Montgomery, Bath and Menifee Counties’ Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agents collaborated to offer a food preservation workshop for a total of seven participants. Agents taught lessons and led hands-on food preservation experiences for pressure canning, water bath canning, and freezing preservation methods. Participants were able to assist in making canned vegetable soup, canned blueberry-lemon jam and frozen corn. At the end of the program, participants were able to take these products home with them. Agents also conducted learning activities so that participants could practice identifying high and low acid foods and the sequence of steps for canning methods.

 One-hundred percent of participants identified research based methods of home food preservation as a result of the program, differentiated between high and low acid foods, accurately prepared food products using the boiling water canning, pressure canning, and freezing method of preservation, and identified signs of spoilage in home canned foods. One participant reported and increase in skill level from beginner to intermediate in the method of freezing for food preservation. Participants showed interest in learning other food preservation methods such as drying and canning meat products. A follow-up program is being planned to offer additional food preservation programming in these areas of interest.