by Aimee
Marisa and I first met at a retreat ages ago, but I had been an avid reader of her blog Food in Jars for years. And of course, she is a regular contributor here on Simple Bites!
I’ve always considered Marisa the authority of all things home canning, and her first book, Food in Jars
My canning pantry is looking a little bare as the early spring produce as yet to hit the local markets. I can’t wait to begin a new season of preserving – with this new book to inspire me.
Beautifully photographed and penned with Marisa’s warm wit, Preserving by the Pint focuses on urban-friendly small-batch recipe well suited to small spaces and novice canners. It’s an utterly fantastic concept!
Read on for a short interview with Marisa and a chance to win one of two copies of Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces
Image by Steve Legato, courtesy of Running Press.
Q&A With Marisa of Food in Jars.
1. How did a small-batch preserving cookbook come to be?
Preserving by the Pint was born out of a feature from the blog that I called Urban Preserving. The idea was to create recipes for jams and pickles that could be made from just a pint, a quart or a pound (or two!) of produce. These are the units of measure that most people pick up at the farmers market, get from their CSA share, or find themselves harvesting from small garden plots and it just seemed natural to make preserves with those same starting points.
When my publisher determined that the first book (Food in Jars) was enough of a success that they’d like to see my next idea, I proposed the tiny batch book. They liked it and so I was off and running!
2. Canning differs from season to season, what is your favourite time of year to ‘put up’?
While I love canning throughout the seasons (and am a fool for wintertime citrus), my very favorite time of year is late summer. There is just so much available for canning in August and September, between tomatoes, green beans, late summer peaches, and the Italian plums.
3. Although canning is growing in popularity, it is still uncharted waters for most. What advice or encouragement can you offer the beginner at home?
Canning really and truly doesn’t have to be scary. If you comfortable enough in the kitchen to make pasta, you should be able to can. However, if the process of boiling full jars is more than you can bear, don’t write off jam making and pickling.
All the recipes in the new book yield small enough quantities that you can always make the recipes, funnel the contents into a container and refrigerate them.
Image by Steve Legato, courtesy of Running Press.
Giveaway!
Thanks to the publishers at Running Press, I have TWO copies of Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces from the author of Food in Jars
To enter:
To enter this giveaway leave a comment on this post and tell me your favourite flavour of jam. That’s it!
Giveaway ends Sunday, May 4, at 8:00 AM EST. Good luck to all!
Bite this Book: Preserving by the Pint is a post from Simple Bites
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