Saving the Season: A Cook's Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preserving: A Cookbook - Rilegato

"Restaurants everywhere serve pickled everything even in the height of growing season, to show they've gotten with the grow-your-own program. This still seems to be a step farther than even diehard farmers-market shoppers are willing to take. But maybe they'll be convinced by Kevin West's Saving the Season--as much by its stylishness . . . and storytelling. . . . [West] brings in gardening history, 18th-century American painters, poems, and practical information; it's a rich book. And unlike other books on preserving, West gives recipes that will goad you to make easy preserves." --The Atlantic (One of "The Best Food Books of 2013")

"A pleasure to read. West includes short profiles of his favorite farmers and farm adventures, from Santa Monica market heroes such as Windrose Farms' Bill and Barbara Spencer, to a weekend-long ramp dig in West Virginia. . . . As pleasurable (and useful) for the somewhat experienced canner as it is for the novice. . . . West's instructions are clear and precise. . . . He's got a good cook's curiosity, always wondering why things work the way they do and constantly on the lookout for new ideas. . . . Just leafing through the book, I found myself thinking 'Hmmm, I've got all those strawberries in the refrigerator.'"
--Los Angeles Times

"I've never had the subject [of pickling] so thoroughly explored as in Kevin West's Saving the Season, his deep dive into the world of pickling, preserving, and home canning. . . . The breadth and depth of his knowledge about preserving is impressive, and I began to feel like I was understanding some concepts for the first time. The difference between high-acid and low-acid foods, the way he goes into every permutation of tomato as a condiment (sauce, jam, paste, broth, ketchup, barbecue sauce, confit), and his long discourse on forgotten "antique" fruits that taste best in fall (damsons, medlar, pyracantha, and beach plums) was all information presented to me in a handier, more straight-forward way than I'd had before. None of it was brand new, but it was all so simple because it was structured by someone who had a grasp on it. . . . [An] excellent argument . . . that there are still some things books do better than the internet." --Amanda Cohen, chef/owner of Dirt Candy

"Kevin West possesses a poet's mastery of language, and uses it to create vignettes that capture the essence of a fruit or vegetable's brief peak season as effectively as his recipes do. . . . [His methods work] time and time again, with little hoopla and ideal economy. . . . Little harmonies loft this book from eccentric to essential, and from my kitchen to my nightstand."
--Kat Kinsman, Eatocracy

"I would be smitten with Kevin West's Saving the Season: A Cook's Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preserving even without its delectable recipes for Blackberry Jam With Gin and Persimmon Butter. Even with no recipes. A Tennessee native and former W magazine editor, West writes about the art of preserving with the eye of a painter and the soul of a poet. . . . West is on a quest to capture the timeless beauty of putting up food in jars so that its bright fresh flavor can be enjoyed when the orchard is barren. . . . This spectacular, accessible, 534-page tome deserves a special place on my kitchen shelf. Hands down, it's my favorite food book of the year." --Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Consitution

"[West's] bio alone made me want Saving the Season, but now that I've got it I'm buying a copy for everyone I know. . . . There are many lovely preserving books out there, but this comprehensive compendium is a canning category killer."
--Edible Manhattan

"A terrific guide to home canning and preserving. . . . Happily for --Booklist

KEVIN WEST is from rural Blount County in eastern Tennessee. He attended Deep Springs, an experimental college in the White Mountains of California, and Sewanee: The University of the South. For thirteen years he was on the staff at W magazine, with postings in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles, where he was West Coast editor and where he still lives. He runs the blog SavingtheSeason.com; writes about food, culture, and travel; and produces a retail collection of jams and marmalades. He is certified as a Master Food Preserver by the University of California Cooperative Extension.