I can't quite believe I'm writing this, but I've shaken my head a few times and it turns out it's really real. I'm writing a cookbook. The Canning Kitchen, a collection of 101 simple small batch recipes will be published by Penguin Group in time for canning season in 2015.
The opportunity to write this book came my way several weeks ago, and I've been working away in my kitchen since then to produce the yummiest jams, jellies, chutneys, relishes, pickles and other canned preserves while narrowing down a vision for the book. Every simple recipe will have an inspiring full-page image. And not only do I get to come up with all the recipes, I'm photographing the book too.
I feel like the luckiest food blogger alive because I'm working with Publishing Director, Andrea Magyar, who has crafted some beautiful books with the endlessly likable TV chefs Michael Smith and Lynn Crawford. As a first-time author, I trust I'm in good hands.
I'm not going to pretend I know just what I'm doing or that it's going to be easy. I know there is a lot of work ahead of me. A lot of jars (more than 600 by the time I'm done), a lot of tests and retests, a lot of photo shoots and sticky hands and messy pots and peeling and chopping and chutney on the kitchen floor. It's both exciting and terrifying, but I'm taking all of it one recipe at a time. At the end I'll get to hold a beautiful canning book, MY book, in my hands and share it with all of you.
In addition to my usual recipe writing here on Family Feedbag in the coming months, I'll be blogging a little here and there about my progress with the book and hinting at the loveliness in jars you'll find when it's published. I hope you'll read along...