Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning : Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation

This book was given to me many years ago, and then lost in a flood. I has used it so frequently that I purchases it again. I agree with an earlier review that it’s not for beginners. Most of the food safety information that’s widely available today is centered around refrigeration and shelf stability, with a dash of cooking temperature guidance. This book will seem weird if you generally rely on some regulatory agency to tell you if your food is still good. If you’re comfortable deciding by smell/taste, or even (gasp) removing mold from cheese or the rim of a jar you’re fermenting in… congratulations! You’ve passed the entrance exam for “preserving foods without canning or freezing”! This book is especially good for gardeners who have a sudden influx of some food or another that they don’t want to go to waste. There is a ton of fermentation literature out there, and this book is no exception. Where it really shines though is in some of the less pervasive techniques like: preserving in oil, alcohol, salt, and sugar. I could rave about this book all day!

Most of the recipes in this book do not give storage information: how to store it/if it’s shelf stable or not, a best by or expiration date, or just other general food safety information which I would just expect from a food preservation book. Also, the recipes are from all different sources that the author gathered together so the reliability of each is also a bit questionable. The directions in general are unclear and inconsistent. Luckily I already know quite a bit about fermentation. However, I bought the book mainly to learn some other preservation techniques. Unfortunately, due to the missing information, I do not feel comfortable using most of these recipes. I’ll be looking for a more complete and comprehensive book on food preservation.

I ordered this book a bit over a month ago. I received it very promptly and read it front to back the same day. I was totally amazed by the varied methods of preserving- from using root cellaring to fermenting to using salt and oils and even making jams and jellies! This book is teaching me a lot of methods that I remember my grandmother telling me and my cousins about. Up til now they were lost to time as she died when I was young and too little to remember everything she did. The most exciting thing for me is first making sauerkraut and then the dandelion wine recipe. I have already started the wine, and once I bottle it (next week) I'm using my crock to make some kraut. I can't wait. I'm also anxious to try making some jam. I really like the idea of not using high-temperature canning, since I've always thought that it changes the flavor. When I taste before canning, I love the fresh flavor, but after having been canned, its just off somehow. My mom tells me I'm nuts, but we'll see when I try out one of these recipes that doesn't use that method. I'm sure the freshness will come through. I read some other reviewers saying that the recipes aren't concise enough, not giving exact amounts, etc.. I find this to be a lot of hooey. The recipes are as concise as they need to be. Sometimes you seriously need to use some common sense. Its not too far fetched to see these mothers and grandmothers from the Terre Vivante just adjusting recipes to their own taste. Thats all you need to do when you are questionable about amounts. Adjust them to meet YOUR standards. After all, when all is said and done what they did doesn't matter, it matters what you do and what your tastebuds tell you. The most useful part of this book, I think is the chart at the back showing the basic and alternate methods of preserving almost every fruit or vegetable I can even think of, and then some. The descriptions of each method at the beginning of each chapter and the introductions at the front of the book are all also very informative. And of course, the descriptions of what to do in the recipes in the farmers' own words, along with who they are and where they're from are priceless. They put me in mind of my grandmothers' recipes. Totally authentic and interesting to me to see how they actually make them. I think anyone who wants to learn about traditional methods should get this book! And maybe a second one too if your as messy in the kitchen as me! I'm sure to need to get another one in the coming years as it'll be like the rest of my favorite recipe books, splattered and spilled on til the recipes are almost unreadable. :o) hehe. -FYI this review by, MRS. S.G. Bewley

I read the previous edition of this book ("Keeping Food Fresh"), then bought this edition for my daughter. All of the methods I have tried from this book have been very good. I appreciate knowing how to preserve food the way people used to (and obviously some still do), without having to destroy so many nutrients through canning. Many of the recipes in here can be adapted to other foods. For example, I took a recipe on pickled onions (lactic acid fermentation), eliminated the spices, and substituted garlic for the onion. I now have a wonderful method of preserving garlic to get that fresh taste all year long. I can also just use the juice. These methods also preserve food for a longer period of time than freezing does.

This is a really good reference, with discussions of fermenation and brining, that go beyond the superficial. Good recipies as well, we are now enjoying our salted lemons in salads and in other dishes. This would be in the top ten I would recommend for getting by in a pinch. Also they, for the most part require little or no gas or electric use.

I can't recommend this book highly enough! If you are interested in delicious, safe ways to preserve food without the need for a freezer, canner, or other equipment, this is the book for you. Written in a wonderfully personable style by gardeners and farmers who've been using these recipes all their lives.