Ball Blue Book.. opinions....

[jkm]

My mom has been canning for years and I have canned for five years.
I make jam, peaches, chutney.
We have used the ball book for reference and made notes on what we like and do not like.

If you are a beginner, stick with Ball,
but here are my problems with the ball book.

#1 way too much sugar
#2 way too much vinegar....
(the chutneys were terrible.... just raw and too much vinegar)
#3 the chutneys need to cook for 2 hours, and ball says cook for 20 minutes.
#4 never enough spice, I triple all spices.


so I just made a batch of chutney based on the River Cottage cookbook, I made a half batch to try it and it is superior to Ball.
I cooked it for about 2 hours, then processed for 15 minutes.
(neither my mom and I trust the new" flip it over and it seals" fashion.)

so I think the Ball book is really dated.....It was written years ago,,,, and I think the fashion for highly sugared food is down. I don't think the folks that made that book actually ate chutney.....
anyone recomend a new book?

I think its time we talked about the problems with Ball. This forum is a great place to start asking questions.....
why so much sugar? please add to this post....

 

[Dodgegal79]

Thanks for the post, I have been thinking of buying the book but I will now wait and see where this forum goes. I have noticed a lot of recipes call for lots of sugar, I am trying to stay away from that. I do have the Bernardin Book , forget the proper name for it, but it seems good, I haven`t tried a lot from it yet but am hoping to soon.

Margaret

 

[jkm]

I am not saying that I do not use sugar.... some folks have asked me how to can with out sugar... you do need sugar and vinegar... what I am objected to is the quanties.....
hope that clarifys thing....
If you are a new canner , I would still have a copy for cross reference.
I read a lot of cookbooks, and some of the new cook writers realy do not know how to avoid botulism and a few other problems that can occur with homemade food.

My mom grew up in Kansas, we are first families there and she has a lot of stories of people getting sick and dying in the early stages of canning learning......

tomatoes are one thing I follow directiosn to the inch.... or anything in that acid category....

so I use Ball, but would like to know of anything better out here,, besides this forum...
cheers

 

[miss_thenorth]

I honestly don't ever buy books, esp recipe books, so I have never looked at the book. What I do is look up recipes online. that way I can compare ingredients of different recipes, see which one sounds better and go from there. The internet, I find, is a valuable resource when looking for recipes.

 

[Cassandra]

I feel like sometimes we are at the mercy of the recipe writers as far as coming out with a safe end product. I know what you mean about adding so much sugar and every time I ask myself, "Is that really necessary?" But the problem is, I have no idea. I don't know what would happen if I used half the sugar or a third less. Would I ruin it?

at this point, I don't have the liberty to waste a bunch of food if I don't get it right and I certainly don't want to make anyone sick.

Cassandra

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

I personally love the ball blue book. But then again most of the recipes I use are variations on some of the recipes in the book. I will make something in a small batch and if I do not like it I will cange the seasoning etc. untill I do like it. As far as the amt of sugar goes I guess it does not bother me. I can the way my Grandmother taught me and the same way my mother still does...with lots of sugar.

 

[the simple life]

Yeah, its got lots of sugar, but the final products taste good.
Unless you are eating home canned jam for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday I really don't see the harm done.

 

[buckbuckchickens]

I have been canning for over 20 years, and have collected a few books for refrence. Ball is ok as a refrence for ideas, but probably my favorite best refrence book is Putting Food By. It has been around for years, and I have used it extensively. The other source that has really grown over the last several years is the internet......forums like this and recipe sites like recipesource.com are really fun to browse for ideas.

I grew up in Idaho, where canning is just part of daily life, but moved to Santa Cruz 9 years ago, where I am an anomoly. Funny thing though.....the more food and gas prices rise, and the economy remains unstable.....the more friends (and 2 daughters) ask me to teach them how to can! With all of my "old school" hobbies like canning, gardening and dehydrating....pretty soon I'm going to be back in style!

 

[Dodgegal79]

I've heard good things about that book too, Putting Food By. I'm not new to canning, but my DH is diabetic and and I just don;t like eating alot of sugar, thats why I try to cut back. I made some apricot butter a few weeks ago and cut back on about 1/3 of the sugar, it still tastes great, just not so sweet.

 

[patandchickens]

There is a certain (large!) minimum amount of sugar that conventional jellies/jams/marmalades/preserves have to have... the acid-sugar-pectin ratio has to be correct or you do not get a correct jell. So in these kinds of products it is unwise to reduce sugar from what a recipe says unless you are willing to run the considerable risk of creating a batch of dessert sauce instead of spreadable product

If you want to try altering sugar amounts in conventional jellies/jams/etc without risking creating a dessert sauce, you either need to do the rubbing-alcohol test for jelling *and* prepare to waste a lot of time and material in trial and error, or you need to invest in a refractometer and look up the technical details of how much sugar at what pH for how much pectin to get the minimum-sugar jell point.

In jellies/jams/etc made with "no sugar needed" type pectins (Pomona, etc), or freezer jellies/jams made with gelatin, you can alter sugar to your heart's delight.

Likewise, in butters, chutneys, etc you can alter amounts of sugar to your heart's delight, although as some do rely a *bit* on pectin for set, you may end up with a slightly runnier product (but since their set is mostly from cooking-down, it won't be a big difference).


Pat