Customer Reviews

Putting Food By

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This book takes you from knowing nothing to truly UNDERSTANDING not just how to preserve foods, but how each method works and the pros/cons of each method.

Most of the information is on canning and freezing (including different packaging and wrapping techniques), but they also go into salting, smoking, drying, and root cellaring. They don't expect you to live as if it were the 1800's either. They incorporate the use of vacuum sealers and microwaves--and trying to preserve food in the confines of the modern home. Likewise, they will also explain how to create the old types of environments or something that will work just as well.

To be honest, there is more educational information than there are recipes. And even the recipes they give are educational--covering jellies, jams, butters and pickling. These are prime opportunities for failure without appropriate instruction--and that's what they provide. Explaining how it all works--which is not common sense! It takes some learning!

They also explain the best preservation method for the food (often right down to a variety of fruit or veggie, or cut of meat) and how the preservation method used will alter the food. They also tell you what the food will be best used for after preserving. For instance, if freezing cabbage means it will never be crisp again they warn you about this and tell you not to expect it to be used for salads. Things like that make a difference--especially if you didn't grow up in a household where these were items of common knowledge!

I bought this book in 1991 and rely on it exclusively for putting up all my food. It has almost any type of food and how to put it up. Very informative and lots of information on the correct way to can any specific food to prevent bacteria growth. I feel safer knowing the methods in the book are thoroughly researched and tested. A great book.

Home preserving is best done with a guide such as this; if you don't understand how acids, heat, cleanliness are involved in preserving food healthfully, you can get into some deep trouble.

If you garden, this is a good book to have to process your excess produce. Have you ever made ketchup? It's wonderful to season your own. Homemade relishes and pickles are great gifts if you are good at making them. Home-canned tomatoes taste great. This is a classic and a must-have for the home canner.

My mother-in-law bought this for me (2nd edition) when I started to put up food 20 years ago. I've found it reliable and can't imagine living without it. I was delighted to find out that it is still in print.

A solid and complete resource for any method of food preservation from drying, root cellering to pressure canning of nearly everything. I was delighted to see this book reprinted - I can send a copy to each of my daughters!

This book not only includes great (personally tested) information about proper techniques for food preservation - it has great recipes. I highly recommend the zucchini relish recipe. My friends call me for it all the time. I'm getting them a copy for Christmas!

This book will help you _safely_ preserve most foods in a variety of ways. This was my mother's standard reference; now it's mine and it should be yours. Includes charts, recipes, pictures and trouble-shooting guide.

I have this ISBN number in my hand having received it from Amazon.com this week. The publishing info page clearly states the last copyright date as 1988. It says "This fourth edition of 'Putting Food By' first published in 1988 in simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions by The Stephen Green Press, Inc."

Now I have two copies, the original 1988 and this copy falsely labeled as revised Sept, 1992.

It is a great a book now as it was in 1988