Ah the best laid plans of bloggers & reviewers...

The last cookbook I reviewed was a bit of a disaster. I read through it & it looked good on the surface. Unfortunately it only looked good on the surface.

That is not true of this one. This book is very well-written, well put-together and it offers enough information that I believe the novice "canner" will have no need for any other resources.

"The Amish Canning Cookbook" by Georgia Varozza is a great find for our family and I believe anyone else who cans or is considering starting to can!

"PLAIN AND SIMPLE LIVING AT ITS HOMEMADE BEST"

The above quote says it all, in my opinion. For Ms. Varozza, canning isn't just a hobby… it's a way of life. Her book teaches that for families who choose a simpler way of life of eating whole grains and healthier foods, canning is an important asset. It creates self-reliance; from planting a garden or visiting a farmers market, to canning the food, to prepare better tasting, healthier, natural food from God's bounty.

After the brief introduction telling why she feels canning is an important part of making her home a better place for her family. This wonderful book includes everything you need to know (or could ever want to know) about canning! The chapters include a brief history of canning, how to get started, and step-by-step guides for water-bath and pressure canning.

Then comes the huge assortment of recipes!

Butters, jams, and jellies. Pickles and sauerkraut. Tomatoes. Fruit and pie filling (I didn't expect to find fruit and pie filling recipes, but by golly, she included them. Then comes vegetables, meat, poultry and fish recipes… along with soups, stews and other good things.

PRACTICAL ASPECTS of the Book:
I have noticed a lot of cookbooks lately that have very thin pages. Personally, my favorite cookbook pages are either plastic or in plastic sleeves but this is not always practical for a professionally published cookbook. This cookbook has very good, thick pages. These pages will not be easily ruined by cooking spills and they will not curl up in the heat of the kitchen.

Also there is space on every single page for your personal notes. This is a tremendous asset as well because every cook or canner will have little things about recipes that they change, adding or subtracting. And it is always easier to be able to look at the recipe and see your notes right there with it. (This is one of the instances where plastic pages would be impractical.)

The binding is perfect for a cookbook as well. Too many people put a regular spine binding on cookbooks but this book is spiral bound and that makes it so easy to open the book, lay it flat and see your recipe while you're using it. It's great!

All together, a wonderful book. Very well-done. A very smart purchase for any canner. Also it would make a great gift for anyone of your friends or in your family who can.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Harvest House Publishers in exchange for a free review. (If I had not though, I definitely would have bought it. It's a great book! And I plan to search out her other cookbook as well.)

I give this book 5 stars and I would recommend it to everyone!
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In simple language, the author tells newcomers to canning how to get started canning fruits, vegetables, and meats and provides recipes for users to follow. There are introductory chapters giving an overview and providing lists of tools needed to begin canning as well as chapters dealing with the canning of specific product types. She includes waterbath canning as well as pressure canning. The author includes information on adjusting times and pressures based on altitude. She also provides useful information to those who may not keep up with FDA recommendations. Apparently it is not always safe to do what your mother or grandmother did because certain techniques used in the past are no longer FDA approved. For example, an additional acid such as lemon juice or vinegar may need to be added when canning tomatoes. The word "Amish" in this title appears to be more of a marketing ploy than authenticity since many of the recipes have been altered to conform to FDA recommendations. While the author makes a statement late in the book about having a simple background, there are no statements that lead me to believe any of these recipes came from an Amish person's home. I received an advance "for review purposes only" e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley. I am unable to comment on photographs because they were unavailable to me. ( )