Books, Books and More Books

I am in a very fortunate position in that I have lots of books and I mean lots of them and all of them get used prolifically. These days I do not necessarily buy them brand new but often well loved at a lot cheaper price and the money I save goes towards other things that I am interested in.

I have just been on Sarah Tudor's blog at http://frugalinlincolnshire.blogspot.co.uk/ where she has not long posted a mixed post about seeds and cooking and a book she had obtained from the Library by Barbara Beckett entitled The Harvest Pantry ISBN 1 86373 5070.  It was a lovely surprise to find that someone else had found it too.  I have had this lovely book in my library for quite sometime now.  When I was looking to buy this second hand prices ranged from between £30 and £60 - everyone was after it as it was out of print.  However with a little patience I managed to source mine for about £12.

It has sections on :

The Harvest Pantry

Condiments.

Preserves of Fruit and Vegetables

Pasta Rice and Pulses

Charcuterie, Fish, Cheese and Savoury Flans

Sweet things

However what many people do not know is that Barbara Beckett wrote an earlier book entitled "Creating Gourmet Gifts" ISBN: 1 86373 246 2.  In fact I obtained this book first from a Cheapie book shop (now no longer in town) about 20 years ago.  It has some lovely recipes with unusual ingredients as well as recipes for more traditional fare.  It is one of my favourite books.

So if you get chance to locate these books they really do complement each other.  It is more traditional based Pantry fare with a twist here and there. Like Passionfruit Gin.There are not any recipes for bottling/canning per se but there is a very useful sauces section, drying section, baking section, herbs, spices, and pastry section, Cherries in Eau de Vie, Cumquats in Brandy, Prunes in Red Wine, Peaches in Vodka, Summer Berries in Rum, Apple juice for long keeping, home made tomato juice, home made Crème de Cassis, Lemon Liqueur and a whole host of other lovelies too.  It is well worth looking these two books out.

Right must get a wriggle on.  Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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