Canned

My cookbook wish list is ridiculously long (especially considering how many I already have), but what can I say?  Some people collect stamps and coins; I collect cookbooks.  My cookbook library gives me a certain sensory/OCD/inspirational joy that few other things do.  So I had to share a just-out cookbook out that I spied today on The Wednesday Chef which just jumped to the number three slot on my list (behind Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, in case you were wondering).  Check out Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry by Liana Krissoff.

The Wednesday Chef's comprehensive review makes this book sound like the canning bible of our generation.   Full disclosure:  the husband and I love to can.  With the help of my mother and sister, we made, jarred and labeled 100 jars of homemade salsa to give away as favors at our wedding.  Other years, we have put up pickles and jam, and the whole process is poetic and soothing.  The full, humid kitchen, the soft pop of the jars as they seal, the satisfaction of filling the pantry shelves with your hard-earned goodies; we both love this ritual.  Since moving to the city, we don't really have the kitchen or pantry space to properly can and store things, and so this harvest is passing us by without a major project on the horizon.  That's okay this year, but in our next home, I'd love to get back to preserving as many fruit and veggie goodies as we can get our hands on. 

Photo via Canning for a New Generation

That is where this lovely looking book would come in handy.  Most canning books are dusty tomes from the seventies that don't take into consideration today's lifestyles and palettes.  I'm drooling over the diversity of recipes that this book features, from kimchi to salsa verde, and the eclectic jams from black plum cardamom to tea jelly.  I want a wall that looks like the one above.  I can't wait to get my paws on this book and get canning!