The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is a book that every canner should have in their collection. I don’t know why it has taken me this long to give you a review of it since it’s basically the first book you should refer to when you decide, “I want to can today!” But first – the epic canning challenge! When I started canning with my friend Kiki, we joked that we should challenge ourselves to can everything in Ball, a.k.a. my canning bible. Alas, something was holding us back… and it’s name was marmalade… chutney….and a few other preserves. The chapter on soft spreads has some downright weird sounding recipes in it. However, last week we conquered two marmalades (recipes coming soon) and I’ve decided, the challenge is on. We are going to can EVERY recipe in the book! This could take a while, but I’m in it for the long haul. Bring it on Ball!!

So let’s talk about the book for a minute. It’s not called the “complete” for nothing. This book has 400 recipes in a broad range of categories, and has TESTED and TRUSTED recipes. This should be the book you check when you read a recipe elsewhere that doesn’t sound quite right. Remember, anyone can write a canning book or blog, but Ball’s recipes are ones that you know you can trust. They have lots of nice tips in the columns also, and a good section on getting started.

In the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving you will find everything from jams and marmalade, salsas and chutney, to pressure canned soups and stocks, condiments and pickles. So get this book now, canning season is just around the corner and it’s currently only like $13 on amazon. It is definitely worth that! So get it and follow along as I can and blog my way through the entire book!

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