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Summer Preservation Review

lots of canningWhat a summer of preserving this was! Now that’s it’s officially fall, I thought I’d review the preservation methods I used this summer (and late spring). It was so fun to learn new ones, and refine my skills with the ones I’ve used over the years. And now I have a pantry (and freezer) full of delicious summer food to be used in winter.

There’s something very satisfying to have a pantry full of food you preserved yourself. It’s gathered when in season, so the flavor profile is going to be the best it can be. Having the taste of summer tomatoes, corn, and peppers will no doubt give us a boost when it’s dark and cold outside.

So, here is what I accomplished this year, and what you can accomplish next summer, too.

Continue reading “Summer Preservation Review”

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Upcoming Talk About Food Preservation

I love to teach, am fascinated by different food preservation techniques, so I’m really happy to be giving at talk this weekend for the Kensington/Windsor Terrace CSA about food preservation!  This is a closed event, but I’m thrilled to let it out and off to the universe, as I’d love to lead more educational opportunities in my lifetime.

As a fellow CSA member, I know how overwhelming shares can be at times, and depending on how busy you are in any particular week, it’s easy to let the food go and eventually dissolve into a puddle of goo (believe me, I’ve seen enough of it over the years in the bottom of my crisper drawer).  As time has gone by, I’ve found various ways of preserving my food, and each technique has its own benefits.  I’m particularly enamored with the preservation method that actually boosts the nutrition in the food – lacto-fermentation.

I’ll be talking about the most accessible ways to preserve food: freezing, pickling, lacto-fermentation, dehydrating, water bath canning… and one special preservation process that I think its pretty cool and that I only learned about a year or so ago.  I’ll reveal that next week.

Anyway, yes – really excited to be doing this talk!  Special thanks for my friend Serita for helping set this up and to Charlene for overall encouragement.