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 harvests are not really part of my food preservation story. I do not usually have buckets of peaches or crates of tomatoes coming in from the garden. Instead, I take advantage of local farmers' markets, farmstands, grocery store deals, and whatever interesting ingredient happens to catch my attention.
I also like making slightly weird things. I will try to preserve almost anything once. Sometimes that works out beautifully, like fig leaf syrup. Sometimes it works out less beautifully, like pickled green tomatoes that mostly tasted like sour tomatoes. I like the combination of local ingredients and the occasional "well, now I know" kitchen experiment.
Jam is where food preservation really started for me. More than 25 years ago, when I first started making jam, I ran into a few problems and mentioned them to a coworker. He told me his mother was a Master Food Preserver and offered to ask her for advice.
I remember thinking, "Wait, that exists?"
I had no idea there were UC Master Food Preservers. As someone who has always been interested in cooking, baking, food science, and the history behind what we eat, I was immediately fascinated by the idea. Becoming a UC Master Food Preserver seemed like a perfect fit: it combined food science, food history, and one of my more questionable character traits. When I get interested in something, I tend to go deep. This is why I have a chocolate melanger and a cheese press sitting in a bin in the garage.
For me, food preservation never started as a way to create an Instagram-ready pantry or prepare for the next ice age. I preserve food because I enjoy it. The hobby started out of curiosity and stuck because often what I could make at home tasted better than what I could buy. I will see a sauce, jam, pickle, or preserve for sale and immediately think, "I can make that." No one is making pickled figs out of necessity. I make them because they taste good. The fact that it can also save money and keep food out of a landfill is a bonus.
In 2024, I was thrilled to find the Online Delivery Program because it gave me the chance to finally become a Master Food Preserver, even though I live in a region without a county-based program. I work full-time as a lecturer at CSU Monterey Bay and have a family, so this is squarely in hobby territory. It pays nothing, but it is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in the last couple of years.
What surprised me is how much of it comes down to talking to people. There is plenty of science: tested recipes, processing times, pH, water activity, and all the details that make home food preservation safe. But there are also people trying to make good use of a backyard fruit tree, understand what went wrong with a batch of jam, or figure out whether something they saw online is safe (spoiler: it probably isn't).
That is my favorite part: answering questions and sharing the fun facts and information I find interesting and hope others will, too. I regularly participate in the monthly Ask a Master Food Preserver sessions, write the occasional newsletter article, and am the person behind some of our social media content. I especially enjoy writing and teaching about why we preserve food the way we do, because the history is usually as interesting as the science.
I have also learned new skills along the way. I am no longer afraid of my pressure canner, which still feels like a personal achievement. I have learned more about safe food preservation than I ever would have on my own, and I have made friends I would not have met otherwise.
What I hope people take away from food preservation is that it does not have to be all-or-nothing. I used to feel like I was not really a "canner" because I never wanted to can fish or fill my cupboards with quarts of soup. You can start wherever you like and preserve only what you want.
I am glad I did not miss it.