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Books: CookBooks: Jams and Jellies
Prescription for Nutritional Healing (Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 3rd ed)by Phyllis Balch and James Balch List Price: $23.95 Available from Amazon $15.57 On 7-22-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review Prescription for Nutritional Healing by nutritionist Phyllis A. Balch and James F. Balch, M.D., has long been considered one of the most trusted, comprehensive sources on the mind-boggling array of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other dietary supplements now available. Working from the premise that a good diet promotes good health, this third edition of PNH still starts with the basics: consume fresh produce, grains, and lean meats; avoid foods that are processed or high in saturated fat; cook using glass, stainless steel, or iron--never aluminum; and drink filtered water. The authors also stand by their claim that the government-prescribed recommended daily allowances are ridiculously low, and that the book's optimal daily intake for nutrients should be followed instead. So what's new in the third edition? Along with now-accepted remedies, like zinc and echinacea for the common cold, the Balches also explore many of the newer supplements to hit the market: SAMe (recommended for depression and joint pain), phosphatidyl serine (mental acuity), red yeast rice (cholesterol), and 5-HTP (weight loss, insomnia, depression). You'll also find an expanded chapter on alternative therapies that encompasses Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine, along with a hefty section on pain control that offers a grab bag of options such as acupuncture, biofeedback, guided imagery, chiropractic care, and massage. Still, the bulk of the book remains the more than 250 health conditions--from everyday problems such as insect bites and bad breath to serious diseases including bulimia, cancer, and AIDS--and the nutritional protocols the Balches recommend for treatment. Since any number of supplements can be taken for the same condition, the Balches make sifting through the glut of information a little easier by separating their nutrient recommendations into four categories: essential, very important, important, and helpful. And they take a lot of the guesswork out of buying supplements by listing the brands they know and trust. Once again, the authors have squeezed in an impressive amount of information, including valuable sidebars on topics such as the dangers of aspartame; how to choose a calcium supplement; common heart problems and procedures; cancer risk factors, diagnosis, and treatments; and sports nutrition. This is not relaxing reading, but it's enormously useful. While the material can be dense, the authors still manage to present it in a straightforward manner that's understandable even for readers without a medical degree. --Norine Dworkin
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On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchenby Harold McGee List Price: $40.00 Available from Amazon $25.20 On 7-22-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review A classic tome of gastronomic science and lore, On Food and Cooking delivers an erudite discussion of table ingredients and their interactions with our bodies. Following the historical, literary, scientific and practical treatment of foodstuffs from dairy to meat to vegetables, McGee explains the nature of digestion and hunger before tackling basic ingredient components, cooking methods and utensils. He explains what happens when food spoils, why eggs are so nutritious and how alcohol makes us drunk. As fascinating as it is comprehensive, this is as practical, interesting and necessary for the cook as for the scholar. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Before antioxidants, extra-virgin olive oil and supermarket sushi commanded public obsession, the first edition of this book swept readers and cooks into the everyday magic of the kitchen: it became an overnight classic. Now, 20 years later, McGee has taken his slightly outdated volume and turned it into a stunning masterpiece that combines science, linguistics, history, poetry and, of course, gastronomy. He dances from the spicy flavor of Hawaiian seaweed to the scientific method of creating no-stir peanut butter, quoting Chinese poet Shu Xi and biblical proverbs along the way. McGee's conversational style—rich with exclamation points and everyday examples—allows him to explain complex chemical reactions, like caramelization, without dumbing them down. His book will also be hailed as groundbreaking in its breakdown of taste and flavor. Though several cookbooks have begun to answer the questions of why certain foods go well together, McGee draws on recent agricultural research, neuroscience Reviews and chemical publications to chart the different flavor chemicals in herbs and spices, fruits and vegetables. Odd synergies appear, like the creation of fruity esters in dry-cured ham—the same that occur naturally in melons! McGee also corrects the European bias of the first edition, moving beyond the Mediterranean to discuss the foods of Asia and Mexico. Almost every single page of this edition has been rewritten, but the book retains the same light touch as the original. McGee has successfully revised the bible of food science—and produced a fascinating, charming text. Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
Gourmet Preserves Chez Madelaine: Elegant Marmalades, Jams, Jellies, and Preserves in Small Quantities ¿ Plus Quick Breads, Tarts, Scones,...by Madelaine Bullwinkel List Price: $14.95 Available from Amazon $9.72 On 7-22-2006 
See Item's Page Book Description The delightfully old-fashioned art of "putting up" needn't mean crates of fruit, interminable water baths, and a sweltering kitchen. The 130 delicious recipes in this book — including Cherry Preserves with Cassis, Apple-Ginger Jam, Cinnamon-Citrus Marmalade with Apricots, Ratatouille Marmalade, and Kir Cocktail Jelly — are made with small quantities of fruit and standard kitchen equipment. Prepared without commercial pectin, the preserves are lower in sugar than most, allowing the full flavor of the fruit to shine through — and some are made with no refined sugar at all. As a tasty bonus, the book gives recipes for quick breads and muffins that are perfect complements for the jams and jellies, as well as for desserts that make delectable use of those homemade preserves. Author and preserves aficionado Madelaine Bullwinkel offers reassuring professional advice, how-to illustrations, and timesaving techniques that make the process surprisingly simple. Expert tips for solving common preserve-making problems, such as jellies that refuse to firm up, as well as a seasonal guide to fruits and veggies are also included. |
Complete Idiot's Guide to Jams, Jellies and Preserves (The Complete Idiot's Guide)by Yvonne Tremblay List Price: $18.95 Available from Amazon $12.89 On 7-22-2006 
See Item's Page The New York Daily News A well-thought-out, nicely organized guide, this book is filled with tips Book Description It's easy to concoct scrumptious spreads with this indispensible cookbook, featuring step-by-step tips and directions-and some unique flavors to make top-quality toppings and fillings. €152 prize-winning recipes for jams, jellies, conserves, marmalades, fruit butters, and chutneys including no-cook varieties, and sugar-free varieties € Teaches how to prepare, set, and save preserves with the latest in canning equipment, techniques € Includes recipes for both traditional single-fruit flavors (Raspberry Currant, Apple Cider) and combinations (Kiwi Mango, Apricot Orange Butter) |
Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jamby Sonia Sanchez, Tony Medina, and Louis Reyes Rivera List Price: $14.00 Available from Amazon $11.48 On 7-22-2006
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly To most readers, the hundreds of tightly rhymed, orally friendly poems here will read as "slam." But in his introduction, Medina, a poet and activist, takes great pains to separate the poems from slam's crowd-pleasing limitations, and uses the term "def jam" to describe the political spoken-word poetry he and Rivera, also a poet-activist, have collected. Medina's and Rivera's emphasis is on the poem and its subject matter, not the poet, which makes for a remarkably democratic anthology. Every poet has about the same page and a half of space. The book's design puts the poets' names in a very small type. None of the big names June Jordan, Reg E. Gaines, Edwin Torres, Wanda Coleman, Patricia Smith and Amiri Baraka are given more attention than the less published. Organized by subjects such as "Blood, I Say, Study our Story, Sing this Song," "Drums Drown Out Our Sorrow" and "Seeds of Resistance," most of the poems use urban imagery, tough talk and declaration. Most are identity-centered, anti-racist and pro-activist. Many focus on current events. There are, for instance, at least four poems about Amadou Diallo, the unarmed Ghanaian immigrant killed by New York policemen as he stood in his doorway. All mention the 41 shots; all include the word "mother." There are poems about Shaka Sankofa (convicted of murder at 17, and executed nearly 20 years later under Texas's then-Governor George W. Bush), and homages to Cuban bandleader Tito Puente. Some readers will wish for more variation of theme and for more layered meanings, but the topicality and directness of the poems make this an ideal textbook for introductory poetry classes, especially for urban high school students, and for anyone interested in poetry as a social art. Copyright 2001 Cahners business Information, Inc. From Booklist There's no doubt that the crowd-rousing competition of poetry slams has injected an often marginalized literary genre with new energy and brought it out of the academy and into people's lives, where it belongs, but much of the impact of spoken-word poetry is rooted in its bravura performance, not its often banal writing. Coeditor Medina acknowledges this flaw and then triumphantly refutes it by presenting a solid volume of smart and exhilarating poetry by poets from diverse backgrounds participating in poetry slams across the country. Poems by such well-known front-liners as Wanda Coleman, Michael Warr, and Patricia Smith are interleaved with poems by emerging poets forging dramatic new forms to express outrage and sorrow over the endless cascade of tragedies born of racism and greed. Here are poems about sex, love, family, poverty, police brutality, Hollywood's perpetuation of stereotypes, and the willful blindness of Washington. Poets of the body, the home, the neighborhood, and the world-at-large, Medina and Rivera's contributors are passionate, witty, wise, socially conscious, and artistically adventurous. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved |
Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and Moreby Linda J. Amendt List Price: $18.95 Available from Amazon $12.32 On 7-22-2006
See Item's Page Product Review If you've been laboring under the illusion that your grandmother just smashed berries into a jar or that pickles grew on exotic pickle trees, prepare to be enlightened with Linda J. Amendt's Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades & More. Canning, as shown in this exhaustive edition, is as much a science as an art, and this book includes every detail to educate the uninformed on what it takes to make great preserves. Her recipes include the standards, such as strawberry jam, and the obscure, such as Garlic and Onion Jam. Amendt also does the public service of explaining the real difference between jams and jellies. Special caution about food safety holds a prominent place in Blue Ribbon Preserves and Amendt teaches us how to chose optimal foods for canning as well as how to safely store preserves to avoid potentially lethal food contamination. Be prepared for a bit of a chemistry lesson, which can be a long and sometimes didactic read, but it's well worth it for the critical food-safety information. So complete is the book that Amendt, herself a recipient of countless state-fair awards for her preserves, includes pointers on how to succeed at such competitions (in a very thorough chapter which includes insights into how judges pick their winners). Blue Ribbon Preserves covers everything that goes into a ball jar and more, and in the process earns not only a tight seal of quality but its own blue ribbon. --Teresa Simanton
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America's All-Time Favorite Canning and Preserving Recipes (Better Homes and Gardens)by Better Homes and Gardens List Price: $12.95 Available from Amazon $10.36 On 7-22-2006
See Item's Page Book Description 58 recipes with broad consumer appeal. “Canning Primer” chapter and special tip boxes throughout.
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