Join The Trustees for a free Pickling Workshop at the Northampton Community Garden – 75 Northampton St, Roxbury – On August 15 from 6 – 7 pm.
It’s peak harvest – the perfect time for some pickling! Learn to make both fermented and vinegar-based pickles with fresh garden produce, and make a jar to take home. Pre-register for weather-related updates, and to help us plan how many materials to bring. Register at https://thetrustees.org/event/419646/
It’s peak harvest–the perfect time for some pickling! Share your favorite recipe with the group or just join The Trustees on September 9 from 5 – 6 online to learn. We’ll cover lactofermented goodies as well as quick pickles and you’ll be ready to improvise your own tasty, nutritious pickles at home.
This free workshop, like many we’re presenting this season, is made possible through TD Bank’s Ready Commitment. Pre-register here and you will receive an email with the Zoom link.
Food preservation can be a challenge, and before refrigeration, pickling was an essential strategy for safe food storage. In this Berkshire Botanical Garden illustrated talk and demonstration on Saturday, October 1 from 1 – 4, participants will investigate the origins of vinegar, the alchemy of fermentation, and the anti-microbial properties of herbs and spices that are at the center of the art of pickling. Noted ethnobotanist and historian Judith Sumner will share modern pickling recipes and methods (and the science behind them), ranging from fresh pack dill pickles in crocks to bread and butter pickles processed in a hot water bath, and enjoy a tasting of pickle recipes and analysis of recipes from various historic sources. The workshop will also include making some quick pickled onions to be taken home by participants.
Judith Sumner is a botanist who specializes in ethnobotany, flowering plants, plant adaptations, and garden history. She has taught extensively both at the college level and at botanical gardens, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Garden in the Woods. She has been a guest on the Martha Stewart Living television show, the PBS program Cultivating Life, the Annenberg Channel, and various other PBS and educational programs. BBG members $30, nonmembers $35. Register online at https://berkshirebotanical.org/education/lectures-and-workshops/
On Wednesday, August 31 at 6:30 pm, join Julia, Formaggio Kitchen’s senior buyer and avid home pickler/jamming enthusiast, as she takes you through pickling and preserving some of the tastiest summer veggies. Julia will show you some of her tried and true pickling and canning recipes and explain matching spices, vegetables, and brines. You’ll leave with a knowledge of how to make quick pickles, shelf stable pickles, canned tomatoes and a couple more unique preserves. In pickling lingo, learn how to “put up” your produce before winter and save some of the fantastic flavors that summer has to offer. Each participant will also leave with their own “pickle kit” so that you can put your new skills to use! NOTE: This class is held at our Classroom Annex, not our retail location. The annex is located at 67 Smith Place in Cambridge, and we highly recommend reviewing the directions available at www.formaggiokitchen.com. If you are unable to attend a class, please let us know at least 48 hours before the class is scheduled to take place and we will give you a full refund or a credit for a future class. No refunds are offered for cancellations within 48 hours before an event. There are no refunds, transfers, make-ups or deferments for missed classes.
General Admission, $65.00 per person. Register at http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/classes/
Wright-Locke Farm’s 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!
On Wednesday, July 20 from 6 – 8 at Saint Eulalia’s parish, learn the basic science of hot water bath canning and techniques for making delicious homemade pickles, salsas, fruit or vegetable-based sauces, and more. 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 pint jars of local bread and butter cucumber pickles to take home and enjoy. Tuition fee: $25 per person (includes jar of pickles). Register at www.wlfarm.org.
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. Image from www.bunkycooks.com.
Join Eric Cooper, chef at Ten Tables, on Saturday, October 3 from 10 – noon in the Parkman Room of Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, to learn how you can enjoy the fruits of your labor beyond the growing season. He will demonstrate and share basic pickling techniques to keep local flavor in your diet all year long.
Chef Eric Cooper has been pursuing his love of food for very nearly two decades on a global quest that’s had him working, teaching and studying the native cuisines in some twenty-five countries or extra-national territories on seven continents and occasionally in international waters.
Cooper’s culinary career includes stops in the gastronomic capitols of New York, London, Paris and Madrid as well as the forested islands of Downeast Maine and tree-lined neighborhoods of Boston. He’s cooked everywhere from the dusty townships of South Africa to the mountainside Tibetan refugee camps of northern India to the frigid aimags of western Mongolia to the icy wastes of Antarctica and steep rolling seas of the Drake Passage — all in pursuit of a uniquely broad understanding of food and why we eat it.
Proceeds will help support the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Garden to Table Program. Mass Hort Members $15, Non-Members $20. Register at www.masshort.org, or call 617-933-4943. Image from www.seriouseats.com.
On Sunday, November 9, from 1:30 – 4:30 at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle Street in Cambridge, learn how to safely preserve high acid foods such as pickles and chutney. Students will learn about the principles of home canning, the canning process, equipment and budget alternatives, and specialty ingredients. We will also dispel several common myths from our grandmothers. Students will make two seasonal recipes in class and take home the products. $80 tuition. Image from www.yorkshire-foragers.blogspot.com. Register online at http://www.ccae.org/catalog/detail.php?id=573151.
Save your root vegetables throughout the winter with homemade sauerkraut and pickles! Learn how to pickle anything from beets to turnips and turn your cabbage into delicious sauerkraut. Pre-registration required for this free Boston Natural Areas Network class, to be held Saturday, October 18 from 9:30 – 11:30 at the Future Chefs Office and Teaching Kitchen, 560 Albany Street in Boston. Contact BNAN at 617-542-7696 or email info@bostonnatural.org. Image from www.garlicfarm.ca.
Join Grace, Formaggio Kitchen’s local produce enthusiast and avid home pickler, as she takes you through preserving some of the tastiest autumnal veggies. In this class at the Formaggio Kitchen Annex, 67 Smith Place in Cambridge, on Saturday, September 27 at 5:30 pm, Grace will show you some of her tried and true pickling recipes and explain matching spices, vegetables, and brines. Hold on to Autumn with Grace’s tips! $55. Register online at http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/classes or call 617-354-4750. Image from www.realsimple.com.
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.)
