FSC Book Club discussion

Welcome to our fourth round of the FSC Book Club! We are reading and cooking our way through Put 'em Up! Fruit: Creative Recipes for Making and Using Fresh Fruit Preserves, Chutneys, Infusions, and Pickles by Sherri Brooks Vinton.

Sherri has already divided the book up beautifully by fruit. For FSC Book Club, we attempted to line up fruits with their growing season, at least for the growing season here at FSC headquarters in upstate/Eastern NY. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. Most of us in the northeast probably aren’t growing our own grapefruit, for example, so we are just tackling those recipes when we can. If you are completely overrun with, say, peaches and we tell you to make something with blueberries… ignore us! Let the FSC Book Club be a fun way for you to push yourself to try new recipes, explore different fruits and sharpen your food preservation skills. Don’t let us box you in– if you are on a tomato kick all through August don’t wait for us to catch up in September- just start canning & share it with us anyway!

Our (Tentative) Reading Schedule

{MEETING 1} Monday, June 24
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Cherries

Take this time to read over the intro chapters and study up on your food preservation basics :)

{MEETING 2} Monday, July 8
Blackberries & Raspberries
Oranges

{MEETING 3} Monday, July 22
Peaches
Plums

{MEETING 4} Monday, August 5
Blueberries
Apricots
Lemon

{MEETING 5} Monday, August 19
Grapes
Grapefruit
Quince

{MEETING 6} Monday, September 2
Apples
Pears
Tomatoes


We are glad you're here! Say hello & introduce yourself to the group! Your name, where you're from, what your favorite grain to cook is, etc. Bonus: Follow @FSCBookClub on Twitter and "Like" From Scratch Club on Facebook too! Be sure to use the hashtag #FSCBookClub so we can find all of your check-ins.

Read more about how we are organizing this round of the book club over at our introductory post on From Scratch Club.

Yeah! I was MIA during much of the last book-- too much going on but I'm ready for this one! I went strawberry picking today and will make jam tomorrow!

Thanks for forcing my hand at trying canning :) I have been meaning to start in on it, but just haven't. Busy with work and personal travel the next two months, but hope I can keep up!

Looking forward to this as always!

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up this time!

I am still waiting for my book to arrive but over the weekend I did make Classic Strawberry Jam from her first book, Put'em Up Home Preserving Guide. I used this recipe last year too and love it because I can cut up the strawberries and let them macerate overnight or for a couple of days even works too.

I am a little confused on the this paragraph above..."On any given “assignment”, you can pick just one recipe to make or a few. For example, during Meeting 3 you could make an oat recipe, a farro recipe or both! Or neither- remember, this is a laid back book club. There are vegetarian, vegan & gluten-free dishes throughout the book, but please feel free to modify other recipes to accommodate your own diet. Nothing interests you out of the millet chapter? Don’t make it! Or try substituting another grain! Are you gluten free? Skip those sections and pick a different grain to focus on." Are there oats and grains in her new Put'm book? Thanks for choosing Sherri's book and glad to be back.

Susan wrote: "I am still waiting for my book to arrive but over the weekend I did make Classic Strawberry Jam from her first book, Put'em Up Home Preserving Guide. I used this recipe last year too and love it b..."

I think it's an "oops" and it was carried over from the last book club we did.

Anyone get the kindle version of the book?

Tonya, I bought the kindle version

How is it?

I like it. but I'm used to kindle cookbooks. I read them on my tablet which I can mount on the inside of one of my cabinets.

Tonya wrote: "Anyone get the kindle version of the book?"

I am using in on my Kindle. Love it.

Hiya everyone -- so looking forward to this one!

Anyone know of organic pick your own berries in the Saratoga/Clifton Park/Schenectady area? We've been enjoying our own berries and I've made pies, fool and shortcakes already and have a few quarts frozen for future use but our plants only have a few berries left.

Got the book and looking forward to all the chapters

Susan wrote: "I am still waiting for my book to arrive but over the weekend I did make Classic Strawberry Jam from her first book, Put'em Up Home Preserving Guide. I used this recipe last year too and love it b..."

Yikes, that was just a copying error on my part. Thanks for the catch!

My husband and I have a huge garden and are always looking for new ways to preserve abundant crops.

My book arrived yesterday. I can't wait to get started.

Hi I'm Tamara- excited for this book to start, as I have a bunch of sour cherries waiting to be used in the fridge!

Hi Everyone,
I'm Jackie :)

I seriously lagged towards the end of last book, but you got me with maraschino cherries.

Got my book yesterday (after I already made my strawberry jam)and have it seriously marked up already. Linzer Tart cookies?? Thumbprint cookies? Gastrique?

Classic cherry jam, rhubarb fool, fruit leather chocolate sandwiches? Cannot wait to give those short ribs a try too. Good tidbits in the sidebars too :)

I've been experimenting with strawberry jam over the years and this is the first time I've read the smooth vs chunky variables. Thanks for that, I am a chunky fan so this sparked some new ideas. Hopefully I can get my hands on more berries to give smooth a try.

Hi. I'm The Enabling Cook, also known as Ida. Thanks, Pirate Jeni for info about this group.

Ida wrote: "Hi. I'm The Enabling Cook, also known as Ida. Thanks, Pirate Jeni for info about this group."

Hi Ida! So glad you joined up!!!

Hello, friends!

This is an introduction and an apology. (Go with it.)

I'm Meg and I have absolutely loved cooking along with the FSC Cook Book Club. It's made me a better baker, cook, and food blogger. :)

Unfortunately, with a two week vacation, a new in-person cook book club, and a new job on the horizon, I'm going to take a step back from cooking with ya'll this time around. But I do hope to peek in and see how it's going from time to time.

Enjoy!

you will be missed but sounds like there will still be a lot to enjoy on your blog. Can't wait to hear about the in person cook book club!

Meg wrote: "Hello, friends!

This is an introduction and an apology. (Go with it.)

I'm Meg and I have absolutely loved cooking along with the FSC Cook Book Club. It's made me a better baker, cook, and food bl..."

Oh! we will miss you! Hope you pop in once in a while and say howdy... good luck with the new job!

Casey wrote: "you will be missed but sounds like there will still be a lot to enjoy on your blog. Can't wait to hear about the in person cook book club!"

Thanks, Casey! :) I'm sure I'll be blogging about the cookbook club - just as soon as we get it started!

Pirate Jeni wrote: Oh! we will miss you!

Thanks, Jeni! I'll miss the regular check-ins of this great community of foodies. But I will try to pop in and continue to glean your wisdom!

Hello, I am new to your group and excited to try new recipes and expand my knowledge of cooking.

Kerrie! so glad you decided to join us!

Hello! I'm Kimberly and I'm in Oregon. I'm coming back to cooking real, from scratch food after... well we just won't talk about how awful my diet was. This is the sort of cooking my grandmother shared with me and now I'm relearning how on my own. Happily there is a great variety of farms and farm markets in the area so I have some amazing fresh ingredients to work with, now if I can just get my husband to eat them, ha! I have my copy on its way, can't wait