Food Preservation has a Resurgence during Stay-at-Home Order

    With more families at home during the Covid 19 pandemic, the Rockcastle County Extension Office had more than usual requests for Food Preservation information for the summer.  The Extension Office distributed 68 food preservation kits to those who were preserving food from their gardens or from local farms.  Clientele could pick up a complete set of canning guides with 2-3 small pieces of equipment needed for canning or freezing foods from the Extension Office.  To determine whether or not the canning guides were being used, 2 different surveys were distributed to the clientele.  A total of 41 people returned a survey.  All the clientele that responded to the surveys said that they used the recipes and processing times in the UK guidelines.    Respondents reported the following numbers of food items preserved by the UK guidelines:  Fruit/fruit products 77 jars; vegetables 3070 jars; tomato products 592 jars; and pickles and fermented foods 175 jars.   One respondent shared that this was her first time canning food at home and that the step-by-step guideline assisted her in having success.