Jam Session: A Fruit-Preserving Handbook

If your taste in preserves has always been more adventurous than your experience in making them, may we suggest Joyce Goldstein's Jam Session as a way to correct that?

A legendary cook, chef, and author who was on the barricades during the California food revolution, Goldstein is also both a careful teacher and widely experienced traveler, qualities she brings to bear in this fun and approachable book.

After a reassuring introduction to preserving fundamentals—and an injunction to indulge your own taste and texture preferences—Goldstein proceeds fruit by fruit, in rough order of seasonal availability, providing a basic jam as well as some inspired riffs. That is, a basic strawberry jam is followed by whole strawberry preserves with black pepper and pomegranate; basic apricot jam is followed up with apricot-ginger jam and even an apricot mustard.

There are carrot jams here; blackberry jam with burgundy, plum, mint and black pepper jam; Lebanese eggplant and walnut conserve; and cranberry tangerine preserves.

Experienced preservers will relish Goldstein's creativity and beginners will feel they are off to a marvelous start.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.