UC Master Food Preserver Newsletter | UC Master Food Preserver

In November of 2024, the UC Master Food Preserver Program launched a monthly newsletter that delivers recipes, how-tos, and food preservation inspiration straight to a subscriber's inbox. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

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Past Newsletter Full Emails

2026

2025

2024

Monthly Articles To-date

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Magenta Magic All Year Long (September 2026)

September 13, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Marina Hsieh, Contra Costa County, Online Delivery Program VolunteerThe brilliant magenta fruits of the prickly pear cactus (aka “cactus pear” or “cactus tuna”) are ripe now in most climates! Juicing and freezing is an excellent way to compactly preserve this annual fruit for convenient year-round use,…

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UC Master Food Preserver: Article

What is Salsa??? (September 2026)

September 13, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Tim Long, Stanislaus County, Online Delivery Program VolunteerSalsa literally means "sauce" in Spanish and Italian. And of course, it is a music genre/dance style you may have seen on Dancing with the Stars…but I digress—we’re talking about food products here.Traditional salsa is made from a…

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UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Buried Treasure: Preserving Dairy in Bronze Age Ireland (September 2026)

September 13, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Sarah Donelson, Marin County, Online Delivery Program Volunteer Long before refrigerators, freezers, or canning jars, farmers in Bronze-Age Ireland used the environment around them to solve one of food preservation's oldest problems: what to do with milk when there's too much of it in one season and…

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UC Master Food Preserver: Article

My Grandmother Would Have Bought the Steam Canner- Five canning methods, and what actually changed our minds about each one (September 2026)

September 13, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Paige Weisskirch, Monterey County, Online Delivery Program Volunteer My grandmother hated being called old-fashioned. She read the new pamphlets, tried the new methods, and would have taken it as an insult to be told she was doing something a certain way just because it was familiar. And yet, there's…

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red and green apples in a large plastic basket

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Bad Fruit Does Not Make Good Jam (August 2026)

August 11, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Maureen Ladley, UC Master Food Preserver of Solano/Yolo County Volunteer Over the years, more than one of my acquaintances has assumed that if fruit isn’t very good fresh, turning it into jam is the right solution. After all, you’ll be adding sugar and cooking it, right? Unfortunately, jam is not a…

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a wooden ladder leans in front of a window adorned with dozens of hanging persimmons

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Spotlight: Marina Hsieh, Contra Costa County, 2024 MFP Volunteer (August 2026)

August 11, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

The UC Master Food Preserver (MFP) program is a perfect combination of my passion for teaching and for food (playing with it and eating it)! I had never heard of Master Food Preservers until my husband discovered the inaugural Online Delivery Program training and suggested we both apply. That 2024…

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gloved hand holds a quartered lime covered in salt over a bowl

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Preserved Limes: A Zesty Twist on Preserved Citrus (July 2026)

July 9, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Katie Yamashita, Los Angeles County, Online Delivery Program Volunteer Few preserving projects are as accessible as salt-cured citrus. There's no canner, no fermentation crock, no specialized equipment beyond a clean jar, and the ingredient list rarely goes beyond what's already on hand: citrus…

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over a dozen small bumpy cucumbers in a bowl, three small red onions on the table outside the bowl

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Crunchy, Sweet, and Tangy: Bread-and-Butter Cucumber Pickles (July 2026)

July 9, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

Three tips for making the best pickles by Ariel Patton, UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program Volunteer There's nothing quite like a sweet, tangy, crunchy pickle to perfect your next sandwich. This bread & butter pickle recipe is an annual staple in my kitchen. With the amount of…

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a rectangle of dehydrated berry and apricot puree on a cutting board next to a pair of scissors

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

The Science of the Perfect Chew: Making Better Fruit Leather at Home (July 2026)

July 9, 2026

By UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program

by Paige Weisskirch, UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program Volunteer Fruit leather is one of my favorite ways to use up fruit that is just past its prime: soft pears, a handful of mushy berries, peaches that need to be used today, or the apples that have lost their crispness but…

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a smiling woman holding a half-gallon jar of homemade sauerkraut

UC Master Food Preserver: Article

Spotlight: Paige Weisskirch, Monterey County, 2024 MFP Volunteer (July 2026)

July 9, 2026

My name is Paige Weisskirch, and I volunteer with the UC Master Food Preserver Online Delivery Program. I live on the Monterey Peninsula, which means I am lucky enough to live near the beach, but not exactly in backyard tomato country. It is foggy and cool much of the time, so big backyard…

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