canning & preserving by ashley english

In addition to Home Dairy, I was so pleased to receive a copy of Canning & Preserving by Ashley English to review.  Although I’ve been canning my own applesauce, jams, and apple butter for a while now, in many ways I still feel like a newbie when it comes to canning.  I am so happy to have Canning & Preserving as a resource to help me go beyond what I know to preserve even more homemade foods for my family.

As I flip through the beautiful pages of this book, my mouth drools over the chutneys, curds, jams, and sauces that catch my eye.  Spiced pear chutney, homemade pickles, strawberry and vanilla sauce, oh my, I want to make all of these!  I finally settled on the tomato basil sauce as my test drive recipe.  Tomato sauce is something I’ve been trying to perfect for some time now.  I’ve never quite found the right blend of ingredients to please my palate.  That, and the fact that canning tomato sauce has always seemed a little trickier to me, made it the right choice.

I canned 3 jars and we ate the rest for dinner.  Although I don’t own a food mill (yet!), and our sauce still had some tomato seeds in it, I seriously think I’ve found the right tomato sauce recipe.  Let’s just say that it did not disappoint and my kids ate everything on their plates.

Just like Home Dairy, I would highly recommend Canning & Preserving as a resource to your kitchen.  Not only does it have great recipes, but it also contains lots of canning tips and even how to make your own pectin!  Excuse me while I go see how I can squeeze in some time to make some peach and lavender butter which will then need some homemade scones…

A special thanks to Beth at Lark Crafts for providing me with this free copy of Canning & Preserving to review.  Do check out their website.  It’s a beautiful blend of creativity with giveaways, crafts, recipes, and more!  

buy canning & preserving on amazon

lark crafts on the web