Well Preserved: A Jam Making Hymnal - Softcover

Hassol, Joan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684839210 ISBN 13: 9780684839219

Publisher: Atria, 1998

Synopsis

"This book is about my relationship with jam, my soul, music, and the world in which I live. When I make jam I slow down, my actions become rhythmical, my thinking clear. The repetitive motions of washing, stirring, pouring, and labeling allow me the space to think about my life -- what it means to be starting over and how I can embrace this stage of my life with vitality and joy."
With warmth and love, Joan Hassol takes us on an evocative journey through raspberry patches, in search of beach plums, down memory's lane, and ultimately to her bed-and-breakfast on Cape Cod, where her jam business, Well Preserved, is in full operation. In over seventy easy-to-prepare recipes -- none of which requires special equipment -- she reveals how to create such goodies as blueberry, wild cherry, and concord grape jams, five-fruit marmalade, pear with frangelico jam, and green tomato chutney, as well as breads, muffins, and cakes to complement the preserves or to serve on their own.
Well Preserved is a jam-making hymnal, a vibrant celebration of nature's rich bounty, as much about the soul as cooking.

About this title

Review

The subtitle for Joan Hassol's Well Preserved reads, "A Jam-making Hymnal." This is aptly so, since the book is much more than a cookbook. Hassol wants to impart more than the simple knowledge of how to make jams; she wants the reader to understand them. Hassol's own jam business, Well Preserved, was an outgrowth of her lifelong passion for the fruits of her native New England, and what she has learned in life and business is collected in this volume. As a result, the approach is personal--full of great opinions, good advice, and, incidentally, wonderful jam recipes. As in anything with nature and fruit, the approach must be seasonal. The book is divided by season and includes the chutneys and marmalades of winter along with the jams of spring and summer, followed naturally by a section on breads and muffins on which to spread your new creations. Flowing throughout the book are Hassol's reflections on the bounties of the land and the people who have made the journey with her. Hassol is reminiscent of another well-known New England food writer, John Thorne, and for her, food represents a path to the soul--cooking is simply the vehicle that gets you there. Well Preserved is as much a personal story as a cookbook, yet the appeal is universal. She understands that to make something as simple as jam requires an understanding of nature and its seasons. It would not be an exaggeration to say the book is disguised as a metaphor for life--with some really great recipes. --Mark O. Howerton

About the Author

Joan Hassol, mother of six and grandmother of nine, started her jam-making business, Well Preserved, in 1990. 

Edition details

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0684839210
• ISBN 13: 9780684839219
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208