Freeport, ILL [August 6, 2021]—All of your passion, sweat and hard work has paid off this summer. Your garden is overflowing, and now it’s time to harvest! If you are like most gardeners, you have more produce than you can eat before it spoils. You may even be asking yourself, ‘What can I do with all of this produce, so my hard work doesn’t go to waste?’

University of Illinois Extension has many home food preservation resources to help keep you up to date while preserving your summer harvest, located in one convenient location. Visit go.illinois.edu/jsw and click on “Fill Your Pantry Home Webinar Series”. There you will find recorded webinars and handouts with information covering almost every type of food preservation. There are even recipes for preserving your food.

“The Fill Your Pantry webinar series has eight sessions addressing the most common methods of home food preservation. Each session will help consumers safely preserve their fruits and vegetables,” explains Nutrition and Wellness Educator Diane Reinhold.

• Canning Basics: In this session, you will learn the difference between pressure canning and water bath canning. You’ll also learn some tips and tricks to increase the shelf-life of your food and the importance of having your pressure canner dial-gauge tested yearly. This summer, Reinhold hosted several dial-gauge testing clinics in Jo Daviess, Stephenson and Winnebago counties. If you need to have your pressure canner dial-gauge tested, contact our office and schedule an appointment.
• Freezing Your Summer Harvest: Freezing your food can be a quick and easy way to put up your vegetables. You will learn which foods freeze well and why blanching before freezing improves the quality of your frozen vegetables.
• Fermentation: Probiotic properties in foods and drinks continue to be a popular way to help increase a healthy gut. In the Fermenting Foods session, you learn the fundamentals and benefits of lacto-fermentation and gain confidence to ferment your veggies at home safely. about this method of food preservation and how to safely ferment your own food at home.
• Drying: Dehydrating foods is another easy way to extend the life of your produce safely. In this session, you’ll learn about different drying methods, the equipment needed and the best way to use dehydrated foods in recipes.
• Jams and Jellies: Making jams and jellies will be a breeze this fall with help from this series’ Jam & Jellies session. You’ll learn how to troubleshoot various challenges such as unset jellies.
• Pickles: Learn basic pickling methods to extend the shelf life of your food with anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar in the Pickling Foods session.
• Apples: Apples are a favorite seasonal fruit for many. In this session, you’ll learn about juicing, freezing, canning and dehydrating apples so you can enjoy them all year round.
• Tomatoes: And finally, there’s an entire section devoted to processing tomatoes. Whether you’re canning, freezing or drying your tomatoes, you’ll find the most up-to-date methods in this section.

“It’s important to always use a scientifically tested recipe when preserving foods,” states Reinhold. “Scientifically tested recipes used in canning ensure the combination of high temperature, prolonged processing time, and acid level destroys the bacteria and toxic bacterial spores produced by Clostridium botulinum spores. In addition to using scientifically tested recipes, it is also important to process low acid foods using a pressure canner. Foods having a pH value greater than 4.6 are considered low acid. These foods lack the acidity needed to prevent spoilage and must be processed using a pressure canner. Common low acid foods canned include asparagus, all varieties of beans, beets, carrots, corn, potatoes, meat and poultry,” reminds Reinhold.

For more information about food preservation, visit go.illinois.edu/jsw and click on “Fill Your Pantry Home Webinar Series,” or for more information, contact your local extension office: Jo Daviess County, 815-858-2273; Stephenson County, 815-235-4125; and Winnebago County, 815-986-4357.

Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in program and employment. If you need reasonable accommodation to participate in programming, contact the program coordinator. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time for meeting your needs.