• averythingcooks on August 11, 2022

  I can confirm that the Canadian version is in fact titled "Bernardin Complete" etc (with a little maple leaf included in the title).

• Breadcrumbs on September 04, 2015

  Some editions of this book (perhaps in Canada?) are titled "Bernardin" vs "Ball"

• schambers on August 31, 2010

  9780778801399 c2006. Has subtitle "400 delicious and creative recipes for today"

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Peach butter

  • Breadcrumbs on September 04, 2015

    p.57 – Bright, fresh and flavourful. This silky peach butter was a big hit. It really does taste as though you’re taking a bite out of a fresh peach. I lowered the sugar content. The addition of lemon is essential as it is key to the fresh flavour. Photo here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1010361?commentId=9710187#9710187

• Crushed tomatoes

  • ellabee on August 21, 2013

    p.376, the pressure canner version. Made 4 pints from 6 lb. mixed Amish Paste and Juliet elongated cherry tomatoes. Next time: more seeding, into strainer over 4-cup measure, then use some of the liquid during the pre-fill gentle boil. Update after using up in winter 2013-14: the seediness didn't prove as big a drawback as I'd feared, but it's still worth taking the steps noted.

• Zesty zucchini relish

  • rivergait on August 21, 2013

    Fabulous minced pickle relish. Pretty tawny yellow in the jar, just slightly spicy (I used one Anaheim pepper for 6 half-pints). My tasters wanted "just the tip of the spoon", but came back over and over, wanting more. It's why I've had a hot dog every day for lunch this week. Use on burgers, sausages, deviled eggs, potato salad. pg. 232

• Black Forest preserves

  • Thredbende on July 31, 2011

    This is unbelievably good. It has a slight chocolate undertone, definately cherry flavor, and great balance in the tart and the sweet. It is sinful on vanilla ice cream (Try Ben and Jerry's book for a great non cook vanilla), layered on a trifle, and even on toast. Alas, my neighbor Jim just ate it out of the jar...

• Oktoberfest beer mustard

  • twoyolks on October 19, 2014

    Unbalanced

  • heatherlee on January 18, 2019

    This was disappointing. The mustard was quite bitter even several weeks after canning (by which time it should have mellowed).

• Aubergine pickles

  • autonomatic on August 12, 2014

    Might want to double the amount of pickling liquid used for this recipe - it was definitely not enough for me.

• Peach pie filling

  • springandfall on July 25, 2014

    Something is wrong with this recipe. It never thickened as promised in step 2, probably because it uses no thickening agent (such as ClearJel). Second, it instructs you to prepare four pint jars but makes enough to fill seven. As a result I'm stuck with three pints of uncanned, extremely runny "pie filling" that I have to use now or freeze, defeating the point of undertaking this. All poorly written recipes waste time and ingredients, but poorly written canning recipes often waste large quantities, in addition to hours of work at the time of year when that work is most intense. In general I've found this book to be excellent, but occasionally there is a costly error like this one. I wish the Ball website would publish corrections to errors in this book to save readers the lost time, effort, and food.

• Traditional jam (mulberry)

  • springandfall on July 09, 2014

    Why does this recipe call for such a large proportion of sugar compared to other berry jams? Having lucked into some mulberries but not enough for the recipe, I made this with a combination of mulberries (1 3/4 cups mashed), gooseberries (3/4 cup mashed), and currants (1/2 cup cooked). I thought the tartness of the gooseberries and currants, plus the relatively large amount of lemon juice, might balance out the sugar, but it still turned out excessively sweet, masking the complexity of the tart elements. Surely it would have been even sweeter with all mulberries, as prescribed. Since there's normally a reason for the amount of sugar in a canning recipe, I thought I should respect it here, as I've found this book to be reliable and was already varying the fruit, but I wish I hadn't. If anyone knows why mulberries require more sugar than other berries, I'd be curious to know.

• Morning cheer marmalade

  • Barb_N on June 03, 2017

    My first foray into marmalade- I skipped the apples and didn't miss them. I prefer this and don't like the bitterness of traditional marmalade.

• Traditional preserved lemons

  • swegener on February 01, 2015

    I've made these several times--very good and they keep for quite a while.

• Grandma's chili sauce

  • averythingcooks on August 11, 2022

    This chili sauce tastes exactly how I remember my mom's tasting which was my 1st goal. Now let's hope that my jars seal as I am new at this boiling water canning process (ie my 2nd goal :)

• Cucumber relish

  • averythingcooks on August 13, 2022

    I cut this in 1/2 and got 5 x 250 mL jars of a very tasty relish. The mix of red & green peppers with the cucumber, celery and onion adds great colour, texture and flavour and I appreciate that this relish makes no attempt to be the "day glow" green that so many relishes have......how it that possible with peeled cucumbers?? I also chose to seed my garden cucumbers as suggested and I am really happy with my efforts from this book so far.

• Heavenly fig jam

  • megaelim on April 02, 2017

    This is my go to fig jam recipe, which I first attempted after we fell in love with preserves as a sandwich spread. I can make seven jars of this for the price of one store bought jar, and this recipe is richer than any store bought jar I've ever had. Plus, it uses dried figs, so I can make it any time of year. Love this recipe.

• Carrot cake jam

  • Skamper on December 05, 2021

    This makes a delicious though quite sweet jam. I might cut the sugar a bit next time. I used the food processor to shred the carrots, and can see where a finer shred might be prettier, but this worked fine. Made just shy of 6 cups.

• Traditional jam (sweet cherry)

  • Skamper on July 04, 2021

    This was delicious. I added the cinnamon and cloves but not the amaretto. Added the pectin by weight, 49g. Yielded 6 8 oz jars + 1/2 for the fridge. The one in the fridge became quite stiff, but that wasn't an issue with the other jars.

• Pomegranate jelly

  • Skamper on January 04, 2022

    This was delicious. I used Trader Joe's pomegranate juice.

• Blood orange marmalade

  • Skamper on July 04, 2021

    We loved this. I made a half batch, which yielded 3 8 oz jars and a half for the fridge. Wasn't quite sure it was completely jelled (saucer test wasn't perfect), but temp was right and it seems to have turned out fine.

• Blueberry pie filling

  • heatherlee on January 18, 2019

    I thought this was going to be a disaster as after I added the ClearJel the blueberries became extremely viscous. It was difficult to fill the jars. I processed in the water bath canner. A few weeks later I opened a jar and was surprised that the finished product was fine for pies (not too thick). I’m still not certain about the amount of ClearJel - will refer to other sources before making more.

• Easy jalapeno jelly

  • heatherlee on January 18, 2019

    Delicious spicy jelly. Looks pretty served over cream cheese. I chose to add the optional green food coloring.

• Zesty salsa

  • heatherlee on January 18, 2019

    Very good salsa. I prefer salsa with a bit less heat. I seeded the jalapeños but that didn’t quite reduce the heat enough. Next time I will reduce the quantity of jalapeños.

• Zesty peach barbecue sauce

  • heatherlee on January 18, 2019

    I didn’t like this. I felt like the vinegar overwhelmed the peaches.

• Strawberry jam

  • Dms02 on July 06, 2020

    Detailed instructions are great for a first-time jam maker.

• Spreadable fieldberries (strawberries)

  • lindseyshannon34 on June 15, 2020

    Pg. 29 of book

• Spreadable fieldberries (rhuberries)

  • lindseyshannon34 on June 15, 2020

    pg. 29 of book