Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything

by Mary Clemens Meyer, Susanna Meyer

Overview

You can’t get much closer to the source of your food than canning or preserving it yourself, and Saving the Seasons shows you how through clear instructions and step-by-step pictures. Loaded with helpful tips, charts and user-friendly recipes for beginners and experts alike, you will enjoy the season's bounty all year long!

Top Five Reasons To Preserve Your Own Food

1. Eat from known, local food sources—year round!
2. Fill your cupboards with foods free from chemical additives and preservatives.
3. Lock in peak flavors and nutrition by reserving the bounty of the season.
4. Taste the full flavors of homemade—store-bought brands just can’t compare!
5. Preserve foods while they’re plentiful, and the benefits last all year—with tastes you won’t soon forget.

"What a treat to be reminded that it's not just technically possible to keep summer in your pantry all year long, but incredibly delicious. There's nothing at the supermarket that comes close to the tastes in these pages—and nothing that will help much more in the fight to build a local food system to replace the vulnerable, unhealthy, and sprawling mess that is our current lot."
—Bill McKibben, author Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

"What a great idea to combine lessons for canning, freezing, pickling, and drying all in one book—with recipes for everything from making spicy kimchi to black raspberry jam! What a delicious way to extend our gardens."
—Catherine Walthers, author of Raising the Salad Bar and Soups + Sides

"It is heartening to see the renewed interest in gardening and in eating locally—actually, the interest in eating real food! It is long overdue. With this encouraging trend comes the need for a comprehensive guide to canning and preserving the garden bounty to enjoy the rest of the year. Saving the Seasons fills this niche perfectly. Its colorful pages, clear instructions, and many recipes will stimulate the novice as well as the seasoned canner."
—Elsie Kline, Farming Magazine

"A must-have follow-up to Simply in Season, Saving the Seasons takes eating locally and seasonally to the next step—beyond fresh. Now one can eat locally and seasonally year round with the knowledge of how to preserve or save the seasons. With the aid of the simple steps and photos, the novice will feel quite comfortable saving the seasons, and the experienced will learn new tricks. All will have wonderful recipes to try."
—Mary Beth Lind, co-author of Simply in Season

"With the voice of a trusted friend, Saving the Seasons offers comprehensive guidance and easy-to-follow instructions to the lost art of food preservation. It's the next best thing to having Mom or Grandma in the kitchen with you—possibly even better (sorry, Mom)."
—Cathleen Hockman-Wert, co-author of Simply in Season

"As a mother-daughter team with many years of farming between them, including both rural and urban agriculture, the Meyers are well-placed to present this updated guide on preserving food. They provide simple instructions and a great selection of recipes, from basic jam, pickles, and relish to international favorites like kimchi and chutney. Their tips offer terrific extra tidbits geared toward beginners while useful notes are included on foods for babies and kids."
—Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen, organic, sustainable, and local food/agriculture writer

A great addition for those who are cooking seasonally with Simply in Season!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780836195125
Publisher:	MennoMedia
Publication date:	05/01/2010
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mary Clemens Meyer is an editor at MennoMedia. She has written Bible school and Sunday school curriculum, is the author of Walking with Jesus, a Herald Press book of peacemaking stories for children. Mary and her husband Ron raise certified organic vegetables and fruits, grass-fed beef, and pastured poultry on their farm near Fresno, Ohio. 

Susanna Meyer works for the nonprofit organization Grow Pittsburgh, growing organic produce and seedlings in the city for restaurants and residents. She also educates children, teenagers, and adults about growing their own food, and will be happy to direct them to this book when their gardens overflow.

Read an Excerpt

By Mary Clemens Meyer and Susanna Meyer

Until recently, preserving food was in danger of becoming a lost art. From the early days of "putting up food" for the winter, canning was a familiar practice in the scrimp-and-save Great Depression and war years of the 1930s and 1940s, and the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s.

The 1980s and 1990s brought cheap canned goods to grocery store shelves. Women joined the work force in unprecedented numbers, and had little time for homemaking "extras." Fewer people had time or interest to grow gardens or buy extra produce to store. The process of canning and preserving food seemed like a mysterious art from the past—not relevant or efficient for modern times.

Things began to change in the early 2000s. There was a sharp rise in farmers' markets and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription farms, along with a greater demand for organic foods, the growth of local food and slow food movements, and the planting of urban and community gardens. All of these things illustrated people's desire to reconnect with their food.

At the same time, the children of the 1980s and 1990s—people who grew up learning about care for the earth—reached adulthood and began making lifestyle choices. Many are choosing healthier and less processed foods. They want to buy "fresh and local" and grow at least some of their own produce, even if it's one pot of tomatoes on the balcony. They want to feed their babies wholesome meals without additives. They want to be part of the whole experience of food, not just opening a can of tomato soup or a box of flavored noodles.

But, for many, preserving food seems like a mysterious art. How do you can, dry or pickle produce? What implements do you need? Where do you start?

That's where Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything comes in. We wrote it to show that preserving food is not a mysterious art. With clear steps, photos, and easy-to-follow instructions, we show how anyone can pickle, can, freeze, and dry almost anything. With a little practice, the process will become second nature and lead to years of satisfying experiences and good eating.

There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a row of colorful, home-canned jars on your shelf, or serving your friends and family homemade applesauce or strawberry jam in the winter. Preserving your own food also brings peace of mind—you know the quality of the ingredients and the care taken in processing. Best of all, the flavor is even better—a generous helping of taste for just a little effort.

Through Saving The Seasons, anyone can learn to preserve food, and also get the answer to the big question that comes from abundant CSA boxes and home gardens: "What do I do with the extra?" The answer: "Enjoy it all year long, from your shelf or freezer!"

From the Preface to Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything by Mary Clemens Meyer and Susanna Meyer.

Table of Contents

Guide to the Harvest

Canning and Freezing Yields

Canning

Introduction

How to Can

Tomatoes

Fruits

Vegetables, Meats, and Soups

Herbed Vinegars

Pickles and Relishes Introduction

How to Make Pickles or Relishes

Pickles

Relishes

Jams, Jellies, and Spreads Introduction

How to Make Jam

Cooked Jams, Jellies, and Spreads

Freezer Jams

Freezing

Introduction

How to Freeze

Vegetables and Herbs

Fruits

Meats, Poultry, and Fish

Baby Food Introduction

Baby Food

Drying

Introduction

How to Dry

Fruits

Vegetables

Herbs

Meats

Appendix

Bibliography of Helpful Books

Sources for Canning, Freezing, and Drying Supplies

What People are Saying About This

Endorsement

"Saving the Seasons is the newest cookbook from the publishers of the beloved Mennonite cookbooks: Simply in Season, More with Less, and Extending the Table. This new work lives up to and expands the ideals of its predecessors.

"In the nearly 35 years since More with Less first appeared on the scene, American kitchens have undergone some big changes, and not just in the shift from “autumn harvest” appliance colors to stainless steel. In much of the country, the locavore movement is in full swing, folks are prioritizing where their food comes from and how it gets to them. They are looking for farmer’s markets and buying up farm shares and subscriptions on such sites as http://www.localharvest.org/csa/. Vegetable gardens, chicken coops and beehives are popping up in urban neighborhoods, and with the current DIY climate, and the financial necessities many families are facing, the More with Less approach to homemaking has new relevance.

"The upsurge in interest in various arts of domesticity and homesteading means this book comes out at exactly the right time for a new group of novice gardeners who are wondering what exactly they are supposed to do with the 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers they accidentally grew.

"It is wonderful to have the basics of canning, freezing, stock making, drying, pickling and basically any method of preserving you might think of laid out simply in one place. The volume of information could be overwhelming, as in larger encyclopedic style cookbooks, but the easy style, lovely photography, and directness and simplicity of the instructions take away the intimidation factor. The book begins with a “Guide to the Harvest” that lays out produce alphabetically, with photos, descriptions, notes on season, recommended preservation methods and an index to recipes in the book.

"Each following section is interspersed with notes on preserving in general, some of which are particularly helpful, such as the commentary on what kinds of produce work best for preserving baby foods, and which crops tend to be sprayed more often with pesticides on commercial farms. The authors include the approximate yields you can expect for canning and freezing specific fruits and vegetables, which takes some guesswork out of the process, when you are first getting started. There are brief notes troubleshooting common problems for novice canners, or sharing the origins of recipes beloved by the authors. In addition there is a comprehensive troubleshooting chart for canning problems at the end of the book.

"Throughout the book, I appreciated the focus on the genuine basics and necessities for canning. It’s no more than I should expect from a book with this book’s Mennonite pedigree, but the simplicity of the instructions definitely distinguishes this guide from the other books out there. There is no nitpicking about perfect techniques, and no insistence on using specific new products or trendy cookware. And yes, there is such a thing as trendy canning equipment.

"Whether you have a couple of acres of tomatoes or simply an urge to try making Apple Cake in a Jar (59), this book has something for you. The blueberry jam recipe was delicious, the strawberry freezer jam was indescribably easy, and so far the only fault my family has found is with the salsa recipe. We are born and bred Texans though, and have very specific ideas about what constitutes good salsa. Our dissatisfaction probably has more to do with the fact that the lovely authors, based in Pittsburgh and Ohio, haven’t been raised on habañeros and probably still have their taste buds intact. Next time I make that particular recipe I may leave the jalapeno seeds IN.

"Overall, this book is a useful addition to the library of experienced canners and preservers, and absolutely indispensable for novices."
--Englewood Review of Books--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Strawberry Freezer Jam•2 cups / 500 ml strawberries (about 1 quart /1 L)•4 cups / 1 L sugar•1 box (1/3 cup /75 ml) powdered pectin•3/4/ cup / 175 ml waterWash and crush berries. Measure exact amount of fruit into bowl. Measure exact amount of sugar into bowl. Stir sugar into fruit. Mix well and let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.Stir pectin into water in small saucepan. (Pectin may be lumpy at first.) Bring to a boil on high heat and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir pectin mixture into fruit mixture. Stir constantly, until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)Ladle quickly into rigid glass or plastic freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch / 12 mm headspace. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Put in freezer.Makes 5 half-pints / 250 ml jars.(Recipe reprinted here with permission of Herald Press.) diggIf you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the Feedburner feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Related posts:1.Review: PARENTING BEYOND YOUR CAPACITY – Joiner/ Nieuwhof [Vol. 3, #29]2.Review: TERRA MADRE by Carlo Petrini [Vol. 3, #14]3.Review: START HERE by Alex and Brett HarrisThis entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 11:34 pm and is filed under *Featured Reviews*, Uncategorized, VOLUME 1, VOLUME 3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. One Response to “Review: SAVING THE SEASONS