It’s winter still so I have awhile to think about preserving my summer bounties, but it’s never too early to learn a little more on food preservation. The Preserving Answer Book by Sherri Brooks Vinton answers many questions about all kinds of food preservation (freezing, canning, drying, and refrigeration) and adds some new recipes to try out as well.

The Preserving Answer Book

The book contains a wealth of Q and A for all types of food preservation methods. It is separated into three sections: Getting Started; Preserving Processes; and Putting Your Skills to Work. Recipes are sprinkled throughout the book.

I thought the second part – Preserving Processes was the most helpful as it covered just about everything – general canning, boiling-water method, pressure canning, refrigeration, freezing, drying, fermentation, and infusions. Getting Started gets you literally started with the basics on preservation methods and prep tips. Putting Your Skills to work took the knowledge from the first parts to help you to create the fun stuff (see recipe below). Also included here is the Peel-and-Pip Pectin recipe so you can actually make your own pectin (love that!)

Recipe: Blueberry Gastrique

A basic gastrique is a sugar and vinegar based sauce. Most common it’s a caramelized sugar (but doesn’t have to be) that has been deglazed and reduced with vinegar, and reduced some more with some kind of flavoring added: aromatic vegetables, citrus fruit, berries, and more are all popular additions. Some recipes will call specifically for the sugar to be caramelized before adding a vinegar to the pot to deglaze then reduce, and some will just mix sugar and vinegar together and then reduce. No matter how it’s made, it is sweet and tart and a wonderful addition to anything you can think of adding it to.

The gastrique recipe below is made with fresh blueberries and is a very nice way to use up your excess garden fresh blueberries. If you have no blueberries, try blackberries or raspberries – whatever berry you have growing in the backyard. Enclosed are the directions for refrigerating or freezing it; check out the book if you want to can it.

Blueberry Gastique

Renee Shelton

Print Recipe

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 cups blueberries (or any berry, about 3/4 pound)

Instructions

 

• Mix the sugar and water in a medium heavy bottom saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce to medium low. Do not stir, and cook until the sugar is melted and the color starts to turn light brown, about 5 to 7 minutes, brushing the sides down with a watered pastry brush as necessary.
• Add in the vinegar, taking care because the vinegar will bubble up vigrously. The caramel may harden but it will dissolve as the the vinegar simmers. Simmer this until the liquid has been reduced by half.
• Add in the berries. Continue to simmer until the sauce becomes fragrant and thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.
• Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, and finish the sauce with a little salt if desired.

Preserving:

• Refrigerate: Ladle the gastrique into bowls or jars. Covered, the sauce will keep for up to 3 weeks.
• Freeze: Ladle into an ice cube tray and cover. Alternately, pour into small containers with lids. The sauce will keep this way for up to 6 monts.

Notes

Note: This recipe was adapted from The Preserving Answer Book.

Book Info:

• Amazon link: The Preserving Answer Book by Sherri Brooks Vinton.
• The Book Depository link: The Preserving Answer Book by Sherri Brooks Vinton
• 2021, Storey Publishing.
• ISBN13: 9781635864205
• Softcover and ebook versions, 256 pages.

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own. Any affiliate links help to support this site, thanks.