The country's leading expert on organic food delivers the ultimate guide to the new culinary health movement--feasting on fermented probiotics, from artisanal cheese to kimchi. In his extensive career as a bestselling cookbook author and TV garden-show host, Jeff Cox has always been keenly aware of the microbiology that helps his garden flourish. He has long known that microbes keep our bodies healthy as they ferment food, releasing their nutritional power and creating essential vitamins and enzymes. In "The Essential Book of Fermentation," Cox shares a bounty of recipes for nourishing the internal "garden." Simplifying the art and science of fermentation, Cox offers a primer on the body's microbial ecosystem, complemented by scrumptious recipes, and easy-to-follow pickling and canning techniques. Basics such as bread and yogurt help readers progress to wine, cheese, and a host of international delicacies, including kim chi and chow chow. Inspiring and innovative, "The Essential Book of Fermentation" serves up great taste along with great health on every page.

We may not give much thought to the boxes in our freezers or the cans on our shelves, but behind the story of food preservation is the history of civilization itself. The development of portable, preserved food enabled the great explorers to travel into the unknown and gradually map the planet, facilitated the conquest of new territories, and created routes for the expansion of trade and the exchange of knowledge and culture that opened up our world. In "Pickled, Potted, and Canned, " author Sue Shephard weaves together the stories of the inventors -- and inventions -- in a lively and richly detailed narrative that spans centuries and continents. It is a tale filled with extraordinary characters, old legends, and new revelations: how Attila the Hun and his men "gallop cured" their meat; how cooks became chemists and chemists became cooks and how some even lost their lives, like seventeenth-century statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon, whose death was caused by an experiment with a frozen chicken.

From the primitive techniques of drying and salting to the latest methods that have allowed us to feed men in space, "Pickled, Potted, and Canned" gives us fascinating insights into the histories, cultures, and ingenuity of people inventing new ways to "cheat the seasons."

"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.

. . . a book that will appeal to everyone who has ever choked down the pre-packaged, bargain-basement camp food (or gone bankrupt buying the good stuff).
--Canoe & Kayak

. . . if youre on the lookout for a way to bring real meals to the field, [this book] might have the answer.
--Field & Stream

Life in the outdoors revolves around food--cooking it, eating it, packing it, carrying it. We even fantasize about it, especially after a week of eating store-bought provisions. This book is all about fulfulling those food fantasies and avoiding those expensive disappointments. Trail Food tells you how to remove water from food, to make it lighter and longer-lasting, without removing its taste. Learn to plan menus and prepare meals just like the ones you left behind, using fresh foods from your garden or market, prepared and seasoned the way you like them.

Why fantasize when you can have the real thing?