Central Sierra: Master Food Preserver Articles that appeared in El Dorado County local periodicals. Most feature recipes and instructions for preserving the tastes of the season to enjoy at other times of the year.
Central Sierra: Time to Spring Clean Your Pantry and Freezer
Preserve it! Time for a Review
Before planning this year’s garden or trips to the farmers market, let’s look at your pantry and freezer with a keen eye. Take stock of what you preserved last season and what you have consumed up to this point.
If, by this time of the year, you have an abundance of a few things you preserved last year (be it frozen green beans or jars of marmalade or pickled beets) or you ran out of some foods half way through the winter (it may have been apple butter or pickled jalapenos or fruit leather), perhaps your shopping list for canning jars or lids, garden seeds or garden plants, and/or plans for trips directly to local growers should be adjusted accordingly. A family’s needs change over time. Your home food preservation plans may need adjustments.
While not preserving enough of a product just means you will need to plant or buy more this next season, having an excess of something means you need to find different ways to use that surplus of home preserved foods. Afterall, a new preservation season full of fresh fruits and vegetables is soon upon us.
What to do with last year's jars of marmalade and pickled vegetables
Let’s look at some ways to use up any oversupply you discover in your storage.
Jams (or other soft spreads) can be used to make one-of-a-kind dressings for a spring salad. A couple spoonfuls of a jam, a neutral oil, some acid (fresh citrus juice or a special vinegar), along with some fresh herbs can take an ordinary green salad and make it a special part of your meal. Or why not spread some jam or jelly over a roasted chicken or grilled portobello mushroom as a glaze—perhaps add a few dashes of hot sauce to kick up the flavor?
As you fire up the grill to bake a fresh pizza this spring, consider adding some of those pickled vegetables as a topping. Having neighbors over for a BBQ means making a potato salad. Why not take that potato salad to another level of flavor and texture by adding some of those pickled vegetables, as well as some of the pickling juice, to the mix? The creamy texture of the potato paired with a crunch would be divine.
Don’t wait for a special event to create a charcuterie board. Spoon pickled fruit as a topping to some warm brie. Add some tart olives or a pickled vegetable, little rolls of turkey or slices of salami, and some crisp rosemary crackers to the board. Now you have a worthy meal while playing a round of Catan. Finish off that “board” meal with some dehydrated fruit or a bowl of freezer lemon curd for dessert
Scrutinize your home preserved foods with a different eye. Be creative. Come to a Master Food Preserver class and tell us what unique ways you are using up last season’s preserved foods.
The UC Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County are a great resource for answers to your food safety and preserving questions. Ask a Master Food Preserver in El Dorado County by completing our on-line form.
This article, written by UC Master Food Preserver Laurie Lewis, originally appeared in the spring 2026 edition of El Dorado County's Around Here magazine.
Central Sierra: Wing Sauce to Enjoy During Football and All Year Round
Preserve It! Chicken Wing Season!
The Super Bowl always means there is a grand feast of snack foods to plan and prepare. While the textures and flavors abound at this annual gathering (whether you watch the game or not), it seems a quintessential ingredient on the menu is the spicy-vinegary buffalo sauce. Traditionally this sauce would be baked into chicken wings (with extra sauce for dipping of course), but it also makes an amazing sauce for pizza or for chicken sliders.
Using grocery-store tomatoes in winter
Sure, it’s not tomato season but that bland winter tomato from the store will shine in this sauce recipe. Keep the peels from the tomatoes, sprinkle with seasoning, and dehydrate them for a unique snack. This recipe comes from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, 2024.
Chicken Wing Sauce
Makes about eight 8-ounce jars
Ingredients
10 cups peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes*
2 cups chopped onions
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 ½ cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
4 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
2 to 3 Tbsp favorite hot sauce (optional), if you want more “heat”
*To peel tomatoes, place them in a pot of boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until the skins start to crack. Immediately dip in cold water. The skins will slip off easily. One pound of tomatoes equals about 2 ½ to 3 cups of chopped tomatoes.
Instructions
In a large stainless-steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, onions, brown sugar, and cayenne. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
Working in batches, transfer mixture to a blender or a food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree until smooth.
Return puree to saucepan. Stir in vinegar, salt, garlic, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and (optional) your favorite hot sauce. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until mixture is the consistency of a thin commercial sauce, about one hour.
Meanwhile, prepare boiling-water canner or atmospheric steam canner. Heat cleaned jars in canner until ready to use, do not boil (simmering water at 180 degrees F). Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving half-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary. Clean jar rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band and adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Water must cover jars by at least one inch in boiling water canner or come to the base of the rack in a steam canner. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil in a boiling-water canner or until there’s a steady stream of steam coming from the steam canner for one minute. Start timing and process pint jars: 15 minutes at 0 – 1,000 feet elevation, 20 minutes at 1,001 – 3,000 feet, 25 minutes at 3,001 – 6,000 feet, 30 minutes 6,001 – 8,000 feet.
Turn off heat. For boiling water canner, remove lid and let jars stand five minutes. For atmospheric steam canner, let canner sit undisturbed for five minutes, then remove lid. Remove jars and cool on a toweled surface 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal (they should not flex when center is pressed). Label, date, and store in a cool dark place.
This article and recipe by UC Master Food Preserver Laurie Lewis originally appeared in the Mountain Democrat in January 2026.
The UC Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County are a great resource for answers to your food safety and preserving questions.
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Central Sierra: Extending Apple & Pear Season in El Dorado County
Central Sierra: Saving the Last of the Zucchini (Until you can appreciate it again)
Preserve It! Oh Dear, the Zucchini!
Pickling is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. Queen Cleopatra attributed her legendary beauty as well as her health to the pickles in her diet. Roman troops were given pickles in their diet believing it would make them strong.
What if you don’t have many pickling cucumbers? No problem. Make some sweet, tangy pickles with all those zucchinis you can’t give away this time of year. These pickles make a wonderful addition to your charcuterie board for the holidays.
This recipe hails from National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), University of Georgia.
Bread and Butter Zucchini Pickles
Yield: About 8-to-9-pint jars
16 cups sliced zucchini squash (or other summer squash or cucumbers)
4 cups thinly sliced onions (about 1 ½ pounds medium onions)
½ cup pickling or canning salt
4 cups white vinegar, 5% acidity
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 Tablespoons celery seed
4 Tablespoons mustard seed
Slice zucchini into rounds, one-quarter-inch thick. Slice onions into one-quarter-inch thick slices. Place sliced vegetables in a large flat glass or plastic container. Cover sliced vegetables with one inch of water and the salt. Let stand for two hours. Add ice cubes over the top, if desired.
Meanwhile, prepare boiling-water canner or atmospheric steam canner. Heat cleaned jars in canner until ready to use, do not boil (simmering water at 180 degrees F). Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
Drain vegetables thoroughly after the two hours. Rinse vegetables in cool water if you desire a less salty product.
Bring spices, sugar, and vinegar to a boil in a large stainless-steel saucepan. Add the sliced vegetables to the spice/vinegar mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer for five minutes.
Pack zucchini and onions into a hot jar, leaving half-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary. Clean jar rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Water must cover jars by at least one inch in boiling water canner or come to the base of the rack in a steam canner. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil in a boiling-water canner or until there’s a steady stream of steam coming from the steam canner for 1 minute. Start timing and process half-pint jars: 10 minutes at 0 – 1,000 feet elevation, 15 minutes at 1,001 – 6,000 feet, 20 minutes at 6,001feet and above.
Turn off heat. For boiling water canner, remove lid and let jars stand five minutes. For atmospheric steam canner, let canner sit undisturbed for 5 minutes, then remove lid. Remove jars and cool on a toweled surface 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal (they should not flex when center is pressed). Label, date, and store in a cool dark place.
The UC Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County are a great resource for answers to your food safety and preserving questions. Use our "Ask a Master Food Preserver" tool to submit your question and a volunteer will get in touch with you ASAP.
This article by UC Master Food Preserver Laurie Lewis originally appeared in the Mountain Democrat.
Central Sierra: Think Georgia Produces the Most Peaches? Think again!
Preserve It! Peaches!
Don't Hesitate to Buy Loads of Fuzzy Peaches (in season!)
Have you noticed that fresh peaches have more fuzz than peaches in grocery stores? Before peaches are sold in grocery stores, some of the fuzz is removed to make it more appealing. It is thought that too much fuzz on a peach might look like mold to consumers. Why do peaches have fuzz? It is believed that the fuzz repels extra moisture outside of the fruit and helps trap moisture inside the fruit, keeping it from drying out.
While one might think of the state of Georgia as the peach state, California is the largest producer of peaches in the country. Living so close to peach orchards in the Placerville area, it’s easy to over-purchase, coming home with more fresh fruit than can be eaten right away. Don’t fight the urge. Just can up some peaches in syrup, freeze some for pies this winter, or make the recipe below. This recipe comes from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving, 2023. This would be delicious as a glaze over a grilled or roasted meat or on some fresh out-of-the-oven English muffins.
Peach-Ginger Butter
Makes about six half-pint jars
10 cups coarsely chopped fresh peaches (about 12 medium)*
½ cup water
½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice
3 cups sugar
Combine first five ingredients in a six-quart stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until peaches are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Pulse peach mixture, in batches, in a food processor until almost smooth. Pour each batch into a large bowl.
Return peach puree to stainless steel pot; stir in sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook stirring constantly, 25-30 minutes or until mixture thickens and holds its shape on a spoon.
Meanwhile, prepare a boiling-water canner or atmospheric steam canner. Heat cleaned jars in canner until ready to use, do not boil (simmering water at 180 degrees F). Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
Ladle peach puree into a hot jar, leaving one quarter-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary. Clean jar rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
Water must cover jars by one inch in boiling water canner or come to the base of the rack in a steam canner. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil in a boiling-water canner or until there’s a steady stream of steam coming from the steam canner. Start timing and process half-pint jars: 10 minutes at 0 – 1,000 feet elevation, 15 minutes at 1,001 – 3,000 feet, 20 minutes 3,001 – 6,000 feet, 25 minutes 6,001 – 8,000 feet.
Turn off heat. For boiling water canner, remove lid and let jars stand five minutes. For atmospheric steam canner, let canner sit undisturbed for three to five minutes, then remove lid. Remove jars and cool on a toweled surface 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal. Label, date, and store in a cool dark place.
*Note: Should not use white-flesh peaches, as the pH of these are not acidic enough for safe canning.
The UC Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County are a great resource for answers to your food safety and preserving questions. Email us at edmfp@ucanr.edu. For more information about our program, events, and recipes, visit our website at ucanr.edu/sites/mfp_of_cs/. Find us on Facebook, too (UCCE Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County)!
This article originally appeared in the August 06, 2025 Mountain Democrat and was written by UC Master Food Preserver Laurie Lewis.