Keeping the Harvest: Preserving Your Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs (Down-to-Earth Book)

This book has extremely helpful information and is detailed and easy to understand. A friend recommended it and she has used it for many years and said it was her “go to” book for anything related to canning and other methods of preparing and storing fruits, vegetables, and other food items. I have not had it for very long but look forward to using it as a resource.

This is a must have incase you find yourself needing to keep your harvest. Very informative and step by step

I bought this book years ago when I bought a half share in the harvest of a CSA in NJ. At the end of the season, we were overwhelmed with crates of tomatoes. So, I learned how to can tomatoes and make tomato juice (love a good Bloody Mary!). Even with only a half-share, that season I also learned how to freeze greenbeans, strawberries and what you would expect to find grown in the Mid-Atlantic area. When I retired I moved to rural mid-west community. I bought copies of this book for my neighbors, and relatives. Anyone who planted a garden got a copy of this book. It is wonderful and straightfoward. Recipients include an ICU nurse, an IT professional and a dog-groomer. I have a very large collection of "country living" books, this is the one I go to over and over. Even if I don't grow it myself, I can buy wonderful locally grown produce in season. A very good companion cookbook is In Season by Sarah Raven.

Its a great book but it overlapped some on the book i already had on the subject. I realize that on this subject there is not any modernizations to think of so it means an author is going to have to come up with an origanial way of writing about it, better pictures, different recipes and some of their old family recipes. My mom used to make a dilled carrot that was divine. Still looking for the recipe. Nobody seems to have it. That would be an example of a old family recipe that maybe nobody else has. So it needed to have some extra umphh to be a five star.

I bought three books on canning and this book was the best. It is simple to understand, has pictures of the way things should look, such as the canning jars in a not water bath. I was canning tomatos and this book was so easy to follow. It listed the different methods for canning, as stating the best method.I bought a pressure cooker and could not understand the manufactures directions, this book explained in simple terms, everything I needed to know, to use the pressure cooker. It has pictures on how to can tomatos from start to finish, which I really appreciated. To me a picture is worth a thousand words.I think if you are a first time canner or even experienced, that this easy to use book is for you. I know I will be using it for years to come. Thank you to the authors.

This is a very informative book, I learned a lot from it. It’s making life on a homestead much easier. Good for beginners and “old hands”! I recommend it to anyone.

This book is, hands down, the most elaborate, accurate, easy to use book out there! A must have for those just starting out or seasoned to growing, harvesting and preserving!

I love this book and bought it for my son who is now into vegetable gardening. Mine is so old it's falling apart. I use it for information when I am canning or freezing and also use some of the recipes included. It is easy to read and easy to find what you are looking for. Everything is listed alphabetically.

Was brought as a Xmas present for my Son so he has not seen it yet but I had a read and it and it is a very versatile book has interesting facts and ideas.

Give good advice

A good reference work we keep handy and refer too frequently.

Great basic book on how to preserve various kinds of fruits & vegetables. (e.g. "Canned tomatoes, canned pears".)I didn't find there were that many modern, edgy recipes though. (Not too many fancy combinations, like pear and amaretto, or peach & plum, or... you know - mixes.)So it's a good starter book, or someone looking to put food by from a kitchen garden. But for someone who's into more creative jam making and wanting to try out fun jams you'd never find in the supermarket, this might not be your best bet.

A comprehensive book of freezing, drying, pickling and jam making, one that only the really serious would want on hand.If you are not sure if you want to go down the preserving route, perhaps borrowing the book first, before making up your mind, would be the best way to go.There is one small draw back with this book, it has been written by an American for the American market, so all weights and measures are in cups, gallons, quarts etc, so unless you can work with US recipes, it will mean nothing to you on the recipe side.But having said that, there is great detail on each of the preserving methods themselves which is very useful, including new US guidelines on safe food preserving, which is difficult to find here in the UK, but invaluable if you want to stay healthy after eating your preserved produce!