Saving the Season

One of The Atlantic’s Best Food Books of the Year • A Los Angeles Times Holiday Gift-Giving Pick

“Contains both simple formulas and more sophisticated recipes like cocktail onions and peach-passionfruit jam. . . . Practical.”—The New York Times

“West approaches his topic—home canning and preserving—with a reporter’s attention to detail and a poet’s sensibility; it’s less a canning tutorial and cookbook than it is a collection of absorbing personal essays, literary excerpts, explications of culinary history, and friendly advice, all of which happens to be punctuated by appealing, easy-to-follow recipes.”—Saveur

“Unlike other books on preserving, West gives recipes that will goad you to make easy preserves.”—The Atlantic

“As pleasurable (and useful) for the somewhat experienced canner as it is for the novice. . . . West’s instructions are clear and precise. . . . He’s got a good cook’s curiosity, always wondering why things work the way they do and constantly on the lookout for new ideas.’”—Los Angeles Times

“I’ve never had the subject [of pickling] so thoroughly explored as in Kevin West’s Saving the Season, his deep dive into the world of pickling, preserving, and home canning. . . . The breadth and depth of his knowledge about preserving is impressive, and I began to feel like I was understanding some concepts for the first time.”—Amanda Cohen, chef/owner of Dirt Candy

“ If you buy only one preserving cookbook this year, or perhaps even in your lifetime, promise me you’ll make it this one.”—The Kitchn

“Traditional and quirky alike, Saving the Season is an endearing, romantic, and most of all practical resource for everyone . . . I, for one, am inspired and obsessed!”—Christina Tosi, author of Momofuku Milk Bar

“Kevin West possesses a poet’s mastery of language, and uses it to create vignettes that capture the essence of a fruit or vegetable’s brief peak season as effectively as his recipes do. . . . [His methods work] time and time again, with little hoopla and ideal economy. . . . Little harmonies loft this book from eccentric to essential, and from my kitchen to my nightstand.”—Kat Kinsman, Eatocracy

“[West’s] bio alone made me want Saving the Season, but now that I’ve got it I’m buying a copy for everyone I know.”—Edible Manhattan

“Part cookbook, part manifesto, and part crypto-memoir . . . literate and lyrical and fanatically well researched. . . . The kind of cookbook you can read for pleasure.”—John Jeremiah Sullivan, Lucky Peach

“Kevin West’s enthusiasm is infectious and his recipes seductive. Whether you are at work in the kitchen or savoring it in your armchair, great pleasures await within in the pages of Saving the Season.”—Scott Peacock, co-author of The Gift of Southern Cooking

“Because ‘nature’s bounty is abundant but fleeting,’ West shows home cooks how to save the season through the tradition of canning.”—Publishers Weekly

“A lot of information is packed into [Saving the Season], covering the basics of preserving along with easy to advanced recipes. The combination of recipes and musings makes this a great read both in and out of the kitchen.”—Library Journal

“With the present obsession among consumers for locally grown fruits and vegetables, the practice of putting up foods has undergone a renaissance. As West points out, the real goal of home canning, pickling, and preserving is to retain for future enjoyment the special flavors of foods freshly plucked from the earth or snatched from trees and vines. . . . West’s guide will prove invaluable.”—Booklist