Last fall, MSU Extension hosted the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Science Agents with more than 700 colleagues from across the nation in attendance. By attending, I met colleagues from Idaho and Colorado who graciously shared an opportunity for you to participate in one of their on-line food preservation Extension classes.
Do you want to learn how to safely can, dry or freeze your garden’s bounty? University of Idaho Extension invites you to enroll in Preserve@Home, an online food preservation class to teach individuals how to safely preserve a variety of food products. Participants learn how to produce high-quality, preserved foods and the science behind food preservation and food safety.
The registration deadline is Monday, January 17, 2017. The first lesson of the 6-week course opens online on Thursday, January 19 at 1 pm MST. Each lesson includes online text (that can be downloaded and printed), online bulletin board to facilitate participant discussion, and a real-time weekly chat to interact with classmates and instructors. The weekly online chat session for the first lesson will be on Thursday, January 26 from 1:00 to 1:45 p.m. MST. Topics to be covered include: Foodborne Illness – causes and prevention, Spoilage and Canning Basics, Canning High Acid foods, Canning Specialty High Acid Foods – pickles, salsa, jams, jellies, etc., Canning Low Acid Foods, and Freezing and Drying. Supplemental materials will include materials on planting varieties for food preservation, cold storage and root cellaring.
The cost is $35 plus the cost of supplemental materials. Many of the supplemental materials are available free, online. Class size is limited. For more information, contact Laura Sant at 208-852-1097 or lsant@uidaho.edu.
