Growing Up in My Mother’s Kitchen by Judy Glattstein

Do you love to make homemade jams, jellies and preserves? Are you ready to move beyond the basic, everyday single-berry recipes? Then you should get a copy of Preserving Memories.

Ms. Glattstein shares her love of family and food, and the memories that tie the two together. That love shows in her recipes. Recipes that use high quality ingredients, and slowly turns them into even higher quality sweet spreads. All the usual fruits are covered, but in a creative manner. There are recipes for:

• Rhubarb Jam, but combined with Figs instead of Strawberries (although there is a recipe for that too!)
• Peach Jam, spice with candied ginger
• Cranberry Jelly, flavored with rosemary
• Grapes, turned into a tasty conserve

But Preserving Memories goes further, including recipes for lesser known fruits like quince, cactus fruits, and blood oranges. If you are feeling even more adventurous you will find recipes for Elderberry Jelly and Rose Petal Jam, Rowan Jelly and Seaberry  Butter, flower scented jellies and savory relishes.

There is even a section that uses wild, foraged ingredients like chokecherries and beach plums. Rounding out the book are sections that explain canning and cooking basics, and even tells how to make your own pectin so you can eschew the packaged stuff, and an overall recipe section using your homemade creations.

If you preserve food in part to carry on a family tradition, you will love this book. If you have been trying to re-create Nana’s old jams and jellies, you will love this book. If you feel a closeness to raising or foraging your food, you will love this book.

Like many of my favorite cookbooks, this one is not a splashy, coffee-table tome. It’s a useful cookbook that induces nostalgia. It’s well worth having on your shelf.

You might also like No-Pectin Jams and Preserves 

Full of creative, old-fashioned recipes that honor and nurture nature’s flavors. Download a copy today!