We just pre-ordered our copy of Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round.
The book description: Popular food blogger Marisa McClellan takes you through all manner of food in jars, storing away the tastes of all seasons for later. Basics like jams and jellies are accompanied by pickles, chutneys, conserves, whole fruit, tomato sauces, salsas, marmalades, nut butters, seasonings, and more. Small batches make them easy projects for a canning novice to tackle, and the flavors of vanilla bean, sage, and pepper will keep more experienced jammers coming back for more.
Sample some Apricot Jam and Rhubarb Syrup in the spring, and then try your hand at Blueberry Butter and Peach Salsa in the summer; Dilly Beans and Spicy Pickled Cauliflower ring in the fall, while Three-Citrus Marmalade and Cranberry Ketchup are the harbingers of winter.
Stories of wild blackberry jam and California Meyer lemon marmalade from McClellan’s childhood make for a read as pleasurable as it is delicious; her home-canned food—learned from generations of the original “foodies”—feeds the soul as well as the body in more than 100 recipes.
We use Marisa’s blog Food in Jars for recipes all the time. We are so excited about her new book that we want to pre-order a copy for one of you lucky readers! It is scheduled to come out May 22nd. Fellow food preservationists or those of you just getting started this year, you want a copy of this book. Comment on this post and answer the question: What are you most excited about putting up this year?
Entries must be posted by noon PST on Sunday April 1st. Shipment to US & Canadian addresses only. The winner will be selected using random.org. We will contact you via e-mail, so be sure to include your e-mail address in the comment! This giveaway was not sponsored. We are just genuinely excited about this book.
krista and jess 
I’m hoping for a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes (which I have yet to plant…and it’s getting kind of late for planting maters in Georgia…but there’s always the CSA box, right?) and I’d like to put some of those up in pints for sauces and soups.
catherine.clyde@gmail.com
My favorite thing that is a staple now in our preserve cabinet is “Bill Pickles”. I LOVE TO Pickly my Cucumbers~ My husband has prepared ground for our side garden and rear garden behind the house. We got a good return last year and have doubled our planting this year!! We run out of the pickles, because we love to give them as gifts to friends and family. But the best is eating a bill pickle with a ham and cheese sandwich!!!
I am most excited about BUYING some jars so that I can begin canning and storing more efficiently! I’m way behind on most stuff in my life…this is no exception. I have peaches and plums already growing, figs, tomatoes and picking cucumbers, pumpkins…the list goes on. Y’all keep up the work and the great blog. Until I start canning, I will continue eating all of my yield or giving away (to be eaten fresh) whatever I can’t.
i am most excited about the same thing i am most excited about every single year: PURPLE OKRA. the novelty never dies!
The only thing I ever can is dilly beans because it is the only recipe that doesn’t scare me. You can see why I need one of Marisa’s books…
Totally ready to start canning… would love to make pickled beats and onions… yum…
Please reach me through my blog: agentaemme.wordpress.com … my email has my real name in it. :)
Texas peaches!!!!!
I would like to try a golden beet chutney this year!
shelswift@gmail.com
Last year was the first year I really started canning and it was so fun! I want more recipes. I am most excited about pickles!
Pickles, pickles, and more pickles.
We always have an overabundance of rhubarb so this year I want to make some rhubarb jam.
The tomatoes always excite me most, and they look so great on the shelf.
Stewed tomatoes!! I only did about a dozen jars back at the end of summer and we used the last one in January… Apparently I need several dozen to get me through harvest to harvest! I’ll have more counter space so canning this year is going to be epic. (I’m olyhillary on twitter & @gmail)
Our apartment complex has plum trees, so this year I want to make jam, perhaps even get the community to buy some communal canning equipment and make a day of it.
On a small scale, any produce that comes my way–via the csa box, or my garden, or my dad’s fruit trees. Maybe even make some BPA free tomato sauce.
The California Meyer Lemon marmalade sounds awesome, as does the cranberry ketchup!
This will be my first year canning and I have a whole seedling tray of tomatoes that I can’t wait to turn into sauce and can.
Its been a few years since I did any canning, your blog has stirred many memories and I am so looking forward to making jams, jellies and various other preserves!
Every year I make elaborate plans for canning and preserving, and usually only end up putting up a batch or two of one thing. This year, I solemnly vow to can all season long! I’m most excited about making brandied sour cherries to go with the bourbon I’m currently barrel-aging. I’m also hoping to buy up a whole mess of ramps and pickle them!
I plan to make pickles this summer with a little jalapeño for a kick. Getting ready to plant as Spring has sprung in So Cal.
I’d like to preserve all the glorious green chiles I get from my CSA, got them every week for nearly 3 months but I miss them now.
That’s a tough call, but either tomatoes (esp. tomato jam) or Marisa’s pear-vanilla jam (so good, I am hoarding the two tiny jars I have left).
I am totally excited to pickle beets, and pickles… but a walk on the wild west coast of vanvouver island side… I’m jarring fish! Love your blog! Love your chickens :)
jfeldt
How exciting! Definitely pickled beets and carrots! MMM
I am actually most unhappy about putting up with kitchen renovations, but I’ll be delighted this winter when I can put up some goodies in my new kitchen! Till then I’ll just have to read “food in jars” year round and start making my to do list!
Bem, o meu ponto forte são os doces e geléias de goiabas! Logo logo terei uma grande safra! Ah, também, no final do ano farei chutny de mangas!
this will be my first year making jam from fresh colorado peaches. YUM!
I’m super excited to try Herbes Salees, which is a salted herb preserve much loved on Well Preserved – a Toronto based food blog I’m more then a little in love with. They keep throwing their Herbes Salees in everything from pasta (in the dough!) to marinades, and I want in on the action already!
Tomato Juice, rhubarb juice. everything pickled!..never have enough. And here in Michigan’s fruit country,,Fruits, butters…and on and on!
I’m going to can whatever looks good. :) Definitely strawberry jam, blueberry jam, more pickles. My goal is to make enough jams and whatnot to be able to send gifts to at least a few of my more far-flung friends & family. (Which reminds me that I have a jar to send to my favorite aunt!)
I like the small batches approach for being able to try out lots of different things, been reading that blog for a bit now, and it gets me curious to try new things.
I already have plans to go to a canning party hosted by my friend Valerie. She has several gardening beds on her four acres and has much to teach me. I’m just most excited to learn how to can. I remember my grandmother canning and hearing that “pop” was always so gratifying (and a relief)! Now I wish I kept a closer eye on the whole process.
My homemade spaghetti sauce is turning into a mighty tasty tradition. Right now I make up a big batch and freeze as much as my freezer can hold. But I really want to learn how to canning. Small projects would be the best in my tiny apartment. The great thing is that I have an amazing farmer’s market down the road every Saturday. There’s always loads of amazing produce to choose from!
Oh my gosh, canning and preserving are so intimidating to me, but I’m *determined* to try this year. I want heirloom tomatoes to last me through the winter!!
I want to try to pickle radishes!
I am so most excited to put up whatever manages to grow with this wackadoo season this year. Maybe garlic scape pickles? A ridiculous quantity of tomatoes?
Sour cherry jam! YUM. So excited for this book to come out!
I have high hopes for my tomatoes this year! I need to grow about a million so I can fill my entire pantry to avoid the BPA cans that we usually use so many of. We also have a peach tree that might finally give us some peaches. If she does, I’m using every last one!
I can’t wait to make Peach butter so that in the winter I can have a taste of summer…
I am a new canner…….so you could say that I am excited about everything. I’m really interested in combining flavors…….and learning how to make everything that can be contained in a jar…..
Frankly, since I’m moving in June and expecting in October, I’d be thrilled to put up *anything* this year…but I’m hoping to pick up some peaches from Eastern Washington if I can’t grow anything myself :)
I do quite a bit of canning so I’ve been looking for a new recipe. I think I found one. Peaches with spices I have not tried as of yet!!
Yeah! First off, I have been loving your blog since I discovered it a few weeks back. I am also a huge fan of Food in Jars and will definitely be getting a copy of her book (whether I win or not!). This is my third year canning but my first year gardening and I am beyond excited about canning tomatoes and tomato sauce. thanks bunches! kat kittykatcase@hotmail.com
For me it was blueberry and cherry jam. It amazes me the rich beautiful colors that occur when jam is being made. Makes me appreciate things being made at home instead of store bought.
I’m excited for green bean season so I can make my special pickled beans!
My mother, sister and I taught ourselves to can and preserve last year. We used our gardens and the local farmers’ produce to make everything from salsa to peach chutney. What an awesome experience. This year we hope to expand our skills with new recipes like dilly beans and some new preserves. We gave canned gifts to our friends and family for a homemade holiday.
All manner of pickled peppers.
I put up tomatoes every year, but last year, I did my paste in the crockpot. I’m looking forward to using the same method to make super thick pizza sauce this year.
New to all this but Soooo looking forward to putting up tomatoes & peaches!! Can hardly wait to get this new book!!!! LOVELOVELOVE
This year I’m excited to put up a ton of canned tomatoes. After the 30 jars of tomato sauce I did last year I realized I have a much larger need for canned tomatoes.
Oh I’m also a canning virgin, but for Christmas I asked for canning supplies, etc. so this is my year! I’ve been pinning a bunch of stuff on Pinterest, all I need is a lovely recipe book to complete my master plan! (HINT, HINT Mr. Random.org) I’m sure I’ll start with whatever’s easiest and least likely to kill my entire family if I do it wrong. ;)
Pickles! I have not yet taken on this challenge (except for refrigerator Pickles) and look forward to the task ahead.
Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Tomatoes!!! I live in Chicago and managed to find the space in my teeny tiny city yard for 25 plants. I can’t wait to see how many quarts I can put up not to mention the tomato jam!
I am excited about this book!!
I a most excited about putting up all the squash from the whfe’s garden this year!!
I am excited to try putting up tomatoes this year. I have started so many varieties of heirloom tomatoes and I hope to enjoy them year round. Thank you for the opportunity to win!
Last year I did some of Marisa’s tomato jam and it was so good can’t wait to make some more, oh and apricot rosemary jam, yumm, oh and some peach vanilla jam with just a touch of Jack Daniels, wow. can’t wait for summer..
Jalapeno Relish and strawberry jam and salsa and….
Looking forward to strawberry season & putting up strawberry-balsamic syrup for ice cream. :)
I am most excited about tomatoes. Whole, peeled. That way I can stop buying canned tomatoes at the store!
pickles, and jalapenos peppers
Re-started canning last year after a 15 yr hiatus every thing is fun and exciting. Knowing you did it yourself and it’s real food that’s healthy! I must say my favorite has always been tomatoes with onion, green pepper, garlic and basil! pop that open in the dead of winter with some awesome pasta…heaven!
I can’t wait to do some fancy ketchups! Also: chutneys. Obvi.
I am excited to put up some home made apple cider vinegar this year. Also want to play around with flavored apple jelly. Thinking of one with lemon zest, or with sage or an herbed one, maybe even a BBQ type of apple jelly, oh and mint apple jelly for sure!
I plan to take advantage of the lovely summer produce here and try canning for the first time! (I am really scared)
Hi! I started canning on a small basis last year for my first canning in over 25 years! I bought eggs tonight to pickle with pickled beets this weekend. I used almost all of my canning recipes from FOOD in JARS! I was very pleased with every thing I canned, and every thing turned out great. I am looking forward to following your recipes again this year! I will plant my tomatoes Good Friday! Thanks for all the information that you provide!
I’m most excited about watching the garden grow. The blossoms setting fruit, the emergence of the first lettuces and the splendid gush of juice and seeds from the first bite of a sun warmed tomato. The anticipation of the “snap” from a basket full of free thinking string beans begging to be pickled or roasted. The canning season is sure serendipity!
I am most excited about all of the salsa I will be putting up!! I canned for the first time ever last year and we just ran out of salsa so I know I need to get a lot more done this year. :)
Definitely the tomatoes. I kind of lost my mind and planted way more than I could ever hope to consume.
My plan is to can weekly throughout the spring/summer. Whatever is in season at the Farmers Market is what I will can. I’m hoping to have a full pantry by October to get us through the winter when our business slows down.
My husband and I will be empty nesters soon, for the third time! lol We have wanted to learn how to do this for some time and I think small batch canning may be the thing for us! Would really love to win this giveaway!
I’m pretty new at canning and preserving and would love this book! I’ve been wanting to make peach and pear chutneys for years now and we get some very delicious local fruit at the farmers markets here.
I am most excited about putting up the Sungolds that grow in my garden, even when other tomatoes won’t.
I love Marisa’s blog and am looking forward to working from her book. I’m really looking forward to putting up apple butter and black raspberry jam.
Looking forward to pickling daisy buds in a few weeks! A lovely alternative to capers…
Everything! Dill pickles are my yearly favorite and I like to experiment with different spices like cumin. This year I’m going to try pickling some carrots. I have lots of nice heirloom seeds to try out, so I’m pretty excited.
I love Marisa’s blog and am looking forward to working from her book. I’m most excited to put up apple butter and black raspberry jam this year.
i would love to make some pickled carrots and radishes! and a few jars of peach ginger jam in the summertime!
I’m hoping to can loooots of salsa this year :-)
I adore FoodInJars! And I love love love the tomato jam from the site. I can’t wait to make more.
I’m excited to can lots of salsa this year!
Ive made a couple of great things from food in jars, namely orangecreamcicle jelly and a fig ginger jam. Those will certainly be repeats. I look forward to making the staples, spaghetti sauce, canned peaches, meyer lemon curd and marmalade. The new thing I am excited to try this year is plum ketchup. I’m even thinking of planting a plum tree.
I hope to have lots of tomatoes.
I started canning last year too late to grow to can but this year I’m putting in a larger garden. I’m especially looking forward to canning homemade blueberry jam with my home grown blueberries.
More applesauce. I just love homemade applesauce.
Well, I’ve got to toss my name in the hat for this! I’m most excited about preserving my own salsa. It’s a staple around here for cooking and snacks.
Want to learn more about canning, canned pickels last summer and my boys loved them!
It’s not so much me, but my family is excited for strawberry season because that’s when I go out with the munchkins, pick strawberries and then make vats of strawberry port jam. As for me, I’m looking forward to trying out some new recipes.
This year, I will be all over the ramps as soon as they are ready!
This year I’m so excited to grow enough tomatoes to actually put up some sauce! Then use it on some hyper-local pizza! Rad…
Rhubarb Chutney! We have almost used all of ours from last year, and it is still one of our favorite preserves. I love Food In Jars!
I love this blog and am hoping for some downtime from grad school this summer – which means canning time!
Oh, it’s endless! I think I would start with something really good to top soups with – like a spicy chutney or pickle. Because I love soups :)
you are each such an inspiration. i am most excited about a new sunchoke recipe, my cilantro peanut pesto, and classic blackberry jelly.
I can not wait to put up tomatoes…last years did not last all year :(
Now that I’ve learned how to manually pollinate my tomato plants I’m hoping for a bumper crop to can some chile sauce.
If this year is as bad for tomatoes as last year was, it’s going to be all about pickled green tomatoes!
admin [at] 35aweek.com
Indeed—Portland. I’m not holding out much hope for this year, either.
Love her blog and have made many of her recipes. Excited to can jams and tomatoes, but most excited to pickle more things this year!
Bloody Mary Asparagus! Not only will it kick of the canning season, it will be my first chance to use the new Pint & Half jars.
I’m planting an assortment of green beans, can’t wait to use the pint and a half jars!
Haven’t really canned, mostly just experimented with refrigerator pickles of whatever I have more than I can use (cukes, radishes, that weird cuke-smelling thing we got at the pumpkin patch). The abundance of dandelions has inpired me, just found out about dandelion honey (does that count?), and maybe dandelion jelly. A book sure would help . . .
Beets, Carrots, Pickles, Lemons, Figs, Applesauce!!
Marisa’s spicy tom jam is always high on the list, but I am looking forward most to trying pickled pink eggs (w/ beet juice)…it’s a bravery test as much as a canning adventure :)
Well I was excited about raspberry jam, but then the neighbor’s dog dug up all my plants! I’m definitely making more of Marisa’s Pear Vanilla Jam – it’s amazing. And my toddler asks for canned peaches all the time!
Oh I love this site and I would feel so blessed to win the book! I am so looking forward to summer gardening and canning!! Thanks!! XO Fran.
I am looking forward to my first season of canning, for sure I plan to do tomatoes, lots of tomatoes.
I’m looking forward to putting up lemon anything – curd, jam, preserves.
I am pretty excited about pickles. Going to try some watermellon rind pickles. Also really excited for stone fruit mustardas
I’m always excited to put up applesauce!
Pluot jam! We have a pluot tree in our backyard, and the jam is the perfect combination of sour and sweet.
I’m looking forward to the beautiful heirloom tomatoes to make amazing tomato sandwiches on rustic artisan bread and delicious panzanella salad, using aged balsamic and sweet basil from my garden! Yum!
Pick me! I made & canned 5 batches of jam this weekend (italian plum, yellow plum, plum-ginger, peach with almond, and rhubarb with brown sugar–a freezer clean-out!) and I was wishing I had a book with some fun ideas for spicing up my jam. (Of course, I know how to order my own book if I don’t win, and I will–I love the Food in Jars blog.) The thing I’m always most excited about is making tons of applesauce from our trees. The kids love it and I do too.
I am hoping to put up a bunch of Fig Preserves, and sweet pickles to use in my tater salad, chicken salad and deviled eggs. Also, I’d like to make/can some Citron preserves. Remember it from when I was a child and they were delicious. The difficult task will be finding or growing the fruit! Would love one of these books. Thanks for the opportunity. Mylinda
Most excited to make garden pickles, relishes, and veggies pickles. Just found a few recipes for rhubarb and definately happy to give those a try and bottle them for the first time EVER. Want to spend more time this year pickling onions and beets. I love pickled beets and the ones in the stores just aren’t the same. I am a “addict to canning” year round. I’m always finding new things and ways to try.
Preserved Meyer lemons and marmalade!
pickled green beans!
I LOVE her blog!! I’m so excited about canning all of the wonderful tomatoes from my garden. I have never canned before so it’ll be very exciting. :)
Strawberry jam! Maybe even strawberry-vanilla jam.
I can’t wait for raspberry season! I am obsessed with raspberry lavender mint jam!
I am most excited about preserving berries. I love them all. During the winter months they are such a delight to have, whether frozen or as a jam, it always takes me back to the summer.
I love to can ….and would love some new ideas on canning year round
This is our first year to grow beets so I may flashback to childhood and pickle some. Then there are tomatoes, then jams, then corn, then …
Cowboy candy!
Tomatoes for salsa and whole tomatoes for sauce; berries of all kinds for jams; cucumbers for pickles.
every year, i make a big batch of strawberry jam, but it never lasts all year. this year, i need to pick more strawberries!!!
Woot! I hope I get it! I LOVE her blog!! :)
My goal is to get all my tomatoes grown and turned into roasted salsa, either or both red and green and put up this year … but we gotta get these tomatoes growin’ first!
I took a class with Marisa last year & loved her vanilla pear jam!! but I look forward to strawberry rhubarb too!
In my 39 square foot kitchen, I’m excited about putting up anything at all this year. Small batches are the name of the game in my workspace- I already bought the 4th burner pot that Marisa brilliantly suggested for small bath canning. I’m ready! Bring it on!
My husband is remodeling the kitchen to our 1830 home as I type. One of my must have new purchases is a vita-mix, finally! I can’t wait to get into this brand new kitchen and cook up a storm of healthy, delicious, affordable “grub”! I’m also looking forward to “putting up” some new foods this summer! This new book would come in handy! -Thanks for the opportunity.
Jams and tomatos!
This year, I hope not to miss fig season. I’d love to put up some fig preserves!
My peeps are waiting for my “Peach Bourbon Jam w/Vanilla”!
I planted pomegranate and lemon trees this year, so I’m hoping for lots of pomegranate molasses and preserved lemons!!
I am most excited about eating and preserving fresh strawberries and tomatoes! I do my best to avoid eating grocery store strawberries and tomatoes since they are never as good as the fresh and local versions so I’m always craving them come spring and summer. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I am most excited about canning Strawberry jam again this year. I only get it all eaten every two years, and this is my year. I suppose that’s a boring answer! I’ll also can raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb and gooseberries along with many non-jam items.
I’d like to try my hand at some rhubarb – and of course the delicious tomatos :)
Strawberry jam!
Cucumber-ginger jelly!
Strawberries and blueberries, and some Mexican (aka spicy) carrots! Thanks for this offer – Food in Jars is a terrific source.
Most excited to do Blueberry Lemon sauce (from blueberries we handpick by the bucketload) and Apple preserves using apples from the orchard we live behind. Nothing beats eating as a locovore!
I’m looking forward to making more strawberry vanilla jam! Thanks for the chance to win :)
strawberry balsemic jam with black pepper! I ran out by September last year!
I’m looking forward to tomato jam and our yearly batch of rumtopf!
I’m most excited about using my Weck jars I got for Christmas and pickling some asparagus in the tall ones!!
I want to focus more on local fare. Being in Alaska, the first thing to come up will be rhubarb, but not for a couple months yet. I want to do more experimenting with the ample supply of rhubarb we get each year. I planted some elderberries that I hope will flourish this year! Can’t wait to make something with the berries!! Oh yes, I almost forgot the first thing will be spruce tips! Spruce tip honey is the best!!
TOMATOES! Last year a freakish hail storm wiped out all my tomato plants and they never fully recovered. This year, I’m ready for big, small, red, yellow, green, juicy tomatoes! I’m excited to try a little of everything though: beans, okra, peaches, garlic!? I’m just thrilled to get in on the action this year. If I don’t get the giveaway, I’m ordering this book immediately!!
Kelly
somariot7@gmail.com
I want to make some really amazing strawberry balsamic jam. I tried it last year but it didn’t have quite the punch I was hoping for. The year before it was SOOOOOO delicious and I can’t wait to try it again…
I can’t wait to try a blood orange marmalade!
I’m always excited and look forward to picking wild dewberries to make into my (almost) seedless dewberry jelly.
I am looking forward to canning Tuscan Tomatoe Sauce with howme grown tomatoes!
Hard to say just yet…waiting for new book to decide, but anticipate putting up some peaches, strawberries and tomatoes…this year would like to try sweet pickles : )
I’m new to food preserving, but I am very adventurous and last summer created some super new recipes that my family has been enjoying all winter. This summer I plan to experiment with pickled fruit and fruit butters. Can’t Wait!
Hey there, Where can i buy a copy ? cause i don’t think that i will win. i have never canned anything in my live. but im starting a “green”lifstyle, with organic food, im trying to avoid plastic and other things that hurt our planet. Im big on reusing and recicling. i think canning is the next step for me.
I’m excited to make a whole bunch of jam for my wedding favours!
I can’t wait to preserve more peaches for the winter months. I didn’t do nearly enough last summer.
Looking forward to putting up lots of berries! In all forms of jams and pie fillings – I can’t wait for the berry season to begin.
I started my first edible garden last summer, and now I’m hooked! I found your blog looking for veggie tips; love the writing style, the chickens, and the jar lunch idea!
Last year I discovered the joy of yellow wax beans- so easy to grow and so tasty. I didn’t grow nearly enough ( my dogs and I ate most of them right in the yard). This year I ordered the big packet of seed and plan to tuck them in all through my flower borders. We like to make spicy dill pickles with them and only got two jars last year. I’m dreaming of making enough to give to friends this year.
I’m trying to grow burdock in shopping bags this summer and starting a sunchoke patch; we plan to try to pickle both with Japanese flavors.
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