Six Canning Books Everyone Should Own

Reader Contribution by Renee Pottle
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Just like seed catalogs help backyard gardeners weather the long cold winter, canning books help preserving types get through the planting season. Apple blossoms bring to mind jars of spicy apple butter, and grocery store tomato plants have us planning new salsa recipes. Alas, it’s a bit too early to jump into full-fledged canning mode, but it’s not too early to plan our canning projects. That’s where these favorite canning books come in handy.

Most of these books won’t be found on any best-selling list, but after 30 years of experience they are the books that I find most useful. I don’t receive any free copies or other benefits for recommending them – with one exception, see below. They are the books that you will find on my bookshelf, sticky with spitting jam and stained with sloshed vinegar. I am sure that you will find them useful too.

Ball Blue Book:The Ball Blue Book, published in cooperation with Ball® has been the go-to canning guide for over 100 years. This is the first canning book many new canners purchase, and many long-time canners own more than one version. The Ball Blue Book is updated periodically, as canning and safety guidelines are updated. The most recent version is from 2004 and includes all the basics about canning both low-acid and acid foods, freezing and dehydrating. There are numerous recipes for soft spreads and pickling as well as some less well known recipes like Chablis Jelly and Maple-Walnut Syrup.

So Easy to Preserve: If the Blue Book has all the basics covered, So Easy to Preserve takes those basics and does them one better. So Easy to Preserve is published by the Cooperative Extension of the University of Georgia, where the National Center for Home Food Preservation is located. It is a coil bound book with few illustrations, but chock full of canning/freezing/drying charts, tips and recipes. For example, there are 12 salsa recipes alone. As might be expected, there is quite a bit of southern region food information like how to can okra or black eye peas that might not be as popular elsewhere. You will find something about almost any meat, fruit, or vegetable that you are interested in preserving in this tome.

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