A review by laurla
Saving the Season: A Cook's Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preserving: A Cookbook by Kevin West

5.0

-a bit more story than cookbook, but an interesting read. autobiography, road trips to various places for fresh ingredients to make the recipes, and histories of some plants/recipes.

-refers to other cookbooks: the berry bible by janie hibler, west coast cook book by helen brown, joy of pickling by linda ziedrich, joy of jams, jellies, and other sweet preserves by linda ziedrich. also refers to june taylor for preserves and jams.

-suggests a preserving pan to help in cooking down jams and such, never heard of it before.
-suggests powdered apple pectin rather than regular store pectin. or making your own pectin from cooking down apples yourself.
-suggests mixing sweet and sour cherries for the best jam
-you can cook cherry pits with preserves for an added almond flavor

"preserving fruit is challenging because no two batches of fruit are ever the same in ripeness and sweetness." "as fruit ripens, the pectin levels drop. less ripe fruit has more pectin."

-lots of liquors added to his recipes. poire williams eau de vie is a pear brandy made from williams pears. (eau de vie is colorless fruit brandy). calvados is apple brandy. nocino is a walnut liqueur. kirsch and marasca are cherry liqueurs.

-recipes that looked interesting: strawberry jam, pickled bistro carrots, cherry preserves w/pits, cherry preserves w/pinot noir, cherry preserves w/plums, smooth cherry jam, cherry chew, cherry 'shine, sour cherry preserves, cherry pie filling, dill spears and chips, cornichons, whole fruit raspberry jam, blueberry jam, blueberry jam w/gin, wild blueberries in light syrup, wild blueberry preserves, peach jam, peach jam w/champagne, peach passion fruit jam, ultra low sugar nectarine or peach compote, peach or nectarine chutney, spiced peach butter, dill relish, tomato paste, pear jam, limeade syrup, fine shred lime marmalade