MFPs Graduate! Farmer's Kitchen Externships - Cherries in Vanilla Syrup

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Ernest Miller

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Jun 28, 2011, 4:20:08 PM6/28/11

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Greetings!

Well, the day finally came. A week ago last Monday we added 18 newly
minted Master Food Preservers for Los Angeles County. The graduation
was great fun with a potluck dinner, silent auction to raise money,
and a preservation cake with dehydrated strawberries in the batter and
strawberry jam filling.

See a picture of the graduates here:
http://on.fb.me/iZvZfF

I couldn't be more proud of the wonderful people I had the opportunity
to teach and learn from.

The MFPs are already working on numerous projects, including a
kraut-a-thon at the upcoming EatReal festival (1:30pm on Saturday,
July 16):
http://bit.ly/kKVLkm

I'll be doing a stonefruit preservation demo at EatReal (12pm on
Saturday, July 16)

The Class Committee is hard at work putting together the curriculum
for the next class, which will be starting in September. I'll let
everyone know when the recruitment committee makes the official
announcement early next month! Of course, if you can't wait, in the
meantime feel free to take some of the Farmer's Kitchen classes or
join us as a Farmer's Kitchen Food Preservation extern (more on that
below).

For more information on the Master Food Preservers of Los Angeles
County, don't forget to like our page on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/MFPLA Check it out!

For those who Twitter, we're using the hashtag #MFPLA

I'm also keeping busy with classes at the Farmer's Kitchen. Last
Saturday, I taught "Pickle University," which was all about preserving
cucumbers. We made bread and butter pickles, a relish (fantastic on
hot dogs) and started some traditionally fermented kosher dills. I've
actually added kosher dills to our menu, so stop by the Farmer's
Kitchen for a true old-school pickle like your bubbe used to make.

We've also got a number of fermentations on our counter to demonstrate
the process and educate our customers, as well as to display our
airlock fermentation systems (which I build myself). We have a
jalapeno mash, sauerkraut, kosher dills, 1/4 heads of baby savoy
cabbage and garlic fermenting at the moment. We also have some
liqueurs on display as well, date liqueur and green walnut liqueur
(aka Nocino aka Liqueur de Noix). Although the liqueurs won't be for
sale, we want to show everyone who visits us various ways they can
preserve the bounty of California. Come on by, ask some questions, and
pick up one of our fermenters (which are as pretty as they are
effective).

Our next class at the Farmer's Kitchen will be Fermentation 101, where
you will learn how to make yogurt, sauerkraut and vinegar. The class
is from 9am - 12pm on Saturday July 9th and costs $60. You can sign up
here:
http://bit.ly/kMaBNT

Future planned classes for the summer include stonefruit preservation
and basic tomato preservation and advanced tomato preservation. I'll
let everyone know as soon as they are available to sign up for.

Of course, as the summer preservation season heats up, we could use
some assistance in the Farmer's Kitchen canning/drying/fermenting and
otherwise preserving the bounty of the season. So, we are looking for
food preservation externs to come to the kitchen and learn food
preservation by doing. We will be doing preservation every afternoon
Sunday - Thursday, so if you would like to spend 4-6 hours an
afternoon (or two) each week learning all sorts of food preservation,
let me know and I'll send you an application.

Here is the Cherries in Vanilla Syrup recipe I promised last time:

8 to 10 lbs fresh cherries (pitting optional)
1 batch hot medium syrup (3.25 cups sugar to 5 cups water)
1/2 vanilla bean, split

Yield: Approx. 8 pint jars

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar, water and
vanilla bean. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring
frequently until the sugar dissolves, take off the heat and cover.
Allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Remove vanilla bean (and reserve for
another purpose, such as vanilla sugar).
3. Add cherries to vanilla syrup and cook over medium heat until
mixture is heated through (do not boil).
4. Ladle hot cherries and syrup into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch
headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary.
Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until fingertip tight.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with
water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. After processing,
leave jars in water for 5 minutes. Remove jars, cool, clean, label and
store.

That's it for this newsletter ... lots more interesting things planned
for the food preservation community in Los Angeles!

As usual, if you have any questions about canning, pressure canning,
fermentation, dehydration, freezing, pickling,
curing, smoking or brewing, feel free to email me at
ernest.miller @ gmail.com.

Don't forget to sign up for the Farmer's Kitchen newsletter:
http://www.hollywoodfarmerskitchen.org/