Preserves

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Jean Paré has now published 21 Company’s Coming books in English and
at least a dozen in French. Her books feature quality characteristics so
high they set the standard by which other cookbooks are measured: the
recipes are tested before publication and use readily available
ingredients; the instructions are clear and complete; the design,
layout, binding, and illustration of the books are attractive and
practical.

Preserves fits perfectly into this tradition, giving us nearly 200
recipes for everything from traditional pickles and jams to fruit
leathers, jerky, baby food, syrups, relishes, antipasto, juices, and pie
fillings. The book includes recipes for some unusual items such as
pickles made from cherries, cantaloupe, grapes, and snow peas. Pickled
eggs, mincemeat, preserved hamburger patties, canned fish, and cranberry
ketchup are among the dozens of other tempting recipes.

While the value of a cookbook is in the quality of the recipes, it is
often the quality of their presentation on the printed page that moves
the cookbook from gathering dust on a bookshelf to use in the kitchen.
In this, Preserves rates high marks. The coil binding lets the book open
flat for no-hands use; recipes are complete on one page; illustrations
show the cook what the product should look like; measurements are given
in imperial and metric; ingredients are listed in the order used.

All in all, this is an excellent cookbook and part of an outstanding
series.