The Preserving Answer Book: Expert Tips, Techniques, And Best Methods For Preserving All Your Favorite Foods

257 Pages·2021·5.832 MB·English

by  Sherri Brooks Vinton

The Preserving Answer Book
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Storey Publishing
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EPRESERVING
H
T
ANSWER BOOK
Expert Tips, Techniques, and Best Methods
for Preserving All Your Favorite Foods
Sherri Brooks Vinton, best-selling author of Put ’em Up!
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Storey Publishing
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The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.
For all the eaters who ask questions
Edited by Margaret Sutherland and Cover photography by © Aubrie Pick, front
Molly Jackel t.r. & b.c.; Chris Bartlett, back; © Erin
Book design by Mary Winkelman Velgos Kunkel, front b.l.; © Kip Dawkins/Shoe and demand answers
Cover design by Alethea Morrison and Heel Factory, front t.c.; © Massimo
Erin Dawson Ravera/Getty Images, front b.r.;
Text production by Erin Dawson and © RonBailey/Getty Images, front t.r.
Liseann Karandisecky Illustrations by © Elara Tanguy
Indexed by Nancy D. Wood
Text © 2014 by Sherri Brooks Vinton
The contents of this book were previously published under the title The Put ’em Up!
Preserving Answer Book.
Be sure to read all of the instructions thoroughly before undertaking any of the
techniques or recipes in this book and follow all of the recommended safety guidelines.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from
the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations
in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or other — without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All
recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing.
The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.
Storey Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vinton, Sherri Brooks, 1968- author.
Title: The preserving answer book : expert tips, techniques, and best methods for preserving
all your favorite foods / Sherri Brooks Vinton.
Other titles: The put ’em up! preserving answer book.
Description: 2nd edition. | North Adams, MA : Storey Publishing, [2021] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020042936 (print) | LCCN 2020042937 (ebook) | ISBN 9781635864205
(paperback) | ISBN 9781635864212 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Canning and preserving—Miscellanea. | Fruit—Preservation. | Cooking
(Fruit) | LCGFT: Cookbooks.
Classification: LCC TX601 .V56 2021 (print) | LCC TX601 (ebook) | DDC 641.4/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020042936
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020042937
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For all the eaters who ask questions
and demand answers
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my husband, Drew, and my kids, Ava and
Thayer, for their constant support, lack of fussiness when I travel for
weeks on end, and general buena onda. How lucky I am.
Thanks Mom, Granny Toni, and Gran for my formative eating
years. I owe each of you for my obsession with all things edible.
I would like to thank Lisa Ekus and The Lisa Ekus Group for
their kind attention and dedication to the movement.
I’d like to give a shout out to my kitchen sistahs (and bros)
who share the passion for delicious, homemade food and dedicate
themselves to teaching others how to feed themselves.
And thank you readers, eaters, canners, and cooks everywhere
for your support of local farmers and real, good food. Now get in
there and cook up something tasty!
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Contents
Introduction 9
Getting Started
PART 1:

1 Basics 12
Why Preserve? • Safety
2 Sourcing and Storage 20
Finding Good Food • Recipe: White Peach Jam • Prolonging
Produce
3 Prep Work 34
Kitchen Skills • Blanching • Peels and Pits • Recipe: Raspberry
Jelly • Making the Most of It • Kitchen Tips
Preserving Processes
PART 2:
4 General Canning 58
Workspace • Equipment • Jars • Process • Recipe: Bread-and-Butter
Chips • Ingredients • When Something’s Gone Wrong • What Not to
Do • Storage
5 Boiling-Water Method 95
Basics • Setting Up • About pH and Acid • Reliable Recipes • Recipe:
Pickled Okra • Filling the Jars • Loading the Canner • Processing •
Checking for a Seal
6 Pressure Canning 122
Basics • Equipment • What to Pressure Can • Recipe: Green Beans
in Water
7 Refrigeration 134
Recipe: Simple Brine • Recipe: Pub Pickles
8 Freezing 140
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9 Drying 148
Prepping • Recipe: Dried Cherries • Methods • Storage
10 Fermentation 160
Encouraging a Good Ferment • Recipe: Classic Fermented
Sauerkraut • Equipment • Ingredients • Storage
11 Infusions 174

Recipe: Strawberry Vinegar
Putting Your Skills to Work
PART 3:
12 Sweet and Savory Spreads 180
Basics • Recipe: Quick Blueberry Jam • Recipe: Pan-Roasted
Chicken with Raspberry Reduction • Equipment •
Pectin • Recipe: Peel-and-Pip Pectin • Sugar and Acid • Getting a
Good Set • Troubleshooting
13 Pickles 207
Recipe: Pickling Spice
14 Sauces 213
Recipe: Blueberry Gastrique
15 Vegetables 217
16 Whole Fruits 221
Recipe: Pears in Honey Syrup
17 Tomatoes and Tomato Products 227
Recipe: Avalanche Sauce
Metric Conversions 238
Resources 239
Supplies and Equipment 239 • Home Food Preserving
Community and Information 240 • Local Food Sources
and Calendars 241
Index 245
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88
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Introduction
Is there any home cooking activity that churns up more anxiety
than food preservation? Roasting your first Thanksgiving Day
bird, perhaps. I understand that the turkey hotline rings off the

hook on that day. Since my book Put ’em Up! first came out,
99
in 2010, my phone and e-mail have been getting their share of
jingles as well. Eaters all across the country have reached out
with their preserving questions, concerns, and triumphs. The Q &
A sessions in my classes have been terrifically robust. There is so
much to know about this craft, and it has been a challenge and a
pleasure to work through the answers to all of the questions that
have been posed along the way.
This book is by no means an exhaustive overview of all food
preservation processes. It does, however, aim to answer the most
frequently asked questions about putting up your own produce.
Consider it a hit list of the problems and solutions that many
home preservers face when drying, freezing, fermenting, infusing,
and canning their food.
I am very grateful to the eaters who have trusted me to help
them clear their kitchen hurdles. I hope, in some small way, that
I have encouraged more people to return to the kitchen to cook
up, preserve, and enjoy not only great-tasting food but also last-
ing memories of lovely times and delicious things shared with
friends and family. After all, while there is a great deal of technical
information involved in these processes, the goal isn’t to perform
a science experiment. It’s to create your next great meal.
I hope you find the answers here to all of your preserv-
ing questions. But if you don’t, give me a shout. The hotline’s
always open.
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