If you live in the Central Valley of California, where we are located, we are about to get our first roasting of the summer. Later this week it will get into the 100's and even above 108⁰ in some places.

I love the summer. All the fresh fruits and veggies grown in our valley make this a great time for home preservation.

If you are a jam and jelly maker this is your season. You wait all year long for this plethora of fruits. In April we conducted a workshop on freezing and dehydrating. We especially focused on freezing fruits. With a little research you can discover how to make fruit roll-ups for your children and grandchildren via dehydration.

In May we held a workshop on berries and gave some recipes on Chocolate raspberry sauce, a berry BBQ sauce and berry Hand pies (we included a pastry recipe as well).

While they are still in season, on our website, you can find information about cherries. How to make a Cherry Marmalade or a Black Forest Cherry jam.

This month, June, we are covering Stone fruits in our monthly workshop. With stone fruits you can freeze, dehydrate, can in a light syrup or, if you must, make a jam or preserve. One of our members once gave us a recipe for Peach BBQ sauce. Mmmmmm sweet and tangy!

And as a heads up, July's workshop will be all about pickling and not just cucumbers.

If you want to find what we have on our website regarding past workshops or videos, please go to: Workshop Archive .

If you want to register for this Saturday's, June 19, workshop please go to:

Peaches. apricots, cherries and more. We're going to talk about stone fruits. What are they and how can you preserve them? We will also talk about the different ways you can use preserved stone fruits.

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://ucanr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtduurrDgtHNZHFiFhkprd1FD3MPdCjXve

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Enjoy your summer and all the produce it has to offer!

*photo credit to Leite's Culinaria

On Saturday March 20 the Master Food Preservers of San Joaquin County presented an inspiring zoom workshop on Dehydration. Whether experienced or a novice, everyone learned new and creative ways to use dehydration to make unique spice mixes, quick meals and tasty snacks. You can find the recorded class here. 

Over 70 people attended. Many were California locals but there were also attendees from other places in California as well as Fargo ND, Great Falls MT and Alberta, Canada.

MFP Kathy Anderson, started the workshop with a short talk on food safety and cleaning and sanitizing surfaces. This is an area we heavily emphasize in our MFP workshops and public outreach. For more information visit the CDC Fightbac website.

Kathy then spoke about the basics of dehydration with emphasis on leathers, barks and powders. In addition to covering

 the basics of how to prepare and dehydrate these types of foods, she provided many inspiring and creative ways to use the finished products. For both those new to dehydration as well as the more experienced, Kathy taught a number of tips and lessons that will help people get consistent and successful results.

Workshop attendees were treated to many pictures of samples that Kathy made and how to use them to enhance soups, salads, spicing up meals and as well as quick meals, snacks and drinks. Of particular personal interest were the desert toppings made with dehydrated fruit powders and chocolate dipped orange slices.

If you are looking for many recipes covering all types of dehydrated foods visit the links below:

National Center for Home Food Preservation - Drying

Dehydrating Fruits and Vegetables – Pacific Northwest Extension Publication

Recipes from the Excalibur Dehydrator Website

Recipes from the Nesco Dehydrator Website

Our next zoom workshop will be on April 17 at 10:00 am and the topic will be pressure canning and freezing. We look forward to your attendance and look for the registration link on the San Joaquin Master Food Preserver homepage or on our Facebook page in early April.

 

 

 

 

An ancient form of food preservation that is still used frequently today is dehydration. In ancient times foods were left in the sun to remove water and prevent bacterial growth. Today we have a number of methods to dehydrate foods more efficiently in our homes. The San Joaquin Master Food preservers will present a Zoom Webinar on March 20, which will provide an overview of Dehydration as a food preservation method and will show many of the types of foods that can be dehydrated. Whether you are experienced at dehydration or have never done it before, this webinar will inspire you to try this technique and enjoy the rich flavors of many types of dehydrated foods. To register for this webinar, please click here. Registration is free.

The fundamental principle of dehydration is that at a water content of 70% or  below mold and bacteria will not grow. The removal of water can be accomplished in a conventional oven or in a dedicated dehydrator (see discussions of dehydrators below). If the dehydrated food is properly packaged and stored to keep it from rehydrating (adding back the water) it can be stored for many months, sometimes even years.

Dehydrating foods in your kitchen is simple and can be done without buying any expensive equipment. Your oven can be used to dehydrate foods and dedicated dehydrators (which are like little ovens that only go up to about 160F and contain a fan) can be purchased for under $100.

There are two types of dehydrators on the market. They differ by the direction that the heated air is pushed through the

dehydrator. In some dehydrators, referred to as vertical flow dehydrators, the heated air is moved vertically and the trays stack on top of each other. The fan and heating element are sometimes at the top and in some designs, at the bottom. These dehydrators look like mini towers and are compact and inexpensive (some sell for under $50).

The other type of dehydrator, horizontal flow dehydrators, the air moves horizontally (the heating element and fan are against the inside back wall), and push heated air from the back to the front of the dehydrator across trays that are inserted inside the dehydrator. This type of dehydrator is more expensive than the vertical flow type but have certain advantages.

The horizontal dehydrators move hot air across the trays and each tray is exposed to the same amount of hot air across all of the trays. In the vertical flow dehydrators, the trays furthest from the heating element and fan will be exposed to a lower temperature than those trays closer to the element. In other words, if the heating element is at the top of the tower, the trays at the bottom, furthest from the blowing heated air, will be at a little lower temperature than those closest to the heating element. In general this is not a significant issue but does result in different dehydration times for the different trays. However, some people prefer the small footprint of the tower type of dehydrator, especially if they are dehydrating in their kitchens.

The workshop on March 20 will cover a variety of fruits and vegetables with a focus on leathers. The beauty of dehydration as a preservative method is that it is both versatile and applicable to a wide variety of foods, including some which are not easy to preserve by other methods. We look forward to you attending the dehydration workshop.

 

 

February Lemon Workshop: Welcome Tennessee, Canada and Brazil!

On Saturday February 20 the Master Food Preservers of San Joaquin County presented a zoom workshop with two recipes that will use up some of the bountiful lemons available during this time of year.

Over 100 people attended. Many were California locals but several would definitely qualify as “distance learners”, one from Tennessee, another from Canada, where lemons are not growing on their trees this time of year and one from as far away as Brazil.

First Barbara Mattice gave our traditional Safety Talk. It covers the principles and actions that will insure that your produce is wholesome and safe to eat. These principles are good habits no matter what you do in the kitchen. For details on that follow this link to Fight Bac (bacteria):

https://www.fightbac.org

The first recipe was for a delicious marmalade called, Quick Lemon Ginger Marmalade. While this is very tasty on your morning English muffin, scone or toast, it is also delicious at dinner. It makes a wonderful glaze on baked or broiled fish or chicken. It can also make a great “Asian Tartar sauce”. Stir in a bit of mayonnaise and drizzle over

your cooked fish. Because the ginger easily pushes this recipe towards an Asian influence it can be modified by stirring in some soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil or sriracha sauce and using it to add flavor to many Asian recipes.

Here is where you can find the recipe:

https://ucanr.edu/sites/NSJMFP/files/299980.pdf  

The second recipe was for salt preserved lemons. This is a very simple recipe that does not require any special heat processing. The high salt content and acidity followed by refrigeration will give you at least 6 months of a unique flavoring agent.

Preserving with salt is an ancient form of preserving foods used long before refrigeration. This preserving process takes away much of the bitterness found in citrus peels and once the pith is discarded and salt is rinsed off, you are left with a unique, intensely citrus product. It is usually used in very small amounts,

often in dishes with Middle Eastern, North African or Indian origin. It is used in grain salads or chicken dishes but also makes a delightful addition to a cheese and cracker appetizer plate. There are many recipes that will inspire you to try salt preserved lemons.

To find the recipe for making preserved lemons follow this link:

https://ucanr.edu/sites/NSJMFP/files/299979.pdf  

Our next zoom workshop will be all about dehydrating foods. It will be on Saturday, March 20^th. Look for the registration link on the San Joaquin Master Food Preserver website as we get closer to that date. The workshop is for those new to the art of dehydration as well as those who are experienced in the techniques. Stay tuned for further details.

Also remember to visit this Blog at least weekly for updates, information and ideas related to Home Food Preservation.