New MFP Application - Eat Real Canning Contests - KCRW Interview
Ernest Miller
Summer is in full swing and the canning and preserving is going
gangbusters. I can barely remember what I've done the last two days
let alone last week. Let's see, in the last two days I've made: peach
salsa, mixed berry jam, Rainier cherry jelly, sour plum jelly,
cucumber relish, Rainier cherry fruit leather, sour plum fruit
leather, strawberry-quince fruit leather, strawberry-yogurt fruit
leather, yogurt. I think that's it.
You'll notice that when I make a jelly I also make a fruit leather.
When you juice fruit, you're left with the pulp. Why let it go to
waste? Fruit leather is a great way to use that pulp. There are other
ways to make use of the pulp as well, to make butters, sauces, and
fill crumbles or pies.
Going to be making more preserves this afternoon with two recently
graduated Master Food Preservers who are also food preservation
externs at the Farmer's Kitchen. By the way, we are still taking
applications for food preservation externs for the Farmer's Kitchen.
If you are interested in learning food preservation through hands-on
apprenticeship in my kitchen, just email me and I'll send you an
application.
And speaking of Master Food Preservers, big news for all you LA County
residents who want to learn to preserve in order to share that
knowledge with others, particularly those in low resource communities.
Hot off our last graduating class, we've announced the application
process for our next class of Master Food Preservers. The next class
starts the evening of Tuesday, Sep 6 and runs for 12 consecutive
weeks, graduating just before Thanksgiving.
The application process will continue until July 29th, so get those
applications in! You'll be notified by August 15th if you've made it
into the class. You can learn more and apply here:
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=6914
The application process is very competitive, but give it a shot! I
hope to see some of you when the class starts in September!
There isn't much time left, but there is enough. I hope to see as
many of you as possible at the Eat Real Festival the weekend after
next (July 16-17), it is a free event and there will be all sorts of
preservation demos, and cool food stuff. I'll be demoing there as
well as running the kraut-a-thon, and manning a table for the Farmer's
Kitchen. Whew... I'll be busy (as if that is a change).
In any case, the good folks at Eat Real Festival (thanks, Delilah!!!)
are hosting a canning contest with three different categories.You have
from July 11-15 to enter your canned goods for the EatReal contest!
Categories include canned heat, sweet spreads and puttin' it up. Now
is your chance to show off your mad preservin' skilz! Don't be shy,
nothing feels better than taking home a ribbon!
Find out more about the canning contest here:
http://eatrealfest.com/event/Los%20Angeles/California/2011/make-contests
There will also be a cookbook swap, so bring your old cookbooks!
I was also promoting the Eat Real Festival and the MFP program
yesterday when I was interviewed by Evan Kleiman for her Good Food
radio program. I think the interview went well and had a wonderful
time. Evan is good people. You can hear the show this Saturday, Sep
9, from 11am - 12pm on KCRW here in Los Angeles.
If you can't listen live, they do archive the shows for download and
podcast. You can check it out Saturday afternoon here:
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf
Evan and I also spoke about all the classes I'll be doing in the
Farmer's Kitchen this summer. This saturday I'm teaching a class on
fermentation (how to make yogurt, sauerkraut and vinegar), for which a
few seats remain available:
http://www.hollywoodfarmerskitchen.org/events/event-info?event%5fid=6871
In two more weeks (Saturday, July 23rd), I'll be teaching a class on
stonefruit preservation:
http://www.hollywoodfarmerskitchen.org/events/event-info?event%5fid=6929
"Never pine for stonefruit in winter again. Learn a variety of
preservation techniques to capture the flavors of summer."
After that will be classes on pepper preservation, tomato preservation
(both basic and advanced). More on those classes when we have them up.
Well, that is enough for this week, don't you think?
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.
Follow the Master Food Preservers of Los Angeles:
The blog:
http://ucanr.org/blogs/MFPLA/index.cfm
The Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/mfpla
The twitter hashtag:
#mfpla
Don't forget to sign up for the Farmer's Kitchen newsletter:
http://www.hollywoodfarmerskitchen.org/
And follow our twitter feed:
http://www.twitter.com/HollywoodFK
Thanks,
Ernie