UCCE Master Food Preservers of San Joaquin County
"To teach research-based practices of safe home food preservation to the residents of California."
Preservation Notes Newsletters
Why Preserve Food?
Food spoilage is the process of food becoming unsafe or unacceptable for human consumption. Spoilage is normally caused by the growth of microorganisms in foods. Other losses in quality are caused by natural activities in fresh food tissues, for example, the excessive softening in overripe fruit caused by fruit enzymes. Spoilage and quality losses are partially or completely controlled in properly preserved foods. Food preservation is the maintenance of safe and nutritious food for an extended period of time. Examples of preserved foods include properly packaged refrigerated, frozen, canned, and dried products.
Objectives of food preservation:
• The primary objective of food preservation is to prevent food spoilage until it can be consumed. Gardens often produce too much food at one time—more than can be eaten before spoilage sets in.
• Preserving food also offers the opportunity to have a wide variety of foods year-round.
• It’s economic. The motivation for preserving fresh foods, whether from the garden, farm, or market, often includes saving money as well as satisfying personal preferences. There are many variables, however, that affect the cost of home-preserved foods. The true costs include total supplies, equipment, fresh food, human energy, and fuel energy to process and store food.
UC Food Blog
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No-till annual wheat better for soil health in California’s climate
One more reason to adopt sustainable cultivation California wheat farmers could both maintain their yields and improve soil health by growing annual wheat without tilling the soil year after year. This could be one more encouragement to farmers to...
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First-ever Queensland fruit fly quarantine restricts moving homegrown produce
QFF quarantine in LA, Ventura counties among seven fruit fly quarantines statewide Residents in multiple Southern California and Northern California counties should not move homegrown fruits and vegetables from their properties to help contain several...
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Winter season: A time for food safety systems re-evaluation and education for food hubs
The holiday meal season is often a busy time for food hubs – entities that handle the aggregation, distribution and/or marketing of source-identified regional food – as restaurants, retailers and consumers fill their tables and shelves with...