Writer extraordinaire Jesse Kornbluth gives Jam It a second glance, writing:
The more amusing book is Karen Solomon’s Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects. She’s so enthusiastic about homemade foods she makes her own crackers and potato chips (though she concedes the chips require “mad knife skills”). She cheats — bless her — in her mayonnaise, substituting a food processor or blender for long duty with a whisk. And her jam recipe is idiot proof.
Solomon goes far outside the canning categories, which delights me — to a point. Pasta dough? Food snobs say dried pasta is better, anyway. Gravlax? Salt cod? Smoked trout? I think not. But then she offers a bacon recipe — yes: you can cure your own bacon — that’s so easy you’ll want to add pork belly to your shopping list.
I’m not likely to make my own marshmallows or beef jerky, but frozen mango and lime pops sound like a cold compress on a hot day. And watermelon pops. And Arnold Palmer (tea and lemonade) pops. I’m looking forward to making my own ginger beer — just four ingredients, one of them water. And, yes, I think I can wait 8 weeks for my limoncello (vodka, lemons, sugar and water) to process.
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