Food Preservation

by Katie Yamashita, Los Angeles County, Online Master Food Preserver Volunteer   For thousands of years, chili peppers were cultivated only in the Americas. Then, beginning in the late fifteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese traders carried them around the world as part of the Columbian Exchange…

by Maureen Ladley, UC Master Food Preserver of Solano/Yolo County Volunteer  Over the years, more than one of my acquaintances has assumed that if fruit isn’t very good fresh, turning it into jam is the right solution. After all, you’ll be adding sugar and cooking it, right? Unfortunately, jam is not a…

 The UC Master Food Preserver (MFP) program is a perfect combination of my passion for teaching and for food (playing with it and eating it)! I had never heard of Master Food Preservers until my husband discovered the inaugural Online Delivery Program training and suggested we both apply. That 2024…

It’s peak season for fruits and vegetables: peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, apricots, plums, berries … the list goes on and on. If you find yourself in the enviable position of having more fresh produce than you can possibly consume or give away, it’s time to start canning and preserving. You’ll be…

Preserve it!  The county fair is over (did you enter any home canned goods this year?) and gardens are currently exploding with vegetables and herbs. Give this marmalade a try. The recipe comes from Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, 2014, edition 37.Herbed Garden Marmalade RecipeYield: about 5 half…

by Katie Yamashita, Los Angeles County, Online Delivery Program Volunteer  Few preserving projects are as accessible as salt-cured citrus. There's no canner, no fermentation crock, no specialized equipment beyond a clean jar, and the ingredient list rarely goes beyond what's already on hand: citrus…

Three tips for making the best pickles by Ariel Patton, UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program Volunteer There's nothing quite like a sweet, tangy, crunchy pickle to perfect your next sandwich. This bread & butter pickle recipe is an annual staple in my kitchen. With the amount of…

by Paige Weisskirch, UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program Volunteer  Fruit leather is one of my favorite ways to use up fruit that is just past its prime: soft pears, a handful of mushy berries, peaches that need to be used today, or the apples that have lost their crispness but…

 My name is Paige Weisskirch, and I volunteer with the UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program. I live on the Monterey Peninsula, which means I am lucky enough to live near the beach, but not exactly in backyard tomato country. It is foggy and cool much of the time, so big backyard…