This is a big week at Twice as Tasty, and it’s all about canning it forward. For the second year, I’ll play a part in feeding more than 100 hungry sailors at the Montana Cup, an annual sailing regatta hosted by the North Flathead Yacht Club in Somers, Montana. Jars of preserves and other Twice as Tasty treats will be shared for meals and awards. Coincidentally, the regatta’s opening day is the Ball brand’s seventh annual Can-It-Forward Day.

Gifting and sharing home-preserved food cans it forward to the joy of both creator and eater. You’ll find plenty of recipes here to inspire your canning projects. But this blog is just one small voice in the world of home preserving, and much of my inspiration began with other voices. Here are some of my favorite canning recipes from other sources.

Liana Krissoff
Canning for a New Generation

Shortly after I began canning on my own, a friend gifted me Liana Krissoff’s book and it immediately became my best preserving friend. I was drawn in by the flavors she uses to create unique jars of commonly preserved fruits and vegetables. My copy of the 2010 edition bristles with page flags, marking recipes I make year after year. The 2016 edition added 50 new recipes. Everything I’ve made from her book has been delicious, and I still follow her instructions exactly for many recipes. Others have inspired Twice as Tasty creations. Some of Krissoff’s cooking recipes can be found on her Pie and Beer blog, but for canning, I recommend picking up a copy of her book.
Favorite New Generation recipe: Chamomile-Scented Strawberry Syrup
Twice as Tasty recipes: Definitely Dilly and Asian-Style Pickled Beans, Roasted Raspberry Syrup, Cumin-Spiced Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles

Eugenia Bone
Well-Preserved

Krissoff herself was inspired by others, and her book led me to Eugenia Bone. Like me, Bone grew up in a canning household and her recipes evolved out of her experience making and preserving good food in a tiny kitchen as an adult. As cookbooks go, Well-Preserved is relatively slim, but Bone does more than just show you how to preserve something: she gives you ways to use it. She also goes beyond fruits and vegetables to share techniques for saving and using beans, fungi, nuts, meat, and fish. Her online presence is run through her Mycophilia website.
Favorite Well-Preserved recipe: Marinated Red Bell Peppers
Twice as Tasty recipe: Sunshine Risotto

Linda Ziedrich
The Joy of Pickling and The Joy of Jams, Jellies, & Other Sweet Preserves

Linda Ziedrich is masterful canner, and her recipes offer many ways to preserve everything you pull from your garden. But what I love most about her books are the long chapters and sections she devotes to explaining why the process works. Much of the knowledge I pass on to you comes from her pickling primer, her chapter on fermenting vegetables, and her explanations of why jellies gel and jams set. A third edition of Joy of Pickling, with 50 new recipes, came out last year, and Ziedrich has been sharing a lot of sweet recipes this summer on her A Gardener’s Table blog.
Favorite Joy recipes: Robert’s Tea Pickles, Eggplant Preserves
Twice as Tasty recipes: Pickled Garlic and Pickled Nasturtium Seeds

Ball
The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving

If you can, you know Ball. Jars, lids, and other supplies all feature the brand’s name, and besides the National Center for Home Food Preservation, the company is the official purveyor of canning knowledge. I was awarded my first Ball Blue Book in 1990 for a blue-ribbon jar at the local county fair; it’s still on my shelf, albeit coverless and well worn. But if you’ve preserved with Ball, you know that the recipes tended to be heavy on the sugar and proprietary seasoning blends and low on the creativity.

That changed with last year’s All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving, which I gave away for Can-It-Forward Day 2016. The recipes feature mouth-watering flavor combinations, and the intro to each section gives a chart with the basic canning process for your choice of produce, putting you in charge of bonus flavors. Head over to the Ball Facebook page on August 5, Can-It-Forward Day, for demos and recipes, and then grab a copy of this book for further inspiration.
Favorite New Ball recipe: Smoky Sour Cherry–Tequila Salsa
Twice as Tasty recipe: Grilled Fish Tacos

Like what you learned here? Twice as Tasty is teaching canning techniques in workshops held in your own kitchen, among friends—and with my personal help. Click here to learn more.

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