The Natural Canning Resource Book: A guide to home canning with locally grown, sustainably-produced

In her fourth book, Lisa Rayner provides a practical guide to home canning for natural foods enthusiasts. She fills a gap in canning literature. Most canning recipes use non-organic, refined ingredients like distilled white vinegar, white sugar, corn syrup and commercial pectin containing artificial preservatives. This book is not a recipe book. The Natural Canning Resource Book is meant to be used in conjunction with the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving (available free as a Web download) and other USDA and Cooperative Extension publications. This book explains the science behind USDA canning guidelines and explores how to can foods using healthy, natural ingredients from your local farmers' market, Community Supported Agriculture project or natural foods grocery.

Learn how to:

• Can fruit and pickled foods without sweeteners. Or sweeten canned foods with honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, rice syrup, barley malt, evaporated cane juice and other unrefined cane sugars.
• Can domesticated, tropical and wild fruit. Gel jams and jellies with homemade fruit pectin.
• Pickle vegetables with organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar or homemade vinegar.
• Can lactofermented vegetables and fruit like sauerkraut, cucumber pickles and pickled plums.
• Save money and energy with home canning.
• Can foods in a boiling water bath or pressure canner using a solar cooker.
• Reuse glass jars from commercially processed foods for home canning.
• Can with American canning jars. Or try European canning jars with glass lids.
• Create your own jam, jelly, conserve, fruit butter, pickle, relish, chutney and salsa recipes.
• Start a food preservation club, community canning project or community kitchen.
• Sell your canned goods at your local farmers' market or CSA.

Lisa Rayner is an award-winning local foods activist and the author of four food-related books. Her interest in growing, preserving and cooking with locally-grown and fair trade foods goes back more than 25 years.  Her books are known for being thoroughly researched, expertly written and lavishly illustrated. (For much more about Lisa Rayner, see Amazon's Lisa Rayner page.)

Printed in Flagstaff, Ariz. (USA) on 100 % recycled paper.

"Canning is a time tested way to get some major life out of one's food. The Natural Canning Resource Book is a guide to canning one's food. Lisa Rayner provides a complete and comprehensive guide, outlining the various techniques one can use through jars and their pros and cons. From canning without sugary preservatives to making one's own vinegar and much more, The Natural Canning Resource Book is a fine resource for any do-it-yourself food preserver."

-- Midwest Book Review