Classes, Busy September for Demos, Fall Canning

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Ernest Miller

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Aug 26, 2011, 3:51:36 PM8/26/11

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Greetings!

It has been a couple of weeks since my last update, and I remain very
busy at the Farmer's Kitchen with all the summer canning. Last night,
for example, we canned 62 jars of golden plum jam (Yellowgage), 8 jars
of strawberry-rhubarb jam, and 17 pints of 100% heirloom tomato sauce.
That was just last night.

In a couple of weeks we will start our school lunch program for 285
elementary students. This is very exciting, as we are providing
lunches to Larchmont Charter Elementary, which is part of Alice
Water's Edible Schoolyard project. We will be providing a lot of fresh
farmers' market food to the students as part of balanced, healthy
meals. I love sending good food to the kids, especially fresh fruit.
Day 1 they're getting watermelon, cut into wedges with the rind on. We
keep the rind on so that the kids eat as close to how the food comes
as possible. No rindless cubed watermelon in a cup from some factory.
Real food.

I'm hoping that this year we will be working a bit closer with some of
the parents, especially teaching them some food preservation that they
can use to feed their families.

Speaking of teaching food preservation, tomorrow, this Saturday, there
are still some spots left for Tomato Preservation 201, in which I will
be teaching how to make and can tomato ketchup, sweet & sour bbq sauce
and tomato paste. Participants will be taking home jars of these
condiments. Do you have lots of tomatoes? Learn what else you can to
do with them once your pantry is full of sauce and crushed tomatoes.

The LA County Fair is starting in about another week for a month's
worth of county fair goodness. The Master Food Preservers will be
there Thur-Fri for demos in the afternoons. MFP Liisa Primack will
also be doing demos for busloads of school children in the mornings.
I'm scheduled for two days, but anytime you're at the Fair, come to
the agricultural area's kitchen and chat with an MFP. And don't
forget the Master Gardeners. They will be in their usual spot in the
flower building, but a number of MFPs are MGs as well (such as me),
and we will also represent in the agricultural area.

And, by the way, I know that several members of this list got some
ribbons for their preserves. Woot! Congratulations!

Sept 10-11 is the Taste of the Twenties festival at the Workman-Temple
Homestead and I and MFP Felicia Friesema will be demoing food
preservation techniques of the 1920s in a 1920s adobe mansion kitchen!
Learn how to get around Prohibition! Soon to be in every home: freon
refrigerators! No longer will you die from ammonia leaks! The latest
in home canning!
For more information see:
http://www.homesteadmuseum.org/festivals
-or-
http://bit.ly/nkhwOp [PDF Flyer]

Also, on Sept 11th, the Hollywood Farmers' Market will be celebrating
its Peak of Season Tomato Festival. I'll be doing demos, the Farmers'
Kitchen will have a special tomato-centric menu, there will be tomato
tastings, and other demos (such as by Good Food host Evan Kleiman),
and all sorts of great things happening. Come on by!

The week after is the Good Food Festival in Santa Monica. There is a
whole heck of a lot going on, but there are numerous food preservation
demos planned. Double heck, there is an entire Master Food Preserver
series: http://bit.ly/pcrPO8

Nine different demos split between Saturday Sep 17 and Sunday Sep 18.
There is a demo for everyone or come to every demo! I'll be there on
Saturday talking about Apple Preservation.

Is it apple season already? Well, I saw my first quince this past
Sunday in the Hollywood Farmers' Market, pomegranates are getting red
near my house, and a friend of mine brought a most delicious apple to
taste from her tree. Fall is here and the canning continues with Fall
fruit. But summer isn't over either! Still, I'm in the planning
stages for demos at the Green Festival at the LA Convention Center and
a workshop at the Natural History Museum. How about a field trip to
pick pomegranates and come back to the Farmers' Kitchen to can them?
Yep, it is in the plans.

Finally, congratulations to the next 18 Master Food Preservers who
will be starting class on Sep 6th and graduating in November. For
those who applied and were not accepted, please continue to study food
preservation and volunteer. We had 118 applicants for 18 positions, so
the competition was very tight and just because you weren't selected
doesn't mean you're not a good candidate for the program.

Well that's it this email. Wish I could spend more time on these
emails, but I'm always available to answer questions via email.

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/