My review of Put ’em Up!
I was excited to receive this book, as I have a wonderful dehydrator from Excalibur (bought with last year’s garage sale money) and I have done a little canning. Being low-sodium and on such a strict diet for migraines, I also can’t buy many prepared foods, so learning more about this topic seemed key. For now, I won’t be able to use it, as it relies on either lemon juice or vinegar for safe canning, neither of which are part of the migraine diet. But I definitely recommend it!
Layout and design:
The book is laid out with instructions first, all about equipment and process, with great how-to step-by-step illustrations. Recipes are organized by ingredient in alphabetical order (fruits and vegetables mixed together). The organization made perfect sense to me and the wide variety of options for preserving are great.
The recipes are laid out in a clear fashion, with the yields right up top, and a handy chart on the side of each spread giving page numbers for how-to pages you might need to refer to. Smart.
Photography & artwork:
The book doesn’t feature photography per se, but they do include cutout photos of the jars of canned items, along with lots of great how-to drawings and illustrations.
Recipes:
The recipes looks super healthy and very tasty, excepting the jams and jellies requiring sugar. She does give suggestions for alternates for that, although be sure to read the safe canning tips in the front so you understand how to safely make substitutions.
What I liked about the book:
Great layout and organization, clear instructions, fun friendly tone. Demystifies home preserving and makes you want to go buy a flat of tomatoes right now.
I wasn’t so keen on:
My only critique is wanting to know the sodium count on the recipes (I am a broken record), so I would be able to tell if I could make them in the future.
Recommended for:
Anyone wanting to learn how to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables; gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, paleo
Not recommended for:
Since most recipes include vinegar, this is not for migraine diets; as there is no nutritional analysis included, I can’t say whether this is suitable for low-sodium diets, but it’s unlikely
A note about my cookbook reviews: In the past, I tested at least three recipes from each book, took pictures, and told you about my experience. Due to my dietary limitations (extremely-low-sodium for my Meniere’s Disease and trigger-free foods for migraine relief), it is no longer possible for me to test the recipes and do them justice.
Required FTC disclosure: I received one copy of this book from the publisher for the giveaway on June 27th.
Here’s the book if you want to order your copy now.
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