12 best healthy cookbooks from 2011
We Sure Can! How Jams and Pickles are Reviving the Lure and Lore of Local Food
By Sarah B. Hood (Arsenal Pulp, 2011)
This book captures the DIY zeitgeist by drawing on the vast community of food canning and preserving bloggers for an anthology of recipes and stories. I love that the book’s inside flap offers a “Bare-Bones Cheat Sheet” for sterilizing and processing the jars—the two steps that intimidate most would-be canners—and I appreciate Hood’s green frugality in encouraging reusing jars. Sample recipes (including blue-ribbon winners): Strawberry Jam with Black Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar; Easy Victorian-Style Raspberry Jam; Cinnamon Plum Preserves; Thai-inspired Spicy Pickled Veggies; and Pickled Beets with Fennel.