Last week for Kids Cuisine I wrote an article about a brand of cereal that we’ve been trying and really enjoying. This morning the kids cracked open another box of a variety we haven’t tried and inhaled it! So I thought I better tell my readers here that Mom’s Best Naturals cereals is a fantastic line of cereal, and if you haven’t tried them, you’re really missing out. I found this cereal at Woodman’s Market for anyone reading locally- I’m not sure if someone else 
around here carries it. The cereal was next to the generic brands… and like generic brands, all the boxes are similar in appearance. But don’t let those plain boxes fool you. These cereals are fantastic.
First of all, they’re inexpensive. Very inexpensive. I bought three boxes last week and each one only cost $2.19. Even on sale, the regular cereal brands can’t beat that price! Secondly, you get a full box of cereal. Other generic brands of cereal boast inexpensive prices, but when you look at the box, they actually contain very little cereal. And thirdly, and most importantly, when it comes to cereal, these taste fantastic. The cereals are similar to major brands- they have Honey Grahams which are like Golden Grahams, Frosted Wheatfuls which are like Frosted Mini Wheats, and Toasted Cinnamon Squares which are like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, among 19 other varieties. Only, here’s the best part. Where generic brands of cereal usually pare in comparison to the national brands, Mom’s Best Naturals are even better, if you can believe it. They taste like great cereals, full of whole grains, and without artificial preservatives and sweeteners. They really are fantastic, and totally worth buying. Their website also talks about their products and their company- which looks like a company to model after. They also have a coupon offer- as if you need a coupon to buy $2.00 boxes of cereal. But check them out, they’re totally worth it.
And secondly today, I want to talk about this new canning book that came to my attention. Well, I don’t think it’s new, but it’s new to me. Anyone who’s spent any time here at Tummy Treasure knows that I’m all over the canning and preserving of the harvest. First of all, I love putting food away for winter, Andy works in construction which is usually seasonal, so anything I put away means less we have to spend on groceries when he is laid off. But secondly, I love the results of canning. I love walking down to the basement for a jar of jam instead of having to buy it. I love cracking open a jar of pickles anytime I feel like it. I love gazing at a selection of fruit butters, honeys and jams, and debating to myself which would be better on my English Muffin. And nothing beats homemade salsa on a freshly dipped chip. Some day I should really figure out how much money we save per year on salsa and jam alone, because we go through a lot of both.
But back to the book. I’m very particular about books that I will use for canning and preserving. One of the hazards of home canning is that there is always room for error. I’ve had years where jar after jar of strawberry jam had to be dumped because it molded. Had I had this book in my possession when I first started canning, I might have known better and not had so many problems. Canning and Preserving For Dummies really is a great book to learn how to can from. I got it recently, and have spent a few days reading it cover to cover, and by golly, if I don’t feel more confident about my home canning- and I already was confident about my ability to home can! By the time I’d finished reading the sections on Pressure Canning, I was ready to go buy a pressure canner and try it out! It really put me at ease with a process which previously terrified me.
I found the wisdom and the instruction in the sections on pickles and jam to be spot on. The author really did a knock-out job with delivering instruction in an easy-to-understand manner. The equipment and ingredients gets a thorough going-over, but then she does tell you what you can live without. I love that. The recipes themselves in the book look very sound and correct, with correct attention to acidity for pickling. While the main bulk of the book is devoted to home canning, there are also sections on freezing and drying. I do freeze a lot as well, but have never really thought about drying, except for herbs. This book has me curious, and gives recommended drying times for fruits and vegetables.
I only had one beef with the book, and that is the alarmist attitude towards spoiled, home canned food. The suggested methods of disposal are extreme at best, she talks about boiling the jar, the food inside, and then burying it deep somewhere along with any dishtowels that have come in contact with the contaminated food, followed by a thorough bleaching and sanitization of the cooking space and cooking pots. It’s a bit extreme, and if you already keep a clean home, seems way overboard and unnecessary.
However, that aside, the rest of the book is solid and a fantastic tutorial on home canning. It does contain information contained in other canning books- the Ball Blue Book comes to mind, but it just seemed more…accessible to me. The information within wasn’t dumbed down at all, but it was presented in a way that I think even my eight-year old daughter could understand. If you’ve been looking for a great introduction to home canning, this is your book. It has gained shelf status in my cookbook collection, which says a lot. I’m out of room and any new books that come into my collection need to be carefully considered before they get a spot. Canning and Preserving for Dummies will put any beginning canner at ease, and I recommend it completely.