British gardener and writer Alys Fowler's Abundance: How to store and preserve your garden produce (Kyle Books) tackles this problem with lots of information and advice about different ways of preserving vegetables and fruit, along with recipes.
But rather than being a simple recipe book, it gives some history of preserving - hunters and gatherers used to dry foods, and salting and fermenting go back millennia and are often characteristic of a particular cuisine, like kimchi in Korea or sauerkraut in Germany. There's also advice on underground storage and more modern methods, like bottling, jams and freezing.
As all good gardeners do, she starts with the soil and compost and advice on what varieties of vegetables and fruit are the best keepers and how to harvest them. She explains how fruit and veges decay and how the various preserving methods slow the process.
We learn how the different processes work and how to do them: in-ground cold storage; drying fruit and vegetables; brining; pickling; fermenting; chutney and jam-making; bottling and freezing. There are recipes and tips - and warnings about the dangers of preserving going wrong and how to tell if it has.
She gives useful ideas like freezing pestos in ice cube containers so you have handy small amounts, how to make juice concentrates, jams and pastes and various Asian fermented vegetables such as gundruk (Nepalese fermented greens), tsukemono (Japanese fermented pickles) and tabasco (a fermented chilli sauce).
I'm looking forward to next summer when I'll make roasted plum, cardamom and vanilla jam, but meanwhile I'm going to try some marinated dried vegetable chips.
She says she and her chefs want to show how to create delicious food that's healthy but doesn't compromise on taste.
She certainly does that in the salad section, with a variety of enticing dishes - red quinoa salad with beetroot, red cabbage, cavolo nero and broad beans, or autumn harvest with brown rice, kumara, pumpkin and oranges, but there are more indulgent sections such as the pies and cheesecakes, pastries and cakes.
This collection of recipes gives a lively portrait of the food this cafe serves, including condiments such as dressings, sauces, pickles, chutneys, marinades and rubs.
But browsing through it I learnt all sorts of things, from how to remove stains, dust without spreading the dust around, or toilet-train a dog, cat or rabbit, how to darn or embroider, redecorate the house, wean a baby and manage your finances.
It's full of practical advice, shortcuts, a handful of recipes everyone should have up their sleeve, and even tips about gardening.
A useful reference for those going flatting, setting up house or reorganising their house and life.
