This was a really fun book. It covers the basics of canning and preserving as well as having lots of interesting recipes and a great variety in those. I'm tempted to buy a physical copy of this book, so I could try some of the recipes.

Safe preserving of all types of food is a skill most people would not develop for fear of improper methods causing sickness and loss of food. I am one of the lucky persons who learned basic canning procedures when I was younger. This book has many great tips with clear guidelines for safe canning procedures, both water bath and pressure canning. The recipes included have clear step by step instructions so you know the results will be fantastic. I have always used my Ball Blue book for reference but this guide/ cookbook has earned a place of honor on by bookshelf.

This book professes to be the "Ultimate Guide to Preserving and Canning" and it really, truly is! The information is comprehensive and outlines the entire process of canning step-by-step. The book and accompanying graphics are aesthetically pleasing and well-organized. As someone not familiar with canning, I felt like I learned a lot, but I'd imagine that experienced canners will still appreciate this book and the recipes.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance review copy.

As a very amateur canner this book gave me all the tools I need to now do it successfully. The instructions are very clear and precise. I am excited to try the recipes included. Thank you for making one of the best books on canning and preserving on the market.

As an experienced canner (and preserver in many other methods) with many shelves of home canned produce in my basement as I type, I was rather disappointed in this book. While it does a good job of teaching a novice how to use a hot water bath canner and pressure canner, I would not consider this an ultimate guide in the least. There are some standard recipes but they use Paloma's Pectin for all jellies and jams. Not everybody wants to buy an expensive pectin product, especially when canning fruits that are already very high in pectin on their own like apples.

In the old days (I swear I'm not 90), many canning recipes just relied on you having a basic ability to understand things like cooking to a gel point and doing a test where you put a small amount of your jelly on a cold saucer to see if it sets. Nowadays people want to just add a chemical and be done, especially in the U.S, no knowledge or experience required. Okay, I get that, but does that have to be the only option? Can we really not assume that anybody at all wants a basic jelly recipe that just calls for fruit and sugar and teaches you how to do it? Is there nobody in the world but me that has apple pectin to use instead or that wants to learn how to make their own pectin from apple peels so they don't have to rely on a rather expensive product for every jelly they ever make in their lives? Sigh. Apparently. (Interestingly, they do give you an old fashioned recipe for their green tomato jam and tell you how to do the jelly test there, just not for any of the fruit jellies.)

So yes, this will teach you how to can the modern American way. I would hardly call it ultimate, but if you're a novice and this is what you're looking for, it will serve you well.

Right now on my canning shelves I have the following that I've hot water canned and pressure canned from home grown and foraged foods: roasted tomato sauce, elderflower syrup, cherry pie filling, grape juice, pears in syrup, elderberry juice, bush cherries in water, applesauce, apple juice, elderlower and rhubarb jam, elderberry jam, elderberry jelly, zesty salsa, corn, pickles, elderberry pie filling, pear sauce, elderberry lemonade concentrate, pickled beets, strawberry nectarine jam, plum sauce and mint syrup, plus a few miscellaneous others. That doesn't count dried and frozen foods, which I expected to be included in a book on preserving but were not. Of those, this book has recipes for maybe three of those. Things that I would expect to be included like even basic canned grape juice aren't in here.

(Incidentally, I didn't grow up in a canning household so it's not like it's not possible to learn this stuff on your own. I come from a long line of professional women going back to my great-grandmother and I was raised on Tuna Helper and frozen vegetables, so I had to teach myself how to cook, garden, forage and can along with my husband. Really, anybody can do this stuff!)

Also, a lot of these recipes are for people who want the fun of home canned foods that are fancy but they sort of miss the point of preserving by calling for a bunch of exotic ingredients you have to purchase so you end up paying more money to make the recipe than to buy a simple version at the store. At the core of it, canning was developed to preserve food in tasty ways and save money. This seems a little lost when you buy non-local ingredients for your frou-frou jelly recipe (okay, I really am apparently a cranky 90 year old woman at heart).

Color photos are provided, but they are often misleading. There are lots of pictures of the pretty and colorful jellies, for instance, but the pictures of veggies show the before picture of bright green beans instead of the rather un-photogenic picture of what canned green beans look like, for instance. I get this since we're a very visual culture, but it's nice to know what canned food recipes will actually look like after canning too.

While this is a fine introduction to canning, I would not call it ultimate. Any Ball blue book will have just as good of instructions and more recipes.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m an experienced canner and I love this book because it goes through each step and defines canning terms so that even beginners can make all the recipes. We want the art of canning to be passed on to new generations and this book will help with that.

For those of us who are experienced canners, there is a trove of unique and interesting recipes to try that we may have never seen before. There are many unique tomato recipes I want to try, as well as chutneys, conserves, and more.

I’m excited to see instructions for canning meat, because even a lot of experienced canners do not can meat and they are missing out. It is a great feeling to be able to have fresh canned chicken ready to put in your favorite recipes, for example. There are recipes for bone broth and stock too so you can have jars readily at hand.

If you have never canned before, this book will teach you. If you have canned before, enjoy the recipes! You can also use this book as a resource when you teach others.

Not too long ago, a good friend taught me how to can fruit preserves. It was definitely hard work but I am still enjoying the fruits of that labor a few months later which makes it well worth it. I have always been intimidated to can because I am afraid I will mess something up and get everyone sick, but after canning with my friend and seeing step by step how it works, I am ready to try more canning recipes! I love that The Ultimate Guide to Preserving & Canning gives you lots of tips at the beginning for successful canning. I also thought that many of the recipes got a modern update which is nice since I like to try new things. There are also traditional recipes which I definitely want to try as well. I thought there was a nice variety of recipes to try and I can not wait to get into my kitchen and give them a go! I recommend this book to anyone looking to start canning or someone who already has mastered the art but wants some updated recipes.

While it’s true that improvising and adapting recipes is often an enjoyable creative outlet for many home chefs, when it comes to canning, having an authoritative reference of recipes is essential. It’s with this in mind that the Editors of the Harvard Common Press have developed The Ultimate Guide to Preserving and Canning.

Because the pH of a canning recipe is what allows a home cook to create foods that can be stored indefinitely, the recipes must always be followed to the letter; otherwise, the result will not be shelf-stable to due to differences in pH. For this reason, a book like the Ultimate Guide to Preserving and Canning is essential for a home canner.

One thing I found challenging about this cookbook is that all of the recipes call for Pomona’s Pectin, a particular brand name of pectin that can be used in lower-sugar recipes than the traditional pectin that is used in many older recipes. Pomona’s is often more difficult to find and more expensive than your everyday pectin. It also requires another step – making calcium water, which then must be stored, since you usually have to make more calcium water than a single canning recipe calls for. Because these recipes exclusively use Pomona’s, I view this cookbook as not a universal guide but more a guide to canning in a particular style. I think many home canners would be surprised if they turned to this “ultimate guide” for a recipe and suddenly found they needed a new ingredient that they are unaccustomed to using. On the other hand, those who use Pomona’s or those who are looking specifically for lower-sugar recipes might be truly delighted to find another resource like this one.

Overall, as an experienced home canner who already owns a canning cookbook with a large variety of recipes, I did not find that this cookbook filled a gap for me. I would hesitate to recommend it to others, especially those with less experience, unless they are specifically looking for a cookbook with canning recipes that call for Pomona’s Pectin.

*received from netgalley for honest review* I have never canned by myself so I cant be sure from experience if any of these things are the best way but imo this book is great! Honestly debating on just buying like 10 of these for chirstmas gifts, I know several people who would love this book!

Some new info I didn't know before about what to use for a water bath can and pressure canning. Good to know. Very easy to follow, and majority of the recipes have pictures.

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Very informative and easy to follow directions. I feel this would make an excellent addition to those new to canning and preserving. Lots of helpful tips and information as well as a number of good recipe's to try. I most enjoyed the section on fruits and preserves since that is what I do the most especially around the holidays (makes fantastic additions to gift baskets). I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Everything I ever wanted to know about canning in a concise and beautiful book - you honestly can't ask for more. As a canning novice, I found the book to be massively approachable. Every tool provided with explanation, every method explained, every step clear. No stone left un-turned; even the altitude is accounted for. The recipes themselves are basic and a lot of attention is given to fruits (3 chapters). I do wish more love were given to meats and veggies - this Chicagoan craves a giardiniera! I also wish that there were more cultural variety. If you're looking for kimchi, you won't find it in this book. Overall, though, it's a beautiful book that is incredibly educational. It'll easily become my go-to guide.