The Complete Guide to Food Preservation

Step-by-Step Instructions on How to freeze, dry, can, and Preserve Food

By Angela Williams Duea

Atlantic Publishing Group

www.atlantic-pub.com

In this book, Angela Williams Duea gives very detailed instructions on how to freeze, dry, can and preserve foods for future use. However, you will need to follow the directions exactly, and with some methods, you will have to buy supplies to prepare the foods properly. I chose to get this book simply because I wanted to learn how to freeze, and can food, that I grow every year. She (the author) has provided an in-depth look at different processes on preserving foods. It also explains that certain foods could spoil because of the changes they undergo. They explain many ways to prevent food poisoning and spoilage.

The book starts out by describing how people in the older days, tried different ways to preserve the little food they had, as not to starve over the winter. By following the instructions in the book, you can learn that storing foods is not as challenging as most think. Storing food can increase the amount of available food for less money. It also saves from losing the foods that you have worked all summer to grow. The book also explains when the best times for harvesting , and the best way to preserve the foods. The book goes on to explain the most common canning problems, how they occur, and how to avoid the issues, that come with canning. The book gives details on what to look for in preserved foods that can show signs of spoiling. The last part of the book gives recipes, as well as addresses and email addresses on where to buy the supplies that are needed for canning, safely.

I have to say that, in the end, I would recommend this book to everyone wanting to learn how to preserve and keep foods. The main idea of this book, was to teach any and all persons looking for different ways to keep the same foods different ways. I believe that anyone reading this book, can learn the art of preserving foods, successfully, as every page is covered in detailed information, explaining the process of canning, freezing, drying, and preserving foods.

Reviewed on 05/02/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member donna mcguire

We lived on my grandparent’s farm so I grew up I watched my grandmother, my aunts and my mom freeze, can and preserve food. I remember sitting on our back porch shelling peas and lima beans and shucking corn for freezing. I also helped peel peaches for canning. In addition, my mom and aunts used to make jelly, ketchup, can pears, tomatoes, and so many other things. They entered their products at the state and county fairs and have tons of ribbons.

When I got my own home, I also started a garden and would freeze things after I got a freestanding freezer, and can tomatoes and tomato sauce. Passing the tradition on one year, I helped my sister-in-law can peaches and later when my nieces visited that summer, we canned dill pickles. I had such a small kitchen the smell became too much for them and we still laugh about it.

I have been impressed with the Atlantic Publishing Group’s Back to Basics series and looked forward to reading this book. Duea has set the book up very user friendly and takes you through the steps of canning very clearly so if you are new to food preservation this is the perfect guide. She follows up that first chapter with troubleshooting canning problems. Chapters on freezing food, smoking and preserving meat, juicing and other preservation methods are included. The Appendix are set up with recipes for each category, such as fruit, tomatoes, vegetables, meats, seafood and a section on recipes for dried food.

 
Throughout the book charts, diagrams, and some black and white photographs are included that help explain the procedures. This book is readable and the newbie to food preservation will find a very helpful guide but the more seasoned cook will also find helpful hints and wonderful recipes.

In this economy and with people wanting organic fruits and vegetable more families are gardening today. This book would be a helpful reference to food presentation when you end up with an overabundance of tomatoes, or your local farmer has a surplus and you want to save some money. I highly recommend it.

Reviewed on 05/01/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Janice Hidey

There is nothing more rewarding than looking at jars of preserves lined up on a pantry shelf, or packages of fruits and vegetables stacked in a freezer.  I know...living in northern Canada our fresh vegetable and fruit supply was limited during the winter so taking out a jar of peaches was like sunshine peeking through the clouds on a cloudy day.  Living in the south now I don't necessarily have the need to preserve food for the same reason I did before but I still feel the need to preserve local seasonal produce.

The book is ideal for the novice because it covers all the basics: terms, hot/raw packs, pressure canners, water baths, and what to preserve.  It also covers troubleshooting, freezing, smoking/preserving meats, drying foods, juicing, and fermenting.

Angela Wiliams Duea also provides recipes for pickles. There is nothing better than a homemade pickle or relish to enhance a home cooked meal. This year I'm going to make my own pickles and canned tomatoes as soon as they are in season. The local Farmer's Market always has a wonderful supply of locally grown produce that would be ideal for preserving.

Thank you Angela for inspiring me to start preserving again. I encourage others to do the same.

Reviewed on 03/12/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Irene Watson

The Complete Guide to Food Preservation: Step-by-step Instructions on How to freeze, dry, can, and preserve food.

Recently my husband and I decided to start an inhouse garden to get a head start of the vegetables before we start the regular outside garden this spring. We are trying to Go green and eat more organic food and a garden was a good start to that. W also wanted to know ways to preserve food and save it longer than just putting it in the fridge, basically going back to our roots and doing things a little bit the way people of older generations went about doing that.

This book took me by surprise with how Angela Williams Duea went into well detail oriented descriptions on how to can, freeze and preserve foods. I couldn't imagine starting are process without reading this book first! A great resource for the inexperienced as well as the experienced.

Reviewed on 02/28/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Michelle Lichtenfels

“The Complete Guide to Food Preservation:  Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Freeze, Dry, Can, and Preserve Food” is a comprehensive book covering the in’s and out’s of safely packaging food for long-term storage.  Author Angela Williams Duea displays an obvious passion for the subject and vividly describes the various aspects of the selection, preparation, and combinations of certain foods so that they may be stockpiled.  Whether you are looking to preserve food in order to save money, to have organic options at your disposal, or you are saving the extra from your garden, this book has more than enough information to get you well on the way to your culinary and storage goals. 

“The Complete Guide to Food Preservation” is extremely thorough and meticulous in its descriptions of the full range of possibilities when considering what type of preservation method to utilize.  I was almost overwhelmed with what could actually be done with even the simplest of foods!  Williams Duea keeps her readers from being totally inundated with information by separating the methodology from the recipes; step by step directions for correct preservation processes take up most of the book, structured as easy to find chapters and sections while the actual recipes are located in an appendix.  All in all, I found the book to be extremely well organized and edited but I did find two ‘off’ spots.  While very minor, one was a caption noting a picture’s ‘bright colors’ yet the picture was black and white.  The other was a caption about halfway through the book naming the person pictured and what she was doing (ie. ‘Laura uses her juicer to make fresh and nutritious carrot juice’) yet no other picture in the entire book gives such a personal indicator caption; it didn’t fit with any of the other pictures and captions which reflect a very general and impersonal feel. 

“The Complete Guide to Food Preservation” is the perfect read for anyone interested in saving food for the long-term, regardless of reason.  As I am completely inexperienced at any aspect of canning, I found the descriptions and processes easy to follow and am excited to try some of them out for myself.  Beginners will love Williams Duea’s clearly motivating style and more experienced will find it a useful reference book.  An appetizing read!

Reviewed on 01/25/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Vicki Landes