Preserving food (and sanity) at home: a book review

I found this book in the new nonfiction section of my local library and had to pick it up.

I’ve got all the equipment for preserving: a hot water canner, a pressure cooker/canner, a second freezer, and lots of jars. I’ve got organic, local produce coming my way: We recently joined a CSA nearby, and it is different from others I’ve heard of in that we will get to choose which items we get, and how much of each. So if I want to get my 20# in lima beans (oh hush, I love them), I can do that, bring them home, and preserve them for eating throughout the following year.

There’s really no excuse for not doing this, except that the whole process can be kind of intimidating. Up until now I’ve been using the Ball Blue Book of Preserving ever since I bought all my equipment, 12 or so years ago. (Try saying “Ball Blue Book” quickly without slipping up and saying “blue ball book.” Go ahead. I’ll wait.) While it is a great, thorough book, it really gave me the impression that if you can’t do everything perfectly — food just picked and preserved exactly in the one way that has been deemed the best way — you shouldn’t even bother. All the food and materials aren’t going to do any good for someone who’s run out of give a damn.

Some days I would be ready to go. Twenty pounds of tomatoes, no problem. Wash them, peel them, heat the water in the canner, sterilize the jars and lids. No problem. Gotta tell you, though, after a couple days I was beat. I would get to the point where I’d rather waste the rest of my garden tomatoes than go through that again.

That’s where this book, my new  find, comes in. The Beginner’s Guide to Preserving Food at Home: Easy Instructions for Canning, Freezing, Drying, Brining, and Root Cellaring Your Favorite Fruits, Herbs, and Vegetables, by Janet Chadwick. It tells readers all the basics of preserving foods — including methods and materials — along with helpful tips about harvesting and putting up food, and some recipes for what to do with your produce.

My favorite thing about this book is it gives you permission to half ass things from time to time. Chadwick lists different ways to preserve foods, and she labels them: “best method,” “quickest method,” etc. OK, yeah a hot water bath is going to give you the best results when it comes to preserving tomatoes. But if you can’t stand burning your fingers one more time while peeling the dang things, you know what? You can wash and core those bad boys,  stick them on cookie sheets, freeze until solid, and pack into freezer bags. These may not be perfect, but Chadwick tells us they’ll be just fine in sauces or casseroles. This is just one example among many.

I personally recommend this book for anyone who is interested in getting involved in canning or freezing. I don’t really know anything about dehydrating beyond what I see in the book, but I suppose it would probably be useful for that as well. Though it’s odd for me to do, I’m going to order my own copy just because I can see that I’d like to have it around. And the library probably doesn’t want pieces of my garden all over their book.

Note: There are affiliate links in this post. However. my review is not based on anything except for my own opinion, and I am completely unaffiliated with the author or publisher.

Tags: Book review, janet chadwick, preserving food at home