The Bean Book: Essential Vegetarian Collection

By: Rose Elliot

Although we're not vegetarians we do eat quite a few vegetarian meals and Rose Elliot is an absolutely brilliant writer. The bean book has bean around for many years and we've nearly worn out our copy.

If you thought beans were boring, give this a try and you'll amaze yourself and your friends.

 Fresh Bread in the Morning from Your Bread Machine

By: Annette Yates

We've made bread for years and resisted the urge to use a bread making machine. So when we were given a breadmaker we hadn't a clue. The instruction book that came with it had some recipes but they had enough sugar to ruin your teeth with for starters.

So we bought this book and it is fantastic. Really well worth getting. It's dirt cheap, so you've no excuse! Tells you all you need to know to get good quality, healthy bread from your machine.

 Easy Jams, Chutneys and Preserves

By: Val & John Harrison

OK - we're biased because we wrote it! Like my other books, it is simple and practical. We prefer reality to theory. You can buy it from Amazon but if you'd like a signed copy then you can order direct from us.

There's full details of all that's in the book here - Easy Jams, Chutneys & Preserves

 How to Freeze: Everything You Need to Know About Freezing and Freezer Managment

By: Carolyn Humphries

Growing your own usually results in a glut and you'll probably end up freezing to store it.

This is a practical 'how to' book and worth every penny, hence our 4 star rating

 River Cottage Cookbook

By: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Simon Wheeler (Photographer)

This is not just a cook book, it's a tour through River Cottage, smallholding, self sufficiency and respect for the food you eat.

Normally you flick through a cookbook and then go back for a recipe when you are ready to cook - not so with this. I took it to bed at night and read it till the small hours.

If you don't buy this, get it on your birthday list.

 A Cook's Year

By: Greg Wallace

I've been a fan of Greg Wallace for many years, since he first appeared on Radio 4 talking about vegetables. He approached the subject from the point of view of  a market trader greengrocer rather than a grower, but he knows what's in season, how to get the best and how to cook with them.

Of course, now he's famous and better known for Masterchef on the TV rather than his radio work, but he hasn't lost his touch. He knows what he's talking about.

His new book isn't just a recipe collection but a guide to cooking in season. He explains what is best when, where to buy and how to buy. These are skills that are dying in our pre-packaged supermarket age, where food is flown in from all over the world to give us strawberries at Christmas.

It's not just vegetables either, he explains the basics of meat, what joint is what and how best to cook it for example. I really liked his chart showing what is available when, as well.

The recipes are good. I don't like fancy recipes that need ingredients I haven't heard of let alone got in the cupboard and his recipes are not complicated and fussy. I'd say basic, but that would give the wrong impression. Simple and sophisticated sounds pretentious but that would be accurate.

It's the sort of book I'd give to someone wanting to cook real food without the hype and I'm pleased we've got it on our shelf to dip into.

 Home Smoking and Curing

By: Keith Erlandson

This book was originally published in 1977 and in some ways it shows in the style. However, it's full of good information. You can tell on every page that he knows what he is doing and gives good reasons why to do things as he says.

Anyway, if you're serious about smoking and not looking for inspirational pictures - this book is the one to go for. Worth every penny.

 Grown in Britain Cookbook (Hardcover)

By: Dorling Kindersley (Author), Donna Air (Editor)

This book has two great logos - Dorling Kindersley and the Soil Association and contributions from well known chefs like Sophie Grigson. 

It's a selection of recipes, copiously illustrated with full colour photographs (some of which are relevant) and very much a coffee table book. Having said that, hidden amongst the recipes you'd only expect to find in top London restaurants, there is quite a lot of helpful and interesting basic food information and some really good simple recipes.

On balance, well worth having.

 Smoking Food: A Beginner's Guide

By: Chris Dubbs & Dave Heberle

We've been looking at smoking food for a while now and this has to be the best book on the subject we've seen. It's comprehensive covering nearly every food you can think of to (reasonably) smoke and covers building your own smokers from recycled materials as well - definate bonus.

Only thing I found to downgrade it on is that it is American and some of the products referred to aren't well known on this side of the Atlantic. Buy it!

 How to Store Your Garden Produce: The Key to Self-sufficiency

By: Piers Warren

The subtitle on this book "The key to self-sufficiency" does sum it up. Growing your own is great, but you need to know how to store your produce or by winter you will be trudging around the supermarket buying that which you could have had for free.

The downside to this book in my eyes is that it doesn't cover some things in enough depth for me. That said, it is a book I'm happy to have on my bookshelf.

Rather than concentrating on storage methods, the author takes a crop and offers the applicable storage methods for that crop. So for blackcurrants we get jam, jelly, juice and wine but for leeks we just get freezing as a storage method. Not that there is much else you could do with leeks.

The rhubarb cheese recipe is delicious, by the way!

 The Sausage Book

By: Paul Peacock

Paul Peacock seems to have set himself up in the self-sufficiency genre but I'm afraid this book really isn't that good. I had the feeling it was written in a bit of a rush and would have benefited from good editor.

I had the distinct feeling it was thrown together from various web pages and the format of the recipes only added to that feeling.

However, the only other book I thought looked worthwhile on sausage making was out of stock so this is what I got. I think there is a lot of useful information and help in here but it's hard to extract due to the way it's written and poor production values. Seems to be Hobson's choice.

 Preserved

By: Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall (Foreword), Nick Sandler, Johnny Acton

When I got this book my first thought was 'Oh no - it's a pretty picture, coffee table book'  and it is but it does have some useful information on drying amongst other methods of food storage such as salting, fermenting, curing and freezing.

My main gripe is that it doesn't go into enough detail and has too many recipes, good as they are.

Overall, I was happy I bought it after I read it, with the few reservations above.

 The Complete Allotment Cookbook: Over 200 Great Recipes from Plot to Plate

By: No Author Listed

The title of this book is, I think, misleading. It really doesn't relate to an allotment. For example, Garlic Prawn Tapas. However, it's cheap enough and does have 200 recipes in it.

I'm afraid it's a bit of a bandwagon book aimed to take advantage of the grow your own allotment trend but without much of a soul or relationship to allotments.