Emily Paster is the voice behind the blog, West of the Loop, and co-founder of the Chicago Food Swap, one of the most active and dynamic food swap groups in the country. Her first book Food Swap shared her advice for starting up swaps, recipes that work well in the swap environment and happens to share the best salted caramel sauce recipe ever (I have made it several times). In The Joys of Jewish Preserving: Modern Recipes with Traditional Roots, for Jams, Pickles, Fruit Butters, and More-for Holidays and Every Day, Emily is back with 75 recipes that range from fruit jams and preserves, to pickles and other savory preserves, and recipes to use the preserves you make in other dishes (love that!) Chocolate Babka with Jam, Dulce De Manzana (apple paste) and Lemon Walnut Eingemacht are a few examples of the types of recipes you will find in this book and of course you can browse the entire index here. Be prepared to pull out the canning jars once you look these recipes over. Emily has a number of events promoting this book. Thanks to Harvard Common Press for sharing Emily's Apple, Honey, and Rose Jam with our members today as well as offering three copies of this book to our members in the US and Canada (see giveaway below). Apple, Honey, and Rose Water Jam Add this recipe to your Bookshelf  (click the blue +Bookshelf button). This is a special preserve that combines traditional foods and flavors for Rosh Hashanah in both Ashkenazi and Sephardic cuisine. Apples, of course, are a fall crop and thus plentiful at Rosh Hashanah. Beginning Rosh Hashanah dinner by dipping apples into honey, to symbolize the hope for a sweet new year, is nearly universal among Eastern European Jews. The Sephardim often end their new year's celebrations with sweet jams and preserves made from quince, figs, dates, and apples. Rose water, which is made by distilling fresh rose petals in water, is featured in many Sephardic desserts and pastries. It can be purchased at Middle Eastern grocers and specialty food stores. Rose water has a very strong flavor and should be used sparingly or it can overwhelm your palate. Here it adds a haunting floral note to this unusual, pale yellow jam. Makes four 8-ounce (235-ml) jars
  • 3 lb (1.4 kg) apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-in (1-cm) dice (6 to 7 cups prepped)
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice
  • 1½ cups (300 g) sugar
  • 1 cup (340 g) honey
  • 1 teaspoon rose water
Prepare a boiling water bath and heat four 8-ounce (235-ml) jars. Place the apples, ½ cup (120 ml) of water, and lemon juice in a wide, deep saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir, and cover the pot. Lower the heat to medium, and cook until the apples are soft, about 10 minutes, stirring once or twice to prevent sticking or burning. Mash the apples coarsely with a fork or potato masher. Add the sugar and honey to the pot, stirring to dissolve. Return to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is thick and mounds up on a spoon, about 10 to 15 minutes. It will splatter, so use caution. Remove the jam from the heat and stir in the rose water. Ladle jam into clean, warm jars, leaving ¼ inch (.6 cm) of headspace at the top. Bubble the jars and wipe the rims with a damp cloth. Place the lids on the jars and screw on the rings just until you feel resistance. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Allow to cool in the water for 5 minutes before removing. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.

The publisher is offering three copies of this title to our EYB Members in the US. and Canada. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you like to try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won't be counted. Please be sure to check your spam filters to make sure you receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on September 21, 2017.

Excerpted from The Joys of Jewish Preserving by Emily Paster, © 2017 Quarto Publishing Group. Used by permission from the publisher, Harvard Common Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group. QuartoKnows.com. All photographs by: Leigh Olson.