Title:	It Starts with Fruit: Simple Techniques and Delicious Recipes for Jams, Marmalades, and Preserves
	Author:	Jordan Champagne
	Published:	May 12, 2020, Chronicle Books
	No. of Pages:	288
	Cover Price:	$29.95 Hardcover, $12.99 Kindle

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Anyone who loves fruit, and making jam will welcome Jordan Champagne’s It Starts with Fruit: Simple Techniques and Delicious Recipes for Jams, Marmalades, and Preserves. This excellent cookbook has all the basics for making your own jam, marmalades, and preserves, as well as recipes for using those homemade concoctions in treats such as thumbprint cookies, fruit cobbler, Jam Bars, and pies. There are even some gluten-free options for those on the gluten-free bandwagon. Also included are fruit juices, fruit syrups, and fruit shrubs. There are also recipes for preserving whole fruits and pie fillings. If you’ve tried to purchase middle eastern preserved lemons, and found how expensive they are, you will want to make your own from this cookbook. She has also included some excellent marmalade recipes; good marmalade is hard to find in the US, so her mouthwatering marmalade flavors were the first things I made from this book. Yum!

The explanations are concise and easy-to understand. She has included step-by-step photographs of everything novice jam makers need to know, such as how the mixture should look when doing the gel test. She has followed the same formula throughout the cookbook in choosing fruit and going through the process of making luscious foods, and anyone who follows her instructions will be pleased with perfect results. It’s nice to just follow the directions of someone who has already made the mistakes and has become a real expert. It’s fun to learn. The final products are also fun to eat.

Reading this cookbook makes one want to go immediately to the farmer’s market and pick up lots of fruit to spend a day doing nothing but creating treats that everyone will love.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.