• DKennedy on September 23, 2014

  Attended a canning class with Kevin West on 9/20/14 received and a copy of Saving the Season. This book focuses on small batch canning. The book, coupled with the class, made me feel competent to can. We made pear jam (p. 311) and heirloom tomato sauce (p. 273) from his book. We got to take home a small jar of the pear jam. I had three huge cucumbers waiting for me at home (the small bounty from my kitchen garden) so I set out to make Cucumber Dill Spears (p. 147) which for the next week will be sitting in their brine in my fridge before I can try them.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Strawberry preserves with elderflower liqueur

  • babyfork on March 22, 2016

    Won "Best in Show" in the Conserves & Preserves category at the Marin County Fair 2014. I had 3 pints of strawberries left over after making the strawberry-rhubarb jam, so decided to make this to use them up. I started this on 5/6/14 and then left it in the fridge for a couple of days until I could finish it. Followed recipe except used lime juice and also only had about 2 ½ lbs of berries, not three, so reduced sugar to 2 cups. Yield: 4 half-pints.

• Apricot butter

  • babyfork on October 14, 2015

    Used in-season organic Blenheim apricots from the farmer's market. 5lbs of apricots yielded 6 cups of puree. This is a delicious fruit butter. Won Best in Show for Fruit Butters at the 2015 Marin County Fair.

• Peach jam

  • Laurendmck on August 16, 2016

    Please note that this recipe erroneously calls for six pounds of sugar, whereas it should be six cups. (It's correct in the cookbook Saving the Season, just not on the blog.)

• Lord Grey's peach preserves

  • DKennedy on September 26, 2014

    This is the first recipe I am trying using the water bath sealing technique. I made the recipe using only a sprinkle of earl grey leaves added at the end. It added a wonderful color and scent to the batch. I also added 1 T. of muscat canelli. 7.5 lbs of peaches yielded 4 16 oz jars plus one more 8 oz.

• Kumquats in burnt honey syrup

  • DKennedy on February 26, 2017

    I picked up an especially bitter basket of kumquats today so I decided to candy them. After consulting several sources, I decided on this one as I wanted to keep the kumquats whole. I used orange blossom honey and added 1 vanilla bean to the liquids.

• Way to Garden

  An interview with the author Kevin West.

  Full review

• Fine Cooking

  West, a former reporter and editor, is a thoughtful and nimble writer who finds poetry, beauty, and wonder in the technical and sometimes daunting endeavor of preserving nature's bounty.

  Full review

• Food52 by April Bloomfield

  The 2014 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks vs. The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia

  Full review

• Food52 by Amanda Cohen

  The 2014 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks winner vs. Notes from the Larder by Nigel Slater

  Full review

• Food52 by Kat Kinsman

  The 2014 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks winner vs. Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison

  Full review

• Food in Jars

  ...gorgeous, hefty & impressively comprehensive. The recipes are written in a tone that is clear, cool, and welcoming. This is a text heavy book and it’s as much as joy to read as it is to cook from.

  Full review