Complete Canning Guide

Better Homes and Gardens

 

Editorial Concepting & Writing

The recent resurgence of interest in canning and DIY food preservation spurred Better Homes and Gardens to publish a comprehensive canning guide. This project is a good example of a book that requires special skills and a knowledge base within the food category to produce technically accurate material that leads to safe food preservation. One of Waterbury’s food editors—an experienced canner—concepted and outlined the book. We also created a Canning Basics section at the front of the book, as well as Basics sections at the beginning of each chapter. Waterbury did all technical writing as well the introduction, tips, and recipe head notes.

Design & Photography

What better way to present handmade canned goods than in a hand-drawn graphic theme? Chapter dividers were designed on a chalkboard and real fruits and vegetables were placed on the surface and shot with the graphics. The concept was to emphasize the freshness of what is being preserved by placing them on a hand-drawn jar. This extensive guide to canning was designed to be easy to follow by containing each topic to a single page or spread.

Recipe Development

Better Homes and Gardens has a vast resource of recipes and had already published several canning books and bookazines. The direction on this project was to pick up about 270 recipes and photos and develop 60 new recipes in categories in which existing content was scarce. Waterbury worked with a team of developers that included the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen to concept and write the new recipes. The recipes were tested in the Test Kitchen. Waterbury editors attended all taste panels and worked with the testers to perfect the recipes.

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