Complete Book of Home Preserving by: Ball

Strawberry Jam

The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving has been in my collection for over 15 years. The food splatters and earmarked pages prove this is a well-used and well-loved part of my cookbook collection! Before I start bragging about all the reasons I love this book. I strongly encourage anyone that wants to learn about preserving and canning to do their homework! Research the basic principles to ensure it is done correctly. Preserving food is a science! You would hate to gift someone a jar of jam only to have that person wind up sick from a processing error. There are several trusted resources such as the National Center for Home Food Preservation and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The more you learn about food science, the more confident you’ll be in the kitchen. This is true for all kinds of cooking but is especially helpful with food preservation.

If you have a garden, visit u-pick orchards, or love to stroll through your local farmer's market as much as I do, canning is the best way to preserve the harvest! If done right, canning is a safe and economical way to preserve quality, seasonal food at home.

There are some specific products that you need to get started. Please do not open the book and wash a bushel of apples thinking you are ready to start canning! The book has a section dedicated to “special equipment”, read through it before you start. Invest in the basic supplies, take good care of them, they should last a lifetime! The hobby of canning seemed to peak during Covid lockdowns. Browse through your local donation centers like Goodwill or Facebook marketplace. Buy used and make sure it is a hobby you enjoy before making an investment in new products.

This book contains over 400 recipes and includes sections on techniques, special equipment, the science of preserving, and problem-solving! Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving was the only canning book I owned for ten years, and I did not ever stray from the recipes! After years of canning, I have just recently started adding to my cookbook collection with smaller specialty type canning books plus gained the confidence to experiment more with my recipes by carefully following the science.

I can 100s of jars during the year, a small part of them are actually for my family. The majority of them I plan to use as gifts throughout the year. There’s so much joy in sharing something I canned with someone that triggers a childhood memory for them. I’ve often thought that maybe the tomatoes or the beans, aren’t the real gift. Maybe the gift is the memory the jar represents to them? Gifting a jar of dilly beans or a jar of tomatoes to someone who then shares a food memory with me, is priceless! To hear how much a quart of tomatoes reminds someone of hours spent in the kitchen with their dad. Or how their mom always had a pint of dilly beans on the table whenever the family got together. It is a fulfilling experience and a source of pride to gift family and friends with a mason jar full of memories (and hopefully some damn good jam).

There are several recipes from this book that I always can every year when they are in season. The first of which is strawberry jam. This recipe triggers all those happy feelings for me personally. It is the first recipe in the book that I canned, when my kids were little we spent hours picking strawberries together at a local orchard, plus it also happens to be Dino’s favorite jam! This is a win-win-win recipe! Strawberry jam has got to be everyone’s favorite jam, right? This recipe not only tastes delicious on toast, or in a PB&J , but it is so beautiful added into desserts; such as a layer cake, a donut filling, or even inside of a cookie or tart! This will also be a beautiful food gift to share with someone special in your life!

Here are a few of my other favorites from this book!

Pickles

Cherry Pie Filling

Peach Slices

I think this would be a perfect cookbook club book to use to plan a day at a local orchard doing u-pick berries or apples. Invite your family or a small group of friends out for an early morning at a local orchard (you can never go wrong with a fresh apple cider donut - splurge). Then spend the afternoon processing your harvest! Lots of hands make the process easier and faster! Plus, what a great way to create those food memories with the people in your life!

Please visit your local library, a small independently owned bookstore, or purchase your copy on Amazon. Ball also publishes an updated Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. This is a condensed paperback version of this larger Ball book. That would be a less expensive way to start canning!

I hope you’ll enjoy this book and cook along! Send me pictures if you preserve something from this amazing book!