Preserving the Harvest

(Photo by Elina Mark as part of the Estonian Science Photo Competition courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

So — you’ve grown your own produce or been given some by friends or relatives and you’ve cooked all you can eat — now what? Why freezing or canning, of course. That way you can save some of the summer goodness for your fall and winter meals. You might even be able to stretch your supply of home grown produce until the spring.

I remember helping my mother and father can and freeze — cleaning green beens, shucking corn, anything that didn’t require a knife. However, for some food preservation is a lost art. That’s why we hosted a food preservation workshop given by the Ohio State University Extension Service on Saturday, July 24th. Marisa Warrix, who lives in South Euclid, was the presenter and the program was very well attended. In case you missed it, she will be coming back to the area to do a couple of workshops at the Whole Foods Market in University Heights on Cedar. On Tuesday, August 10th she will present a workshop on ‘Canning Garden Produce’ from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm. She will present a workshop on ‘Freezing Garden Produce’ on Tuesday, September 14th from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm followed by another hour long workshop two weeks later on Tuesday, September 28th — also from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm.  You may make reservations by calling Whole Foods at 216-932-3916.

If you can’t make any of the workshops, or want to get a head start and can’t wait, you may go to the Ohio State University Extension web page and scroll half way down the page to the ‘Food Preservation’ section. There you will find power point presentations and the documents that Ms. Warrix uses in her workshops. There are also links to helpful fact sheets. I would also suggest taking a look at their blog, ‘Eat, Save, and Be  Healthy,’ They have a lot of dietary, child care, nutritional, and other good-to-know things having to do with improving one’s quality of life.

Of course, we have books here at the library that will help you with preserving food. Some of the newer ones are:

• Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving With Ashley English : All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More by Ashley English

• Canning and Preserving Your Own Harvest: An Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide by Carla Emery and Lorene Edwards Forkner

• Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing, and Preserving Fresh Food by Jean Ann Van Krevelen

• Joy of Pickling: 250 Flavor-Packed Recipes for Vegetables and More from Garden or Market by Linda Ziedrich

In addition to saving money and insuring the wholesomeness of your food, canning and freezing can be a bonding family experience. You could start a whole new tradition!