# Best books on food preservatation



## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

It's been years since I canned anything ..I would love to know the best books for my library on several methods of food storage as many times I don't have access to a printer or the internet. I read everything I can on our forum) but since I have CRS  any advice would be a trip to the bookstore,amazon or used bookstore ..I also have several gardening books but think you can never have too much information so fellow friends Let Me have IT!!!!!!:beercheer:


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving will get you well on your way to being a veteran before you know it.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

My favorite all-in-one book would be Stocking Up.

Another sort of all-in-one is Putting Food By.

And a real must-have - due to the fact that it covers preserving items that aren't in other guides (such as dairy) - is the book put out by our own Susan Gregerson and David Armstrong: Food Storage: Preserving Meat, Dairy, and Eggs
This is a real "outside the box" reference, as it lists multiple preservation techniques for each food - techniques that you won't find in any 'standard' type preservation book.

For strictly canning, my most-used reference is the USDA's Complete Guide to Home Canning
This book doesn't have recipes so much as it's a straight reference for times, weights and methods for singular foods (meats, vegetables, etc). This reference can also be found online here: USDA publications (for those who can print and don't want to buy the book)

Also good is the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

For dehydrating, two good reference books are: 
Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook
Food Drying with an Attitude

I gathered a lot of books on food storage when I got started. After a while I ended up selling the books I didn't use. The above books are the ones I turn to, at least periodically, and these are the books I'm keeping for the long haul. Like you, I wanted a hands-on library. 

Just to add - sometimes a recipe or method comes up on the internet that isn't associated with any published reference. In my case, I keep a Word document and type up those recipes or methods. In your case, I would get a binder and looseleaf paper, and write out some of those recipes. For example, one year someone on this site had a lot of cantaloup and wanted different ways to preserve it - she put the question out there, and got different responses. Some methods suggested are in the books above, but many are not. If you have a lot of a certain food, you'll definitely want to collect a lot of ideas on preserving that food. (Another example, if you have pawpaws, you'll never find a preservation method for them in a book.  )


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

goshengirl said:


> My favorite all-in-one book would be Stocking Up.
> 
> Another sort of all-in-one is Putting Food By.
> 
> ...


WOW I knew you all would come through for me Thanks I'll try these and more to come!


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## kindness (May 8, 2013)

I know that this may not be the appropriate section to report that for meat eaters like my hubby, when dehydrating cow meat for jerky the best part of the cow is round steak, flank steak, and the rump. So any part of the animal with the least amount of fat - muscular tissue is good.

Oh, and is dehydrated salmon, just as good as smoked? Perhaps, I could rub on some spice or sauce to make it more appealing to him.

As for me I'll stick to beans and green, leafy vegetables to get my protein. I would think we would still have fire to heat water when things go bad. After all, cave men had fire!


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