The New Preserves: Pickles, Jams, and Jellies

As fresh foods and farmers' markets gain influence, edging out the overprocessed and supersized from our diets, everything old–and bursting with flavor–is new again, and Americans are turning to time-honored skills like pickling and preserving to wake up their palates. Here, in a current guide that calls upon the newest safety and health information while also updating recipes for modern tastes, Anne V. Nelson walks readers through every step of the process.

Nelson explains why preserving foods at their freshest yields such great-tasting results, and how the salt and vinegar that keep foods fresh also add distinctive flavors. She discusses techniques, equipment–much of which readers will already have in their kitchens–and makes a convincing case for adding these techniques and recipes to a varied, modern diet. Nelson gives hints on choosing produce, recycling jars, making crisper pickles, saving soft jelly, and more.

She starts with preserving-influenced recipes that can be made in an afternoon and eaten that evening–refrigerator pickles, marinated vegetables, homemade horseradish–and works up to blood-orange marmalade, bread-and-butter pickles, and pickled watermelon rind. A global survey, the book includes sweet Cantonese pickles, Moroccan preserved lemons, European sauerkraut, and Central American hot pickled peppers. Nelson also explores herb-infused vinegars, fruit-infused vodka, and jellied wine, plus fruit preserves, jellies, jams, and butters.

Modern cooks don't need to know how to pickle or make jams and jellies. So the recipes here are designed for those who want to learn preserving techniques, those who enjoy the play of bright acids and bold spices in combination with the freshest ingredients. THE NEW PRESERVES is a definitive guide, taking an up-to-date, twenty-first-century approach to an ancient art of the kitchen.