Finding the best books on how to make jams and other preserves is not always easy. What is the best for one person will not necessarily be the best for others?  Yet some books are so popular because they are good all-rounders with information suitable for a great many people.

Some books will be better for beginners while others will have more complex recipes in them.  I think it is best if there is a good variety not only of recipes but of skill levels.  

Some will be mostly jams while others will have things like my particular favourite sloe gin or pear vodka.

The River Cottage Handbook

Anyone who follows River Cottage on TV will love this book.  For those of us who can’t, we can just enjoy it for what it is, a great book packed full of useful advice and ways to preserve your fruit.

What I love about this book is that it branches out away from the norm of jams and chutneys, you have lemon curds, alcohol (sloe gin, my favourite) and tomato ketchup Yay! Very happy.  Then there are the blackberry and apple leathers.  If like me you are left wondering what that is, it is a very thin layer of fruit purée that has been thoroughly dried.

Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2
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Very sweet and tasty and like eating chewy gums.  Great fun.

This book is very detailed.  It even tells you about things like how to fill a bottle and seal it.  Hmm, could have done with this when I started really, simple things are often overlooked or assumed knowledge that when were are newbies we may not know.

Like the 3 ways to set your preserves.  When I started out my tests were:  Oh well it will have to be runny then.  Panic is it hot enough and Yipes, it burnt!  So having methods to hand rather than have to trawl through the net is fantastic.

This book is heaven for those of us who like to grow herbs and spices as they are often used in the fruit as well.  Awesome.

It is not entirely fruit, though I won’t hold that against it as the Amazon reviews were so enthusiastic they sold me on it within minutes.

A beautiful thoroughly researched and beautifully laid out and informative book that will grace yourselves for years to come.

Note: this is one of a series on different subjects done by River Cottage.

Easy Jams, Chutneys, and Preserves, Great Results Even for Beginners

For me, the word “easy” in the title was the eye-catching selling point.

So often beginners are overlooked or knowledge assumed.

This book is written by John Harrison and is great for beginners.

It has lots of information and recipes that are easy to follow and produce great results.  Which is great as not everyone either wants to or can spend time on difficult jam making recipes.

The book does more than just jams but also some savory as well if you want to branch out a bit. There is a lot of advice and tips to make things easier.  The recipes work really well and are tasty.

It is quite in depth to read however it will fill you with ideas, inspiration, and enthusiasm for making preserves.  For example, it tells you all about how to stop getting moulds on your jams.  Having often seen this as a child and found out how dangerous it can be on jam advice like this is invaluable. Although beginners will learn lots, even people who have made jam for a few years can benefit from it.

Easy Jams, Chutneys, and Preserves

What I particularly love about this book is it is great for allotmenteer’s, as those of us that also grow our own fruit and veg often have a glut of it with no idea what to do with it, no matter how careful we are. Making preserves is a great way to use up the extra.

I tend to freeze mine so can make jam at any point when I need it.

There are also recipe combinations that I would not have thought of like cucumber and apple.