Book Shelf

When it comes to canning recipes, it is important to understand that the only known US based sources of verifiable and tested canning recipes are The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCFHP), state/ county extension offices and Ball Canning. Web sites, food blogs and cook book publishers do not have any legal requirements to provide tested recipes. At this time it is not known which, if any, of these sources are meeting testing guidelines prior to publishing recipes. NCHFP and Ball each laboratory test their recipes for numerous requirements to insure proper canning techniques and processing times are utilized based on food acidity. It is up to the consumer to understand this information when deciding which recipes to can and preserve. (See Tested vs. Untested Recipes for more information.)

Known Tested Recipes

So Easy to Preserve is published by The National Center for Home Food Preservation. It is the definitive extension service recipe publication. Extension Services throughout the United States base their bulletins and publications off of the NCHFP information. NCHFP also provides a DVD series on home food preservation available at the above link.

Extension Services, such as University of Wisconsin Extension Services (UWEX), publish printed bulletins that are available at local extension offices and online. If you order the printed version, there is a nominal fee for printing and shipping. There is usually a PDF version available online as well that is free to download and print. (For free copies of UWEX publications, click on the publication you are interested in and look for the “View PDF” button.)

Additional links for Extension Publication related to food preservation:
University of Georgia
Oregon State University

Find your local extension service. (click here)

The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is a 400 recipe collection published to coincide with Ball’s 125th Anniversary. Ball is the leading private developer of tested preserving recipes. They also manufacture many home food preservation products and accessories.

Please note– if you have access to one of the smaller Ball recipe collections, “Ball Blue Book” guides, or older Extension service bulletins it is recommended that you verify the date of publication and do not use recipes from guides published prior to 1994. In 1994, major revisions were made to canning guidelines in order to provide consumers with safe and high quality recipes using the latest research in the food sciences. Recipes published by extension services and the Ball company prior to 1994 do not meet the safety criteria established by food scientists for modern home canning.

Additional Recipes

The Joy of Pickling is my bible of canning recipes. The variety is tremendous and there is fabulous information to get you up and running on canning. Please be aware that as of 2010 there is a revised edition. It is recommended that you use the revised edition and not the first edition for any recipes.

Traditionally more of a pickler than a jammer, I have recently fallen in love with The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook. Rachel’s recipes are fantastic and her explanations are thorough. She also has multiple recipes that call for bergamot! The book is absolutely gorgeous as well and having met Rachel and taken a class with her you can see how much of her has gone into it. I love it so much that I am considering purchasing a duplicate electronic version for my iPad!

Pickles to Relish is a fairly technical overview of canning with some discussion on home testing of recipes. The Jamlady also runs a website with additional information and product sales. This is a good resource for the more experienced canner.

An extensive resource, Putting Food By covers all major areas of home food preservation including canning in cans instead of jars. This is a good resource for home preservationists of all levels.

Japanese cookbook author Seiko Ogawa has written multiple books and is regularly featured on Japanese television. Her Japanese pickle book does not delve into the history of the food in this culture, but the recipes are a delightful change and provide intriguing ideas for small batches of refrigerator pickles.

The River Cottage Preserves Handbook is part of the famed UK River Cottage series. Pam Corbin, listed as “River Cottage master preserver”, presents many intriguing recipes that do not often find their way into US published books, many of which I am anxious to try. However, the canning techniques differ significantly in many cases from those found in both tested and untested US recipes so discretion is advised when choosing how to use these recipes.

Wild Fermentation is an exploration of one of the earliest forms of food preservation.