For centuries the storecupboard was the most important feature in every European castle, house or hovel. Its contents were jealously guarded and fiercely protected because they represented survival. In Preserving, Potting and Pickling Elisabeth Luard chooses the best of these larder-store treasures to give recipes for pickles to jams, bottled sauces to potted and dried meats, and directions for drying and storing vegetables, pulses, herbs and funghi. She goes on to present whole meals built around convenience foods such as Portable Soup (the original soup-cube) and the two ketchups - mushroom and tomato - which have provided the secret ingredient for so many of our ancestors delicious dishes. There are recipes for storable treats like French pain d'epices (better a month or two in the cupboard) and sweets such as the lovely honey-and-almond turron of Moorish Spain and the marzipan specialities of southern France. Finally the book offers a section on natural home remedies from soothing syrups to herbal teas. Very much a companion volume to her highly acclaimed European Peasant Cookery this treasure trove is illustrated throughout with the author's own delightful drawings and paintings. Proving once and for all that fast food need not be junk food, Elisabeth Luard will once again enchant her world-wide audience with her enthusiastic celebration of good food and good husbandry. This is a timely and practical tribute to the wisdom of the past.