By Doug Welch, Master Food Preserver Volunteer

The Master Food Preserver Volunteers from Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County recently completed their first year of service. During May 2017, the new volunteer effort began with an intensive three-day training session at the Extension Learning Farm in Canton. The work of the Master Food Preservers is in conjunction with the Harvest Kitchen, a shared-use commercial facility. Training others in various food-preservation methods is a major component of what Master Food Preservers do.

The twenty-four participants divided their training sessions between lecture, discussion, and hands-on experience in the Harvest Kitchen. The trainees were required to pass a written test based on their training sessions and the manual.

One cornerstone of the training was information on the scientific basis for food preservation. Other topics included up-to-date information on food safety, prevention of food-related illness, food storage, canning methods, canning high versus low-acid foods, fermentation, preserving jams and jellies, freezing methods and dehydration. All the preservation methods are those recommended and approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The St. Lawrence County Master Food Preservers Volunteer Program was made possible, in part, with the generous underwriting of the Canton Community Fund.

Since last season’s training, the Master Food Preserver volunteers created the Harvest Kitchen Preservation Series, an ongoing program of workshops about safely preserving and using local foods and produce. The 2017 workshops included making jams, crispy pickles, water bath canning tomatoes, preparing and freeing homemade condiments, fermentation, and pressure canning meats, produce and beans. Early 2018, held workshops on many meat preservation methods including sausage, jerky, preparing organ meats and venison dishes. The spring also held an info session Planning your Preservation Garden: A Community Conversation. Master Preserver volunteers shared their extensive experience planning and preserving their own garden harvests.

As the 2018 growing season continues, three upcoming workshops will interest community members’ eager to learn or improve their preservation skills.

On Tuesday, Aug. 28 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. the workshop Fun with Fermentation will be held and attendees will learn how to make kimchi, pickles and sauerkraut.

On Saturday Sept. 22 from 1-4 p.m., there will be a class on preserving tomatoes. The tomato class will include the opportunity to learn about water bath caning and pressure caning.

In anticipation of the holidays and the cranberry harvest, Fun with Cranberries will be held Tuesday, Nov. 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

All workshops will be held in the Harvest Kitchen at the Learning Farm, 2043 State Highway 68 in Canton. Class size is limited and pre-registration is required. The workshop fee is $20. Participants will get to sample goodies, work hands-on in the kitchen and take home product and recipes. All produce in the workshop series is sourced from local farmers. Nature’s Storehouse is supporting the entire series by donating spices, sweeteners and all non-produce ingredients.

To register for a workshop or learn more about CCE’s local food program navigate to http://stlawrence.cce.cornell.edu/ or contact Maria “Flip” Filippi at (315) 379-9192, ext. 229 or harvestkitchen@cornell.edu.