1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Ideas, frustrating details, 2 April 2011
By Greens and Jeans - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Preserves: The Complete Book of Jams, Jellies and Pickles (Hardcover)
As you page through this book it makes your mouth water. The authors have come up with interesting and creative combinations of fruit and spices to entice your tastes. However the recipe are not written in a very user-friendly way.
My biggest complaint is that the expected yields are given by weight. Who knows how much a half-pint jar of jam weighs? It would be more helpful to give the yields in volume so you could prepare the correct number of jars, or anticipate if you want to double the recipe. Some recipes give very large yields 6 or more jars of jam, while others result in just over one. This can be frustrating after going through all the work to execute a recipe.
Secondly, the authors do not give any processing times for water-bath canning these recipes. Most recipes end with "Ladle into sterilized jars, seal and cool." This does not fit with USDA recommended canning practices and I always look for a similar recipe in another book (jam, butter, jelly etc) to find an appropriate processing time. The book is obviously written for a European audience (with measures in both metric and imperial) and with different expectations for canning practices.
I would recommend this book to an experienced canner who is looking for fresh ideas, but is willing to modify recipes to fit best practices and deal with the unknown yields for the recipes.