After last years’ renewed interest in home canning I purchased Canning For a New Generation by Liana Krissoff.

I grew up canning and have made, or know of, most of the usual ways to preserve foods but I wanted something a little “more”. I finally pulled it off my recipe book shelf late last week and decided I would put it to use. Our blueberry bushes are doing quite well this year and I knew there had to be some way to preserve them besides freezing. A way that would be very YUMMY.

In the introduction Liana explains WHY she cans and I have to say that I “get it” completely. Canning isn’t an economical way of eating to be sure. By the time I grow or buy local produce, new jar lids, ingredients to put into the jars WITH my produce and pay the utility bills for water, electric and gas I’m sure the home canned food costs much more than the jar of strawberry preserves I could buy at the grocery store. BUT, and this is a biggie for me, I know what is INSIDE that jar. I know the produce grown in my own back yard isn’t sprayed with anything but rain, it’s prepared in my own kitchen using ingredients I trust and I put it in the jars with my own hands.

IT’S GOOD STUFF, MAYNARD!

(Sorry, that’s a little family silliness. Couldn’t help myself!) 🙂

The introduction to Canning For a New Generation has a WHOLE LOT of information for those of you just beginning the home canning adventure. Everything from basic ingredients, supplies needed, to canning step by step.

The chapters are set up by the seasons – ie. Spring – Fruits, Spring – Vegetables, Summer – Fruits, Summer – Vegetables etc. There are also several recipes in the back, in a section called “Baked and Creamy Things to Put Preserves On”. I’m going to have to make a few things from THAT chapter!

Here are some other details:

• Includes 265 pages of recipes and photos – 200 recipes
• Includes introduction, sources, further reading, conversion charts and an index
• 30 detachable gift labels
• Retails for $24.95 (USD) but can be purchased on amazon.com for $15.42 here

So having said all of that I decided to use up some of my blueberries and make the Blueberry and Apple Jam on page 88.

Here are my findings:

• The recipe was easy to follow – having all of the basic canning equipment on hand I only had to purchase a little cheesecloth
• The recipe states that it makes 5 half pint jars but I only got 4 half pint jars
• Also, as part of the process you are asked to use a jelly bag (which I couldn’t find) or 4 layers of cheesecloth for the apple peel and core, which was easy enough. The down side is that no where in the recipe does it tell  you at which point to REMOVE the cheesecloth bag. So I’m not sure if I left it in too long and my jam got thicker and that’s why I only ended up with four half pint jars or if it was just a fluke.
• The finished jam is quite tasty and only has 5 ingredients (Unless you count the lemon zest and lemon juice as one ingredient – then there are 4)

All in all I think it’s a good book and that I’ll refer to it again and again as I look for new recipes to try. I love the personal stories sprinkled throughout the book and I love that most of the recipes only have a few ingredients.

It’s a keeper. 🙂

If you’d like to learn more about Liana Krissoff she has a blog at Pie and Beer (That blog title alone makes her my new best friend!) and there is a facebook page for Canning for a New Generation.

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