Giveaway: Gloria Nicol's preserving book & Ball's vintage edition jars
Spring is here, for many of us (sorry snowy midwest!), which means fruit is on its way. I’m excited to offer up a preserving book from an e-friend in the UK, Gloria Nicol, whose lovely blog I’ve tracked for some time now. When browsing in a local shop for resources supporting my kitchen book research, I came across her book:
;)
And absolutely fell in love with the simplicity and style of her recipes.
They’re fruit-forward and elegant; I think this is another great book to have when considering what delicious end your strawberries or [insert fruit/veg] might face. Thanks to CICO Books, and her publisher’s US office, I have a copy to send you!
As a bonus, courtesy of our friends over at Ball, I’m also able to toss in a flat of their newly-released Heritage Collection jars. They’re blue, like the old quart jars I’ve been collecting from every antique shop I run across. These limited-edition jars come six to a case and match year-appropriate writing for the 100-year anniversary of Ball “perfect mason” jars. Read more about them here.
Ball also announced that their lids no longer contain BPA in the sealing rubber effective last fall. New packaging is rolling out this spring indicating the omission of the toxic plasticizer. Good news for us!
Back to the book and considerations for what you’re going to put in your brand new, not-chipped, old-timey jars.
Reading Gloria’s book is like going on a trip overseas and visiting your cool aunt. She takes you to the market (you probably ride cute, old bikes), she feeds you scones and lets you taste a bite from all the jars from the pantry.
Here are a few highlights from the book, which features lovely photography and a blend of unique and classic flavor ideas.
I made her strawberry jam last weekend with our stash of berries and it was a vibrant and dazzling spread.
I love the nectars section!
Yes, she’s in the UK, where preserving practices differ from our USDA-prescribed methods, but you need not worry about safety. Either reduce the recipe and stash your jars in the fridge, or (ever so blasphemously) just process the jams or chutneys according to waterbath times listed for other US-published recipes of the same fruit jam. (Pretty much any jam gets a 10-minute processing time…)
For shipping reasons, we’re asking for entrants from the US & Canada only. Sorry international loves. Please enter by Friday, April 5, 2013 at midnight CST by leaving a comment below telling me about traditions, anything large or small that you’re continuing or bringing back with your family or within your friend circle. Good luck! (p.s. if you don’t leave your email address in the little box where the comment form asks for it, you won’t win because I can’t track you down otherwise)
Kate
Congrats to Kymm, lucky number 117; please check your email. Thanks everyone for entering and sharing such wonderful comments about traditions.
Canning, Cookbooks, Food Preservation, Fruit, Giveaways, Pickling, Traditions, Vegetables
Reader Comments (224)
Homemade yogurt!!!
My grandmother was a wonderful home cook--my own mother, not so much. :-) While I didn't live very close to my grandmother when I was a child, as a young adult I attended college nearby and was able to visit with her at least once a week. It was wonderful! Not only did I get to know her better, but she taught me such great tricks in the kitchen. She gifted me knowledge and confidence, and the bravery to head into the pantry, do a quick rummage, and find ingredients that magically "work" together to feed an unexpected crowd of hungry guests. As she always told me, a well stocked pantry is something no woman should be without! :-)
How tasty this book looks! I've been bringing canned goods back to my family for the past few year (they always go like hot cakes). And keep up the tradition of canning with family when the opportunity arises. I'd love to incorporate this book into my traditions or use it to start new ones. YUM.
My grandparents on my father's side are Jewish and recently moved to live near my parents so we've been seeing them more. My mother is a great cook but as she isn't Jewish, doesn't make traditional food and my grandmother does not cook. For holidays, I've had fun looking up recipes that I imagine my grandparents ate as children and seeing their reaction. The Challah got a particularly emotional reaction from my grandpa, which was very sweet!
Most of our traditions involve food. We just got done making corned beef & cabbage for St. Patty's Day and are going to make Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday, followed by deviled eggs and ham for Easter. We sure do love to eat!
We started raising chickens three years ago, and love having them around so much that we bought six baby chicks this spring. Our two older chickens, Ashley and Raven, are no longer laying eggs. So the first time I had to buy a carton from the grocery, I knew we just had to have fresh eggs from our own chickens again. We will probably be carrying on with our chicken-and-egg tradition for a long time!
I remember as a child watching my mother and her friends take an entire day to make "chow chow" a relish type of dish that made the entire house smell of vinegar. They talked, laughed and shared stories while "putting up the harvest". Recently I started canning as well. It is very rewarding to pass along a gift from the garden to coworkers as well as family. Some traditions should be passed along to the next generation.
deb
Christmas tradition: each family member makes their own tree ornament and writes their name and the year on the bottom. We have ornaments back to 1958.
A while back at a family gathering, my older cousins were all talking about the preserves and baked goods my grandmother used to make. My brother (ten years my senior) turned to me and teased me that I never got to taste all of grandma's goodies -- to which I replied, that might be true, but I'm certainly the only one continuing the tradition of canning alive in the family. Both my brother and I have been working through my mom's traditional Ukrainian-Jewish recipes, too. Our latest project was gefilte fish for Passover.
My family is building traditions where my husband I never had them. We have a weekly pizza and movie night and I am teaching my daughter to cook and my sons to love new things.
Just the process of making jam is new to so many of my friends and my daughter's friends. I have enjoyed having canning parties to show them how easy it is to make jam.
We make something I call tomato marmalade. My mother never canned much as she said had too much of that whole garden thing growing up in the late Depression years/ WWll era. The recipe is in my grandmother's recipe file, handwritten. This is the only canning item my mother did and it is very good served on rye bread or a sturdy wheat.
nradbill@gmail.com
I am the first in my mother's side to can. Everyone loves it, but consider it "too much work" until they garden. Perhaps these things are tied?
I learned from a friend a few years ago how to can and preserve. I had always wanted to learn since I remembered my grandmother preserving. I am now passing on the love of canning and preserving to my daughter. It is a wonderful tradition that we can share together.
Although I'm an avid canner, moreso, I think than either of my Grandmas, the tradition that I've maintained since my paternal Grandma's passing is candy making. She was all about chocolate covered fondant, maple, coconut and orange creams, I'm all about caramels, and brittles. Always developing new flavors to keep family and friends asking for more.
I like to think that I am doing what I can in the community and in my family by sharing my passion and experience of real food with others. My food focuses around local, high quality, and made-from-scratch recipes and ideas and I take my inspiration from anywhere my tastes desire. With a love of preserving, I'm embarking on a new chapter in my career with a focus on all things fermented. From homemade sodas to kimchis, canning jars and recipes are always appreciated. Here's to a new generation of food lovers with the love of old-fashioned flavours!
can't wait for strawberry season- brings back memories of yearly strawberry jam canning with my aunt and my mom after a morning of strawberry picking- the best part to me as a kid was when they would skim the light pink foam from the top of the pan before ladling the jam into jars- the foam would go on a saucer and we would spread it on saltine crackers- the sweet/salty combo was the best- I love introducing that funny side-line of jamming to friends who've never experienced it. This year may be the year that gets passed on to my husband's niece as well.
Keeping alive the tradition of making Apple Butter annually, and those jars would be perfect!
I love those jars!!! I sadly don't have any food traditions past down to me, but I did get a famous (in our family anyway) recipe for Rhubarb Pie from my Grandmother who passed away last year and I baked it right up, the first time myself ever having Rhubarb & I was hooked! I bought an old canning pot & equipment at a garage sale last year & can't wait to start making my own food memories!
Having a garden & putting food by, including homemade sauerkraut
We have lots of traditions in our family that we try to take and make our own or keep in tact-mostly the latter but with family growing and spreading, it gets harder. I have taught myself to can over the years and got my first pressure canner last year, opening up a whole new area-yeah! I started simple with tomato juice, worked my way up to relishes, pasta sauce and even pear butter and pear sauce-from free pears off of my sister in law's tree! We also grew and canned pumpkin this past year. This year I'm hoping to can some beef in an effort save freezer space + who doesn't love kettle beef or a hearty stew?
My grandmothers and mother all canned but other than helping snap and hull beans or cut meat I wasn't much help. I would rather fish with my grandpa or play with cousins that lived closer to grandma than I did. A lot of our traditions come from the Christmas season. We lived about 10 hours from my paternal grands so we would ship packages most years. Grandma always sent a package of homemade cookies most prized where the chocolate chip-nothing exotic about them but you could taste the love(and the lard!) and my dad's favorite were the molasses. Christmas eve after a supper of chili and oyster stew(eww), we would open presents from them. All the others waited until morning.
The years we were lucky enough to visit them on Christmas, we could look forward to homemade kringla - a Swedish sweet "bread" that I've taken up the tradition of making over the last few years. My first attempt was great tasting; however, I was informed by my brothers that they did not have the traditional shape-pretzel like-and learned my lesson. Don't mess with the kringla!
I have continued the many special parts of celebrating Christmas I experienced growing up. This involves the decorating, cooking & baking, and of course, sharing with the rest of the family, who are now sharing with their families, including my grandchildren. Luckily canning can happen all year long!
I grew up around canning, but never really thought about it as an adult. Two years ago (more than 20 years since I left the farm) I decided to start canning again. I started with tomatoes and apples; making applesauce, marinara, tomato soup and tomato juice. Now I have added drying padrons and cayenne peppers for chili flakes and powders, playing with flavor combinations in the sauces, and most recently have begun to make marmalades. Starting last Christmas, I give presents of home made preserves. So far every one of my friends and coworkers who receive these gifts tell me that they are touched by the gift and love what I make. Next up: pickles. My mother always made the best dill pickles and this summer I'm going to try my hand at it.
I only recently (last year) took a jam-making and pickling class, and I still feel like I don't have as much time to devote to new jamming and pickling projects as I'd like, but I'm hooked!
My new food tradition (started with my fiancee, and that I hope will live on for many years...) is for us to make TONS of tamales from scratch every December, share most of them with family, and freeze the rest of them to last us the next few months.
So cool! I love new jamming books :) My family has just started gardening. My mom used to garden a lot, and my grandma grew up on a farm in Alberta, Canada! But no one in our family grows their own veggies anymore. I'm so excited, because I just noticed today we have some brand new baby sprouts coming up through the dirt. I can't wait to eat my own home-grown veggies this year, and hopefully have enough left over to can some too!