Many individuals and families have taken an interest in Food Preservation in the last year. There is a lot of misinformation online about best practices for food preservation. Safety when preserving food should be a priority and research-based methods should always be used. With this information in mind The Letcher County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences conducted three in-person Food Preservation Workshops. One of these workshops was conducted in collaboration with CANE Kitchen and Grow Appalachia and taught at CANE Kitchen and the other two workshops were taught at the Extension Office.

Topics discussed throughout this program included, “The Basics” of Food Preservation, Water Bath Canning Safety, and Best Practices for Freezing. The class met 3 days total throughout the months of July and August. The program had a wide reach directly, with a total of 27 individuals attending the workshops. Each participant received the UK 5^th Edition Food Preservation booklet.  The FCS agent focused on Boiling Water Baths and Freezing Vegetables.  During the workshops participants made salsa, blackberry jam/jelly and froze green beans.   During the freezing workshop participants took home greens beans frozen in regular freezer bags and in vacuumed sealed bags.  

After the Food Preservation Workshop concluded surveys showed that 100% of the participants felt that they could:

• Identify safe, research-based methods of home food preservation.
• Understood the difference between low acid and high acid foods.
• Identify the correct method of canning for low acid and high acid foods.

Additionally, 98% of those that completed the survey indicated that they:

• Learned better skills in home food preservation methods.
• Could accurately prepare foods and containers for home food preservation.
• Liked the vacuumed sealed frozen green beans better.

The FCS agent will continue to host food preservation workshops for the Letcher County community, these workshops are important for the health and safety of individuals and families.