Food Safety

Preserve it! Dehydrating your herbs Fresh herbs, whether purchased at a local grocery store or grown in your own herb garden, are easy to dehydrate and preserve. Start with a clean kitchen and clean countertops. Then, rinse the fresh herbs under running water to get rid of insects and dirt. Use a salad…

Preserve Today, Relish Tomorrow. Many of our local u-pick blueberry farms are open between late-May and mid-July. We all know blueberries are pretty expensive, but, oh, so worth the effort and expense. Here is a recipe that gets the most out of your harvest basket: Blueberry Bonanza is two recipes in…

Preserve it with dehydration - dried herbs make a great fair entry!  Your hearty, perennial herb garden should be recovering and rebounding from the winter by now. How about dehydrating some of those and entering them in the county fair? Or create a mix of several dried herbs for a special blend – and…

Reduce fruit float when canning fruitFruit Float is the term used when produce separates and floats to the top of the jars.There are a few things that can be done to avoid or reduce fruit float when canning fruit:Use Firm Ripe Fruit. Firm fruit has less air trapped in it than ripe fruit. It also absorbs less…

The USDA recommends preserving enough for one year. We should all have an annual habit of checking our inventory of preserved foods. The USDA recommends we preserve enough food for one year. Why is one year recommended? Here are a few reasons: In one year, another crop will be available for…

Keep perishable food safe by observing the room temp time limits. One of the basic maxims of food safety is keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.  Not keeping perishable food hot enough (at or above 140°F) or cold enough (at or below 40°F) allows bacteria to multiply quickly, causing the food to…

Make your altitude adjustments. Did you know that at altitudes over 1,000 feet above sea level, you need to make adjustments to your canning procedures? When boiling water or steam canning, processing times need to be lengthened. When pressure canning, pressure needs to be increased. Why? Because as…

There are 31 reasons to follow safe food handling procedures. Bacteria and other microorganisms (such as parasites and viruses) are everywhere.  They’re in the soil and water, they float through the air, they’re on plants and are in and around animals, and they’re even on people. The good, the…

Baking potatoes in foil is a safety concernBaking potatoes in aluminum foil is a common way of preparing this root vegetable.  Doing so makes the skin soft, and some say that it makes the potatoes cook faster.  The foil can also keep the potatoes hot longer once they come out of the oven – and this…

Cake and quick bread should never be "canned."Pretty pictures and recipes for quick breads and cakes canned or baked in canning jars (aka mason jars) often circulate on the Internet, especially around the holidays.  Despite what some well-intentioned bloggers may say, the practice of canning breads and…