UT Extension News: “Food Preservation Lunch & Learn Scheduled”

May 26, 2020

by Chris Hicks, County Director – UT Extension Smith County

One of the positive aspects of the last few months is the increase in home gardening. I say it is a positive because there is something about growing your own food that is quite satisfying, and with all due respect to our fantastic local grocers, even they would probably tell you a tomato out of the garden is just flat out better tasting than one that has been stored and shipped.

One topic that goes right along with gardening is food preservation. A few plants in the garden can easily yield more food than a family can eat by themselves before it spoils. There are numerous methods of food preservation including canning, drying, spray drying, freeze drying, freezing, vacuum-packing, adding preservatives, and more. Using one or more of these methods will allow gardeners to enjoy the fruits of their labor throughout the year.

Admittedly, I spend more of my time as an Extension Agent helping people grow their garden than I do with the food preservation side. Fortunately, my Family Consumer Sciences co-worker, Mary Draper, does quite a bit of programming in that area and answers a lot of questions on this topic throughout the year.

Mary and I will be hosting a virtual Lunch & Learn via zoom from noon – 1:00 pm on June 3 covering the subject of food preservation. Specifically, we will be talking about freezing & drying. Freezing & drying are great methods of preserving certain fruits and vegetables, but they must be done properly. Our speaker at this session will be Putnam County FCS agent, Michelle Parrot. Michelle has taught dozens of Canning College classes and is very knowledgebale.

To register for the zoom session and get the link via email, visit https://tiny.utk.edu/foodpreservation. If you have any questions about the Lunch and Learn, or other gardening or food preservation topics, call the University of Tennessee Extension office at 615-735-2900.

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