SAVE YOUR GARDEN harvest year-round through pressure canning, preserving and/or freezing your fresh fruits and vegetables. A WSU Extension class, ‘Preserving Vegetables, Beans and Soups’ at 6 p.m., Wed., Oct. 21 at the 78th Street Heritage Farm, 1919 NE 78th St., Vancouver, will teach students the basics of pressure canning and covers how to select and properly use a pressure canner.
Facing a million zucchini in your backyard garden? Not sure what to do with the 70 tomatoes that are sitting on your counter, freshly plucked from the vine? Why not preserve the fall harvest for use during the long, dark days of winter?
The Washington State University Extension offers weekly classes on food preservation throughout the months of September and October. Still remaining on the calendar are classes on dehydrating your fruits and vegetables, pressure canning, preserving beans and soups, and the basics of preserving meat, fish and poultry.
The classes are part of the WSU Extension’s “Preserving the Garden Harvest: 101 Class Series,” which teaches Clark County residents the basics of food preservation. Each class meets at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday, in Vancouver. The cost is $12 per class or $70 for the entire series, which started in mid-September and runs through the end of October. Each student will receive printed materials and can sample examples of preserved foods.
During the September classes, students learned how to can fruits and sauces, make pie fillings, turn fresh fruit into jams and jellies, pickle vegetables and fruits, and can tomato salsa.
Coming up are the following food preservation classes:
Dehydrating Fruits and Vegetables (6 p.m., Wed., Oct. 14 at the 78th Street Heritage Farm, 1919 NE 78th St., Vancouver) — Learn how to dehydrate produce safely and successfully. The class covers the various types of equipment used for dehydrating and offers tips for pre-treating the food, storing your dehydrated produce and tips on finding proper containers. To purchase tickets to this class, visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1978648.
Preserving Vegetables, Beans and Soups (6 p.m., Wed., Oct. 21 at the 78th Street Heritage Farm, 1919 NE 78th St., Vancouver) — This class helps students figure out the basics of pressure canning and covers how to select and properly use a pressure canner. This course also covers safe procedures for preserving and freezing vegetables, beans, soups and broth. To purchase tickets to this class, visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1978649.
Preserving Meat, Fish, Poultry and Making Jerky (6 p.m., Wed., Oct. 28 at WSU Clark County Extension, 1919 NE 78th St., Vancouver) — Have you ever wanted to preserve your fish, meat and poultry through the winter and spring? This class will teach you how to pressure can, dry and freeze your meat, fish and poultry. Students will also learn the basics of making jerky. To purchase tickets to this class, visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1978650.
The WSU Extension also offers a variety of resources for people who can’t make it to the classes, but still want to learn about food preservation. The Extension’s “Food Preservation FAQ” answers everything from, “What causes pickling liquid to look cloudy” to “Can a water bath canner be used on a ceramic cook top?” The answers to those questions, by way, are: anti-caking ingredients in table salt (so use pure granulated salt when pickling, instead), and yes, you can use a water bath canner on a ceramic cook top, but the canner bottom must be flat and must be in contact with the cook top and extend no more than two inches beyond the cooktop surface. So there you go. For more questions and answers about food preservation, visit http://ext100.wsu.edu/clark/healthwellness/foodpreservation/foodsafetyfaqs/.
To ask a pressing food preservation question – like when you’re up to your elbows in jelly and don’t know what to do – call the WSU Extension’s Food Preservation & Safety Hotline at (360) 397-6060, ext. 5360. Master food preservers are standing by to answer your questions Monday through Friday, during regular business hours.
Interested in becoming a master food preserver and help your community? The WSU Extension’s Master Food Preservers class is coming up this April. The program volunteers on the intricacies of food preservation and then trains them to work year-round with community members. Master Food Preservers run the food safety hotline, staff displays at community events, test pressure canning gauges, teach and assist in community classes and more.
The next training for WSU Extension’s Master Food Preservers will be held from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each Friday, April 8 through May 20, 2016. For more information, visit http://ext100.wsu.edu/clark/healthwellness/foodpreservation/masterfoodpreserverprogram/.
