freezing Fruits
15.Freezing Vegetables
16.Freezing Meats and Seafood
17.Freezing Convenience Foods
18.Jellies, Jams, and Other Sweet Things
19.Pickles, Relishes, and Other Spicy Things
20.Curing with Salt and Smoke
21.Drying
22.Root-Cellaring
23.Putting By Presents for Christmas

This book has been able to answer any question that I have had about canning and freezing food. If you are looking for specific meat preparations I would suggest that you purchase "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman instead as it is much more thorough.

This book contains many recipes for jams and jellies, and includes a section on reduced sugar and no sugar fruit preserves. They have also included recipes and directions for fruit spreads with and without added pectin that is very helpful.

In the section on smoking they address both hot and cold smoking and give you directions for making your own smoker that reminded me a lot of the Alton Brown episode on smoking. I have not tried this, but it seems very straightforward and this might be on my agenda this summer if I can get my husband interested in the process.

Whether you are looking for how to make pickles, can tomatoes, or make jams and jellies this book has a little something for everyone. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to give home canning or freezing a try.


Required classic for the kitchen   December 29, 2003
 48 out of 48 found this review helpful

Home preserving is best done with a guide such as this; if you don't understand how acids, heat, cleanliness are involved in preserving food healthfully, you can get into some deep trouble.

If you garden, this is a good book to have to process your excess produce. Have you ever made ketchup? It's wonderful to season your own. Homemade relishes and pickles are great gifts if you are good at making them. Home-canned tomatoes taste great. This is a classic and a must-have for the home canner.


Best authority for any method of food preservation   December 24, 1998
 25 out of 26 found this review helpful

A solid and complete resource for any method of food preservation from drying, root cellering to pressure canning of nearly everything. I was delighted to see this book reprinted - I can send a copy to each of my daughters!


My Canning Bible   October 21, 1998
 24 out of 25 found this review helpful

I bought this book in 1991 and rely on it exclusively for putting up all my food. It has almost any type of food and how to put it up. Very informative and lots of information on the correct way to can any specific food to prevent bacteria growth. I feel safer knowing the methods in the book are thoroughly researched and tested. A great book.