Today I am chatting with
my friend Marisa, author of the amazing new preserving cookbook
Food in Jars. As you know, I am a big fan of canning and was thrilled with Marisa’s new book which further fuels my hobby. One of my favorite features of the book is that each recipe is written to make a small batch of food. For example, her pickles recipe makes 2 pints of pickles, her strawberry syrup makes 4 half-pints. For home canners who aren’t trying to stock a larder for the entire winter (I love pickles, of course, but don’t need 20 quarts-worth), this is ideal. For those of you interested in learning how to can this is a terrific first book. The recipes are smartly written and easy to execute and there is even a whole chapter on the basic steps of jar processing written for a true novice. I highly recommend this book to new and experienced canners alike. Better yet, enter to win your own copy below!
1) For your awesome new book, Food in Jars, how did you decide on the recipes and chapters to include. It is packed full of information!
From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to organize the book so that all the jams were grouped in one chapter, pickles in another and so on. When it came to choosing recipes, I went with favorite preserving recipes. These are the home canned goods that you’ll often find in my own pantry at the end of a year of putting up. As I selected the recipes and began to group like with like, the chapter topics naturally settled out.
2) For people with only short amounts of time to cook (i.e. during naptime) what recipes would you recommend?
If you don’t have a ton of time, I high recommend making up a batch of dilly beans. They take no time to pull together and are so good. If you want something on the sweeter side of the spectrum but need to make it fit into compressed periods of time, I recommend breaking up on the work. On the first day, chop your fruit, place it in a plastic container and toss the fruit with the sugar from the recipe. The next day, cook it and can it. That way, you can fit some homemade jam into even the busiest weeks.
3) What are your three favorite recipes from the book? (I know, it is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child!)
I love the tomato jam, the roasted corn salsa (it’s my husband’s very favorite thing) and the boozy canned peaches.
4) How would you advise someone new to canning to start out?
Start small. Don’t try to preserve the world on your first day out. Do your research. Have all your tools and ingredients in one place before you start. And don’t be scared. You can’t kill anyone with jam (truly, botulism cannot grow in high acid environments like jam and pickles), so the worst that will happen is that your first batch will either be over or under set. Even if it doesn’t turn out exactly as you expected, it will still be delicious.
5) What treats will we find in here that we don’t find on your blog?
There are a number of new recipes in the book that aren’t on the blog. The roasted corn salsa I mentioned before is a book-only recipe, as is the peach salsa (pour it over chicken breasts before baking!). Both the granola and nut butter sections are original to the book. And even recipes that initially appeared on the blog have been reworked and tweaked in order to be the most delicious versions of themselves.
6) What are some other favorite things you cook for your family that don’t have anything to do with preserving?
I make a lot of turkey chili because my husband loves it and it’s one of those recipes that yields enough for at least two nights of dinners (I adore leftovers). I make a mean roast chicken. And during the summer months, I love making big grain salads with wheatberries, barley or quinoa.
