The other day I received a copy of Beyond Canning by Autumn Giles, who writes about home cooking, gluten-free goodies and preserving (among other things) at the beautiful blog, Autumn Makes and Does. I am thrilled, as I’ve been following her for years, and it’s so nice to see all of her work in an amazing book. Said book has been joining me all over the place, as I like to have something to read wherever I go. Waiting to pick up my kid at school? You won’t find my nose in my phone, I like a book, thank you. And this companion was so chock full of information that I was entertained for hours, like a kid with a box of Legos. Fruits and vegetables, spices and herbs, sugar and vinegar, jars and bubbling ferments? I’m in!
The feel of a book is important to me, and I like the size and feel of this book–very much like a workbook, and I loved the very sturdy paperback construction of it. It travels well and can be trotted into the kitchen, perching neatly on your cookbook stand. (You don’t have one?) I’m a stickler for how cookbooks are organized, and if it isn’t intuitive, I get a little cranky. I love how balanced this book feels, with three main sections providing structure for the techniques explained within. These three sections are sweet preserves, pickling and fermentation, and each one has detailed instructions on how to navigate the various procedures necessary. The photography is beautiful, and the over all feeling of the design is bright and airy, like a sun-soaked kitchen.
You can tell that Giles has poured all the years she has spent fine tuning her obsession for local foods and preserving the bounty into this book. One of the maybe not so obvious bonuses about this book is that a few years back Giles moved from New York to Arizona, so that both coasts are represented, with a special shout to the southwest. She uses her journalistic chops to really explain all the processes, and I don’t think she has left anything out. For the beginning preserver this kind of obsessive attention to detail is paramount. Yet, the book remains relaxed and friendly in tone, and is never boring or stuffy.
I had a glut of cherries from last year sitting in my freezer, so I decided to make the hot and sour preserved cherries which sounded delicious. My cherries were frozen, hence they deflated a bit, so I turned the preserve into a jam pureeing it a bit, so that the texture was less stewed cherries and more of a spread. I am in love with adding a kick of cayenne to cherries. It’s my new spicy sweet spread, and was just perfect on buckwheat toast with Greek yogurt. I also see it as a spicy sandwich spread, maybe with sliced chicken and melted cheddar cheese.
There were many recipes that caught my eye, in particular, the radicchio and sunchoke kraut. As soon as I dig up my sunchokes, I will try this out. Who would have thought to marry radicchio and sun chokes? There’s so many surprising combinations, like celery and black pepper shrub, alongside more comfortable ones, like pear cardamom butter. Enough so that this book can keep you interested for a long time. There is also a lot to like about the small batches theory that Giles works with: to can or not to can is a decision totally left up to you.
I know I’ll be keeping this one in the kitchen for the whole summer, in preparation of all the fruits and vegetables that will soon be coming my way! This review is part of a virtual blog tour for Beyond Canning, so don’t just take my word for it. This list is the group of cooks and preservers who are also enjoying and discussing the book. There are also a few giveaways, so make sure you check them all out to see if you can snag a copy of the book, gratis! Otherwise, you can always buy a copy for your favorite preserver here.
3/7: Food in Jars
3/8: Punk Domestics
3/9: CakeWalk
3/10: Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking
3/11: Snowflake Kitchen
3/14: Good. Food. Stories.
3/15: Heartbeet Kitchen
3/16: Brooklyn Supper
3/17: The Briny
3/18: The Preserved Life
3/21: Hitchhiking to Heaven
3/22: Hola Jalapeno
3/23: Cook Like a Champion
3/24: Local Kitchen
Disclosure: A copy of the book has been furnished for review by the publisher, Voyageur Press.
Julia Sforza 
discovered a mondo bag of cherries in my freezer excavation last week–this could be the ticket! cheese + chutney sandwich is my favorite lunch (other than all the other favorite lunches I have).
Lucky you! Extra cherry preserves put up now will come in handy when it’s a slim year for cherries, which I am predicting it will be. On the up side, apples won’t be quite as profuse this year. Do you agree?