To me, the best thing about summer is gardening, preserving, canning, freezing, and all the wonderful produce available. I am not a summer girl except for those things. I hate heat, bugs, mosquitos, and sweating. Give me a cool breeze and falling leaves in autumn and snow in the winter and I’m happy. That’s why I live in Chicago. Unfortunately, Chicago is also very hot during the summer months, so I make the best of it and preserve and freeze food for the winter.
I LOVE this book. Author Linda J. Amendt has competed in fair competitions since 1990, winning hundreds of awards and was inducted into the “Sure Jell Hall of Fame.” The book is her award-winning recipes, canning tips, and sure-fire methods for making you a master at preserving. You will find clear and concise explanation of the essentials to successful canning. Included are safety and sanitation issues vital to preserving food. The recipes and instructions are so clear that you will find yourself stocked with food for the winter before you know it. My poor book is spattered, written in, and has post-it’s on many pages. Some of my “regulars” are concord grape jam, pizza sauce, strawberry-raspberry jam, all flavors of curds and marmalades, and the world’s best of peach-apricot jam, and wild blueberry preserves.
My husband, Bill, usually has one of my preserves with toast as he reads the morning newspaper. Today is Bill’s birthday, and he doesn’t know it, but I have been hiding the one last jar of concord grape jam to surprise him with when he wakes up. It’s one of his favorites, but we run out of it quickly. Concord grapes are not available at our Farmer’s Market yet, but I will be making batches of it soon. Bill also picks wild blueberries for me in Michigan, which I can’t wait to get so I can make the wild blueberry preserves from the book.
Happy birthday, Bill!! Sit back and relax. I’ll feed you well today with all of your favorites.
Happy Birthday Bill!
Thanks, Angela! It’s been a good day so far!