Over the past decade, people have taken more interest in where their food comes from and what is in their food.  In Breathitt and surrounding counties, interest in heritage skills has increased as a way to preserve skills of grandparents as well as extending their food dollar and taking pride in creating food for their family.  This can be seen by the popularity of country ham programs for youth and adults in Kentucky.

The Breathitt County Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent Reed Graham partnered with the Wolfe County ANR Agent Jessica Morris to educate participants in the art of making summer sausage using recipes provided by Dr. Gregg Rentfrow, University of Kentucky Animal Science /Meat Specialist.

A 2 hour workshop was conducted 3 times in each county.  

Over 90 people from 4 counties participated, including 6 youth. Most of the men and women had never processed meat prior to the workshop.  They were doing it for personal use and gifts for family members.  

After observing a demonstration and sampling sausage, participants identified equipment needed and could recall the proper steps to ensure the food would be safe and enjoyable. They demonstrated kitchen and food safety practices as they created their own roll of summer sausage. Participants placed a name tag on their roll and ANR agents cooked the sausage.

Participants returned to the Extension office to claim their summer sausage after it was cooked.   They shared “I had no idea the process is this easy” and “I plan to do this with my family as an educational activity over the holidays” and that “I have never had summer sausage and did not realize it would taste this good”.