Put a lid on autumn with this delicious weekend at Tower Hill Botanic Garden focusing on the world of canned, jarred, jammed, pickled, preserved, fermented, and brewed produce. Find out how to make your harvest last all winter with tried and true techniques and fresh ideas. Bring your garden’s bounty to the Let’s Get Growing competition with prizes for all ages–professionals, hobbyists, and amateurs alike. For complete details visit www.towerhillbg.org.
The Big E, Eastern States Exposition, returns to Springfield September 15 – October 1. There are too many events, performances, and competitions to list here, but visit www.thebige.com to buy tickets and read up on this year’s lineup. They have Storrowton Village, a 19th century recreation village, located right within the Fairgrounds. And as for The Big Eats Awards, you can see if the 2017 offerings are as innovative as 2016’s winners, fried butter balls from Marion’s Fried Dough, or cowboy nachos from the Ultimate BBQ. And don’t miss learning about the benefits of dairy products at the Singing Refrigerator, located inside the Mallary Complex, where the butter sculpture is displayed. There are competitions too, such as the Massachusetts Maple Syrup Cooking Contest and Canning Competitions in jellies, jams, preserves, fruits, vegetables, pickles, relishes, and, new this year, honey and syrups. Image of past butter sculpture from www.npr.org.
As the farmer’s markets are overflowing with a bounty of fresh produce, it’s time to learn how to preserve them for the year ahead! Come to the Boston Center for Adult Education on Thursday, August 17 at 6 pm and get hands-on with Kimi Ceridon learning to make shelf-stable jams, jellies and relishes using the high-acid, hot water bath canning method. You’ll learn safety tips, equipment selection and more. Final recipes may vary. Kimi specializes in fermentation, food preservation, do-it-yourself homesteading and gardening, home brewing, cheese making, local food preparation and other culinary specialties.
– Sweet and Spicy Onion Marmalade
– Tomato Jam
– Ginger Carrot Pickle
BCAE member price $51, nonmembers $59. Register at https://bcae.org/product/can-it-preserving-summers-harvest-8225570188
Wright-Locke Farm’s non profit education programs for teens and adults are a great way to learn practical skills related to healthy living, small-scale agriculture, and the wonders of nature. All workshops take place on the Farm or at Saint Eulalia’s Parish (50 Ridge Street in Winchester – right next door) and are open to individuals ages 14+ unless stated otherwise. We hope you can join us for one or more workshops this growing season!
Learn the basic science of hot water bath canning and techniques for making delicious homemade jams, jellies, conserves, fruit sauces, whole and half fruits, and more, on Tuesday, June 28, from 6 – 8 in the Saint Eulalia’s Parish kitchen. Education Director Rebekah Carter will lead this hands-on workshop that explains the necessary ingredients, equipment, and methods for safely making shelf-stable products at home on a small scale. Participants will help prepare and can half pint jars of local strawberry-rhubarb jam to take home and enjoy. Tuition fee: $30 per person (includes jar of jam)
PLEASE NOTE: Registration for workshops is required. If you can no longer attend a workshop for which you have registered, the Farm will refund your tuition fee until 10 days prior to a program. No refunds are provided within 10 days of a workshop. Register and learn more at www.wlfarm.org.
Want to learn how to preserve your garden produce? Cookbook author Marisa McCleellan will walk you through the steps of pickling and boiling water bath canning in this two-hour hands-on Dilly Bean workshop, sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and taking place Thursday, August 1, from 6 – 8 at Elm Bank in Wellesley. You’ll learn how to tackle a mess of beans and have the opportunity to ask all your burning preserving questions.
Marisa McClellan is a food writer, canning teacher, and dedicated pickler who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Her first cookbook, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round is now available. Find more of her jams, pickles, and preserves (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. (www.foodinjars.com). Cost – $50.00 for Mass Hort members, $55.00 for non-members. Reserve on line at www.masshort.org.
We all love fresh food grown from the garden. But we live in New England and if we expect to eat as well in January as in August, we need to preserve the summer garden’s abundance for the lean days of winter. Learn about the techniques of putting food by, including water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, root cellaring and lacto-fermenting to create delicacies that will see us through the dark days and remind us of what awaits in the spring. An upcoming series of four classes at the Berkshire Botanical Garden will demystify all aspects of preserving food.
On Wednesday, July 13, the class is entitled You CAN Do It! Hot water bath and pressure cooker canning is not just for jams and jellies (although it’s really good for those too). Learn how to put up your own salsa, chutneys and condiments. We will explore the many ways a canner can be put to use creating wonderful and unique gifts as well as enhancing your own food pantry. This class will also cover pressure canning and will demystify this useful method for insuring food safety. On Wednesday, July 27, enjoy Dry it – You’ll Like It & Baby It’s Cold Inside. Dehydrating and freezing as methods for preserving foods are perhaps the easiest for beginners. Learn how to use a dehydrator to make soup, snacks and delicacies to give as gifts or enjoy at home. Home-dried food has less salt and sugar, is far less expensive than the commercial counterparts and fabulous taste. Freezing summers bounty is another fool proof method for putting food by. Once mastered, the basics of blanching, chilling, air tight wrapping and freezing will provide a taste of summer in the depths of winter. These tried and true, simple techniques will be just like having Guido’s right in your house. Wednesday, August 10 brings We’re in a Pickle Now. Lacto-fermentation is one of the only food preservation techniques that actually enhances the flavor and nutrition of a food. Well learn about the chemistry and techniques of fermenting food on a small scale. Make every meal better with some kimchi. Finally, on Wednesday, August 24, we’ll learn What Lies Beneath. Think you can’t eat garden fresh food in the middle of winter? Think again! With a root cellar, you can enjoy carrots, beets, turnips, onions, potatoes, leeks and fruits like apples and pears all winter long. A well-made root cellar acts like a second refrigerator but needs no electricity. Use it to store wine, cider, lard and all those tasty lacto-fermented vegetables. We will explore what it takes to create a root cellar, how to prepare vegetables for their winter home and how to use the produce you store there.
All classes are led by Kathy Harrison, who has been preserving food for over 30 years. She teaches classes on all manner of food preservation for many organizations and has presented trainings for NOFA and Mother Earth News. She is the author of several books. Her latest is Just In Case: How to Be Self Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens. Kathy and her husband, Bruce run Barefoot Farm, where they raise bees, organic fruits and vegetables.
Register on line (www.berkshirebotanical.org) for all four classes (BBG members $75, nonmembers $85), or register for any individual class ($22 for all.)
Visit Essex, Massachusetts on Saturday, July 17 (date change from original post,) from 10:00 to noon, and join Historic New England and Caroline Craig, who worked for the Little family for more than 30 years, for a lecture and demonstration on canning and preserving. In one summer at the property she put up more than 800 jars of jams, jellies and preserves. She will make the Little family’s favorite homemade preserve: raspberry jelly. Learn about traditional preservation methods, look at the equipment used, and see some of the produce of Bert and Nina Fletcher Little’s farm. Caroline will offer advice and expertise on techniques for preserving your own garden produce and recipes for other summer fruit delicacies. Samples will be available for tasting. $12 for Historic New England members, and $18 for non-members. Registration is required. Log on to www.historicnewengland.org, or call 978-768-3632.
The final installment of The Mall at Chestnut Hill’s 2009 Organic Garden Series will take place Saturday, September 12 with “Native Plants.” Hear a presentation on winterizing gardens, and best of all, there will be a tomato tasting and a lecture on how to preserve food (canning, freezing, fermenting) with results from June’s seedlings. Also, there will be an opportunity to purchase from a vegetable and fruit stand. For more information, log on to www.simon.com and click @Your Mall Now!, or call 617-965-3037.
Come to the Boston Center for Adult Education, 122 Arlington Street, and learn to can! Ebru Grundy will teach you to preserve food for home use or create unique gifts that are edible and memorable. This workshop provides you with the experience to know what is safe to can using the boiling water method, and where to look for information on food items discussed. Take the abundance of vegetables available this time of year and save some for the winter. The tuition includes a materials fee for food. This is a demonstration and participation class. The cost is $54 (BCAE member cost $42) plus $15 for materials. Ebru Grundy, a Turkish native, attended the French Culinary Institute in New York City and worked in various New York City restaurants, including L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, before moving to Boston. In addition to teaching cooking classes, Ebru is launching her own business. For more information, and to register, log on to www.bcae.org.
Looking to pick your own blueberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, pumpkins, vegetables, etc.? Log on to www.pickyourown.org and search for a farm near you. There are Christmas tree farms, corn mazes, picking tips, easy canning directions, canning supply locators, equipment guides, and recipes. Make strawberry jam, blueberry pie, ice cream – the site is updated daily. Readers post comments. Links give directions, and information on whether the farm is organic, whether credit cards are accepted, and hints for dressing for the occasion. Some farms offer eggs and chickens as well. You can search by product or location. Enjoy the harvest experience and meet your farming neighbors. The website provides a page for every state in the US and six other country pages, plus lists of fall festivals, Halloween festivals, and special events.
