Each year I pickle watermelon rind – an old-fashioned preserve that’s good with most meats. You can find the recipe in The Cook’s Companion, and also in a new book from Fowler’s Vacola that celebrates the history of food preserving, ‘What’s Old is new again‘ (for which I also wrote the foreword).

With the newly-emerging interest in sustainable practices I am sure that many young families will find this book an invaluable guide to preserving food. It contains not just the definitive method to be used, but a recipe collection that covers sweet and savoury preserves, jams and pickles, chutneys and relishes.

I should declare that the present-day owners of Fowlers Vacola, Nicole and John Roy have decided to donate 25% of the profits from the sale of this charming and useful book to the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. It is a perfect Christmas gift to any thrifty cook and those with overflowing gardens!