I have mixed feelings about this book. I am not a novice preserver yet I found a lot in the book that was interesting and useful and I enjoyed reading through it as the question and answer presentation made it both relevant and succinct.
Unfortunately that presentation has some downsides in book form – there is a fair amount of repeated information and one would have to constantly refer to the index (which is good) if you want to find preserving information related to a specific technique or food. Hence my three star review. However it is still a very comprehensive and useful resource for anyone interesting in home preservation.

Really appreciated the knowledge and information found in this book - as a complete beginner to preserving food, this was very useful and informative! Would definitely recommend, even for beginners!

I didn't think I would like the beginning of this book, but I really enjoyed the tips at the beginning on how to prevent certain things that you don't want to happen, such as botulism. I really loved the "learn the lingo" section because I didn't know all of those terms beforehand.

I definitely want to grab a copy of this book when it's published.

The Preserving Answer Book: Expert Tips, Techniques, and Best Methods for Preserving All Your Favorite Foods by Sherri Brooks Vinton
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine | Home & Garden
Release Date: March 2, 2021

The Preserving Answer Book: Expert Tips, Techniques, and Best Methods for Preserving All Your Favorite Foods by Sherri Brooks Vinton is a great resource about preserving food.

I had always been curious about preserving food, but was cautious and did not know where to start. Since it is just me and my husband, I've had to learn how to cook for less people and never know what to do with leftover. I definitely prefer to prepare things in advance and have ready made portions available.

This book provided so much information. The first part covers the basics of preserving, storage and prep work. The second part discussed the preserving processes and different methods. The third part is about putting everything together and getting to work. There are recipes scattered throughout the book.

I thought this was a great resource and enjoyed reading it. I look forward to trying out some of the things discussed and trying to preserve my own food!

I'm so grateful to Sherri Brooks Vinton, Storey Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Super helpful! While most preserving books focus on the basic "how to's" and recipes, this one presented tons of useful info in Q&A format, addressing common questions and misconceptions. Loved the idea and layout of the "canning porch" too.

I really liked this book. It contains a wealth of Q and A for all types of food preservation methods. It's separated into three sections that make sense to people who are new to preserving: 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 including boiling-water method and 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. Also included here is the Peel-and-Pip Pectin recipe so you can actually make your own pectin (love that!). All in all, I thought it was a very useful book on preserving.

Loads of good info for beginners and maybe not so beginner cooks and gardeners who want to preserve some of their harvest. There are also recipes included that I might try this coming summer! This book isn't exactly a food preserving book like one for canning, dehydrating, etc.. but instead has a question/answer type format. I found it interesting to read and it did answer some questions I had in regards to "fixing" recipes to be preserved! It also explained why "seconds" aren't always the best choice and why. But that varies with what's expected.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Preserving Answer Book is a Q&A style reference guide on food preservation that covers canning (both the boiling water and pressure methods), drying, infusing, fermenting, freezing, and refrigeration.

This book, as the author explains, is not intended to be an exhaustive, step-by-step overview for all food preservation processes for all types of food. Instead, the author aims to answer the most frequently asked questions she’s received or come across during her experience. [As a side note, if anyone does know of an excellent, comprehensive, step-by-step resource for specific food preservation methods, please let me know. I would love to expand my reading selections.] In the ARC copy I received, the author also encourages readers to contact her if they have a question not answered in the book - a feature I’m grateful for, even if I don’t currently have any food preservation questions.

This book is definitely geared for the beginner food preserver, especially those who are first-time or inexperienced canners. There is a wealth of useful information in this book and I will definitely be adding a reference copy to my kitchen library. From my quite limited experience with home food preservation (which has focused only on drying, freezing, and refrigeration), I found almost all of the questions and respective answers in each section helpful.

The Q&A format is handy, even if some of the questions were similar and many of the answers repeated information (although, since almost all of the repeat information was about safety, I’m glad it was easily accessible throughout the book for those that won’t read it cover to cover like I did). I also loved the focus on buying, eating, and preserving local food culture and how the author recommends visiting local farmers’ markets and/or U-picks for those who want to preserve their own food but don’t have the availability to garden and grow their own.

However, most of the information is focused on the two different canning methods and I do wish there had been more detailed instructions on the other food preservation methods. There’s still enough information to cover the basics, but I will need to search out more detailed guides when I’m ready to advance.

Even if you are not interested in canning, I think you would still find this book useful for getting the most out of your groceries and preventing food waste. The Preserving Answer Book includes both the “how” and “why” of food preservation, not just the steps of each process, and gives definitions for specific terms (such as the difference between “dicing” and “mincing” and what constitutes a “jelly” versus a “jam”). There’s also information on essential kitchen equipment and kitchen tips you might not think of, like how to properly thaw frozen foods.

Thank you again to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

This is a very detailed book about preserving. Teaching different technics, lots of tips and some recipes. Great book! I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

This book is interesting and packed full of information. I shall enjoy trying some of the tips as well as the canning techniques suggested.

I received a digital ARC (advanced reader copy) in exchange for an honest review.

The Preserving Answer Book is a question-answer format book with a couple of recipes sprinkled throughout the book. It covers many forms of preserving from canning, fermentation, dehydrating, and more. I really like the question-answer format because the reader can jump to whatever question they have instead of browsing through chapters of information for what they need to know. It is an unusual format but I think it is useful for quickly looking up whatever information you need to reference.

I was expecting more recipes but even without them, this book is a wealth of preserving knowledge. It also contains a lot of important warning information about contamination and advice on how to fix recipes that didn't turn out well.. Some of the question-answers where slightly redundant (Can I use red wine vinegar? Can I use white wine vinegar?) but other than that, I really enjoyed the book.

Good information for those who hate to waste food.

I'm not sure I am a fan of the question-answer format. It gives the impression that the information provided might be quite random. However, the author did say that the book contains mainly commonly asked questions so I think it would be great for those who have done a bit of canning, fermenting, etc and need answers to common issues.

I did, however, learn quite a bit here and there. For instance, freezing your products flat and then storing them like file folders is simply brilliant. Looking forward to trying that out. Also will consider some of the other preservation methods.

An interesting book covering all aspects of preserving, a great present for anyone with a large garden or allotment! I make jams and chutneys myself but have never looked into canning, so this will provide me with the guidance to try this. Lots of questions answered in a practical way.

An impressive source of information about preserving food. This book is written to answer all possible questions to start canning, fermenting, freezing, drying and the likes... I liked the explanation on how to keep some root vegetables in sand. I live in a subtropical region so I can't imagine it is for me, but that's the beauty of the book, I think there are preservation methods for everyone, everything I could think off seem to have been mentioned... except maybe salting.
It has a few illustrations to give a better idea of the process. They are very clear and I enjoyed seeing them when they were around. There are no photos, but as this is a book mainly about process I didn't mind. I can see this being a very useful book to people who grow their own vegetables and want solutions to enjoy them all year round. A very good overall guide to get started I think.

There's lots of information in this book on all topics related to food preservation (canning, freezing and more). It's presented in a Q&A format and it does get tiring after a while, especially if you already know most of this. It will be invaluable for those who are new to food preservation though, and would probably be much easier to flip through and enjoy as a physical book. It gets a little long and droning in the digital version, kind of like reading a really long owner's manual.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

The Preserving Answer Book isn't just for home canners and preservers. It contains helpful information for anyone who buys fresh food and wants to store it in a way that keeps it fresh and wholesome for as long as possible. I learned many new-to-me techniques that will help me make my fresh food last longer.

I've been canning and dehydrating food for long-term storage for a couple of decades now. I depend on the standard canning books for their classic recipes, but they're lacking in advice beyond canning. This would be a good companion book to have on hand.

Foodies like me might read it start to finish as if it were a novel, but novices could feel overwhelmed by the flood of advice which seems to spill out in no particular order. In fact, it reminds me a lot of how I learned to preserve food through conversations and anecdotes told to me by family members.

I hope this book is made available for sale in electronic formats. If you've just bought a bushel of apples, you could search on the word 'apples' and glean all sorts of advice from all over the book, for example. A paper version of this book will still be helpful, but you'll be madly thumbing through the pages to find what you need to know.

I have dabbled some with preserving in the past and wish I had this awesome guidebook in my hands at that time. Thankfully, I do now and will be regularly utilizing the tips, techniques and tools represented. I have had many questions beyond canning, such as fermenting and root celluring, and this book provided helpful answers to these questions. The graphics are simple and helpful as well. The first part has a lot of intro content and explanations that set the stage for moving forward. The second part covers actual preserving processes and then the third part covers putting it all together. I love all the recipes included as well as the answers to questions and nuggets of information provided all throughout the book.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own, freely given.

This book is titled The Preserving Answer Book. It definitely has lots of answers, but this is preceded by a random set of questions. Although I likely need all those questions answered, this book feels very unorganized. There are few actual recipes. I am not sure how you would quickly find a specific answer you were looking for.

This has most of the answers to the different ways of preserving food including freezing. I intend to use it as a reference book. Thank you net galley and the publishers for letting me have an advance copy of a useful book.

This is the book I would hand to someone who is looking to get into preserving of any type. It fulfills its name as being the book with the answers.
It covers ways of preservation that in some ways feel like they have been lost to time, such as using sand to preserve produce.
But also talks about preservation ways that feel unusual to hear in our modern era, such as Ketchup not only being made with tomatoes.

I can't sing the praises of this book enough, The only thing I found myself wanting out of this book, was more information and direction as to fermentation. Especially given the earlier warning of not straying from recipe.