The Ball Blue Book is one of the two main books in the accepted American canon of home canning (the other being the USDA Complete Guide.) The Ball Blue Book provides recipes and procedures for water bathed home preserves, as well as basic procedures and some recipes for pressure canning. All of their recipes are lab-tested for safety.
The Ball Complete Book (labelled the Bernardin Complete Book in Canada) is written in Canada and is a compilation of recipes from Ball, Bernardin and Kerr. It has more recipes than the Blue Book but note: not more pressure canning recipes. The pressure canning recipes are essentially the same as those in the Blue Book.
Other Newell publications such as the Bernardin Guide, the Ball Complete, etc, are considered to offer more “gourmet” approaches to home canning. The Ball Complete Book (labelled the Bernardin Complete Book in Canada) is written in Canada and is a compilation of recipes from Ball, Bernardin and Kerr.
Ball Canning: “Hi Randal, the new version is updated with new recipes and additional tips and tricks and can be used in conjunction [with the 2013]” Ball Canning Rep on Facebook to Randal Oulton 9 February 2015. Correspondence on file.” Jarden Corporation Press Release.