Building A Canning Library

When I teach canning classes, one of the things I encourage students to do is to get a good, basic canning book.  The internet can be a wonderful place, however; building a canning library that is full of trustworthy and current resources is invaluable.  I happen to love real books and well when I’m in the middle of canning cherries and can’t remember exactly how long to process pints versus quarts, it’s so much easier to pull out a book than try to search for a trustworthy and accurate source on-line.

Here are some my favorite books for building a canning library of your own:

• The Complete Book of Home Preserving by Judi Kingry – This is a great resource because it contains not only a multitude of recipes but a ton of information about the science of canning as well as basic times and methods for canning fruits, vegetables, and meats.
• Putting Food By – It’s a classic for a reason and covers more than just canning but includes all methods of food preservation.
• Stocking Up – Another classic again with canning, root cellaring, dehydrating and more.
• Preserving Summer’s Bounty – This handy book covers freezing, canning, and dehydrating.  It also includes lots of handy charts chock full of information you’ll be glad you have at your fingertips.  Lots of recipes not just for preserving food but also for how to use up that preserved too.

For those times when you’re looking for something new or wanting a trusted online source, these are my favorite:

• National Center for Home Food Preservation
• Food in Jars
• Simply Canning

I’ve been known to print articles from online and tear out magazine articles and store them in my canning library in a 3-ring binder.

What favorite resources are in your canning library? 

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