Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today Hardcover – Illustrated, 1 April 2006

I watch a lot of food youtube channels one of which reccommended this book and I can see why. Gives a good rundown for the leyman about what "canning" is and how to do it along with recipes that have been tested......now both of these points are important.While canning is a fairly popular food preservation method in the states it lost favour over in the UK/Europe for home use decades ago so i should probably quickly cover that. Canned foods in the UK are commonly seen as food that has been processed in a factory inside a metal tin can. This while using the same principles is not that. This is the home preservation method using special glass jars (like Mason jars/ball jars etc), special lids and equipment designed to SAFELY process your food so its shelf stable .....without killing you (more on that in a bit). If you are new to any of this then this book does help with well thought out lists of required equipment and as mentioned runs you through the scientific principles of why and how to do stuff.I should at this point probably mention that I am by trade a trained food scientist whos background was in product development and process trials to launch products with a specific focus on foods produced using the principles mentioned in this book. Why do I mention this?? because this brings me to the only real gripe I have with the book...... because canning is not that popular over in the UK most books like this are American but that does bring in a small issue to do with weights. An american ounce is not the same weight as a UK ounce and fluid measures can differ even more, so when converting recipes please do take care to make sure you are using the correct weights and fluid measures as when it comes to canning this can actually impact on the safety of the product and making sure it has been processed correctly.This brings me back to my earlier point about the recipes having been "tested" - when it comes to this type of food preservation tested doesnt just mean "is it tasty?" it actually means "is it safe?" and not to scare people off trying canning but there are some food nasties out there, in this case the baddie is Clostridium Botulinum, that can actually kill you if you do not process your food correctly. No im not exagerating and yes it is a pretty horrible way to die. I spent most of my working career making sure i killed it so it couldnt kill people eating my products. It really is that serious.These recipes have been tested with that in mind so please follow them. If you dont have a good understanding of what you are doing any changes you make to a recipe could be unsafe as the processing times they will have tested can be affected by changes in pH, salt levels, viscosity of sauce, amount of each ingredient in the jar etc. Please be careful!!Now ive potentially scared people - anyone who still is with me then well done - the book is great - just be careful. Read and reread the rather sizeable chunk of information at the start of the book about safely processing foods until you understand it before jumping in and trying the recipes then just be careful about converting your weights and measures and follow the recipes. Do all that and you are onto a winner. Happy canning!

There's a huge amount of recipes, along with tips and advice. The main detractor is that constantly references Ball products.

400 receipes that are easily explained to any new canner.

Beautifully put together ! a very informative, clear , safe approach with step by step instructions to follow on over 400 recipes for canning , water bathing , fermenting or pickling all your favourite recipes ..everyone’s larder will be a thing of beauty with colourful preserves and pickles by following mouthwatering recipes from this beautiful book !I can’t wait to get started ! It contains all you need to have and know . As well as a problem solver when things didn’t go to plan !a must have for beginners and Advanced preservers alike , especially if you have a big yield from growing you own produce in your garden or allotment , no more waste , you will be eating you home grown bounty all through the year !

This book has a broad range of recipes, but it's very American-centric.So I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in the UK or Ireland.

This book covers everything you need to get started with canning and preserving. It is mainly aimed at water bath canning but does include a section for pressure canning. It is easy to follow and user friendly. I cant recommend it enough really. its sectioned well and indexed so tis easy to find the recipes you want quickly and offers lots of variations on recipes within. good comprehensive book. if you are only getting one book, this should be the one!

It is a very good book, it contains a lot of recipes...recipes that you would not imagine making...or contemplating...I was pleasantly surprised.I am very grateful for the content of the book. I think the book is amazing...The recipes have measurements both in metric and imperial which was important to me.I did give it 5 stars...and that is very rare coming from me, I am a very precise and just person (no grey areas).The only...not criticism, but observation or preference I would have is that I .would have liked to have a picture for each recipe so I can visualise the end result and what I am aspiring to. I do understand that this would mean a book of probably 800 pages. The book has 400 recipes and 448 pages in total. There are some pictures, but not for each recipe.I personally do not like culinary books which do not have a picture for each recipe. It is my preference to have a picture agreed by the writer / the professional, so I know what the finished product should look like.

On time and safely packaged.Another exciting product for me to review.This is absolutely everything you need to know about home Canning/Preserving. Easy to read instructions.If your a beginner, it lists everything you need to have and some of the gadgets you may want to treat yourself with. Clear pictures and diagrams as well as tasty and easy to follow recipes.I purchased this in Paperback and after using it in the kitchen, I wish I had purchased the Spiral-Bound edition. This way its just easier to keep your pages open. So I will look at getting the Spiral-bound and compare the two and report back.Overall, this is the book you want if your looking to homestead, home-cook, ferment or just live a more self-reliant lifestyle.