Review: Fall Workshops and Events

Thank you all for coming out to our fall workshops! We're done with our schedule for this year, so keep an eye out or subscribe to our email list for announcements on new workshops.

Here's what we were up to over the past couple of months:

Introduction to Canning
Credit: Christina Mak

Introduction to Canning
Credit: Leanne Zmud

Winter Container Food Gardening
Credit: Leanne Zmud

Goodlad Community Garden Party
Credit: Christina Mak

Healthy Snacks for Kids
Credit: Christina Mak

Healthy Snacks for Kids
Credit: Christina Mak

Healthy Meal Planning
Credit: Christina Mak

Healthy Meal Planning
Credit: Christina Mak

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Enjoy Burnaby Food First workshops? Want to get involved as a volunteer?

Check out all the great ways you can get involved. All are welcome, and we'd love to have you on board! For more information, send us an email.

Upcoming Workshops: Canning, Dehydrating, and Seed Saving

Burnaby Food First is pleased to present three more FREE community workshops!

Whole Fruit Canning: The Joy of Sweet and Sour Fruit

Wednesday, August 21

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Cranberry Commons (4272 Albert Street / Burnaby - map)

Credit: Sofi Martinez

Learn with Karen DarWoon how to can local, fresh whole fruit in a sweet and sour style. You get a jar to take home with you! This will be a hands-on workshop.

**REGISTRATION CLOSED**

Karen DarWoon is a personal chef and former Board Member of the Richmond Sharing Farm Society who is passionate about urban farming and the fun of food!

Art of Drying and Storing Foods

Tuesday, September 10

6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Tommy Douglas Library (7311 Kingsway / Burnaby - map)

Learn how to prepare and store dried fruits and vegetables, as well as how to make your own fruit leather! This will be a demonstration-style workshop.

**REGISTRATION CLOSED**

Andrea Potter is a Red Seal Chef and a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. She teaches whole-foods cooking classes and also offers nutrition counselling. She is passionate about the benefits of whole, local and slow foods. For more information on Andrea Potter, visit her website: http://wholefoodscooking.ca/.

Burnaby Seed Saving Workshop

Tuesday, September 17

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Tommy Douglas Library (7311 Kingsway / Burnaby - map)

Learn the basics of how to start saving and storing seeds. Saving seeds saves you money, helps biodiversity, and lets you keep growing the variety of plants that you know work for you.

If you have seeds you have saved, bring them to share and trade! This will be a demonstration-style workshop.

**REGISTRATION CLOSED**

Cylia Taryse Wong, who helped create the Cedar Cottage Seedsaving Collective (a seed bank) in 2011, is a Gaia College organic master gardener, certified permaculturist, and member of two Vancouver community gardens and Copley Commons Orchard. She brings her hands-on knowledge and experience with community gardening and seed saving to this workshop.

Recipe: Blueberry Chutney

Chutneys go well with chicken, fish, and many vegetable dishes. They can also be made to suit personal tastes -- e.g. sweet and not spicy -- and are suited to all kinds of fruits.

This recipe is from our Canning for Life workshop, taught by chef Alice Macpherson. It makes a spicy version that is suitable for a variety of dishes and uses blueberry jam, as per the Homemade Jam recipe from the same workshop. The below measurements are for every 2 litres of jam.

Blueberry Chutney

To email, print, or text this recipe, click here.

Ingredients

2 L blueberry (or other fruit) jam
5 mL salt

Any of the below:

10 mL black pepper, ground
15 mL fennel seed, ground
15 mL coriander seed, ground
15 mL ginger, ground
125 mL Balsamic vinegar

Source: The Dog's Breakfast

Instructions

1. Heat up the jam. While the jam is heating, decide which seasonings you want to add.

2. Stir the seasonings (any of pepper, fennel, coriander, ginger, and/or Balsamic vinegar) into the heated jam.

3. Heat for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust as desired.

4. When ready, spoon the jam into clean canning jars.

5. Put on the lids and rings on and process in a hot water bath. Please see the Hot Water Canning guide for instructions. At full boil, let the jars cook for 10 minutes. This time is for kitchens at sea level (where we are), and for every 3,000 feet above 1,000 feet sea level, extend the boiling time by 5 minutes.  

Recipe: Apple Butter

Apple butter is a spread that resembles applesauce but is thicker and more concentrated in flavour. It makes a fantastic accompaniment for toast or can be turned into a spread for baked goods. Try combining and chilling a 1/2 cup of apple butter with 1/4 cup of softened butter and letting it come to room temperature before using.

This recipe is from the Canning for the Sweet Life workshop in September, taught by Francesca and Antonietta of Foodwisdom.

Apple Butter
Adapted from Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

To email, print, or text this recipe, click here.

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs. apples (or apricots, plums, or peaches)
1 cup water
3/4 cups demerrara sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground
grated rind and juice from 1 lemon

Tools

Large pot
Potato masher
Large wooden spoon
Knife
Jars with lids and rings
Sieve (optional)

Source: Bakin' on the Side

Instructions

1. Core the apples, and slice each apple into 8 pieces.

2. Mix together with the water in a pot. Cook over medium-high heat until the apples are soft, then turn the temperature down to low.

3. Mash the softened apples with the potato masher.

4. Add the remaining ingredients.

5. Continuing cooking the mixture over low heat and mashing the apples until they have fully dissolved.

6. Stir the apple mixture continuously to ensure that it does not burn.

7. If you want a smooth apple butter, push the mixture through a sieve with a ladle.

8. Fill hot, sterilized jars with the apple butter.

9.  Put on the lids and rings on and process in a hot water bath. Please see the Hot Water Canning guide for instructions. At full boil, let the jars cook for 20 minutes. This time is for kitchens at sea level (where we are), and for every 3,000 feet above 1,000 feet sea level, extend the boiling time by 5 minutes.

Guide to Hot Water Canning

This guide is for the Hot Water method of canning, as used in a number of our recipes for jams, chutneys, and other preserves. The standard size of the mason jars used in our recipes is 250 mL, but the boiling times are the same regardless of jar size.

We recommend for optimal safety to use new lids, and even jar rings, each time when re-using sterilized mason jars from previous batches. Improperly cleaned canning jars can harbour bacteria and other nasties that can lead to food poisoning and other food-borne illnesses.

Fruits must be canned using the hot water method below because of the high levels of sugar and/or acid they contain. Vegetables, meat, and some other foods should never be canned using this method; they must be treated using a pressure cooker. Canned foods that have sealed will last for about a year or a little more -- if they aren't eaten before that!

The instructions below are provided kindly on the behalf of Alice Macpherson.

Hot Water Canning

Things You Need

Large pot, with sides higher than the mason jars
Glass mason canning jars, warmed or hot
Sterilized jar rings and lids
Canner rack

Instructions

1. Jars, rings, and lids must be very clean and washed in hot water or put through the dishwasher in a hot cycle and then dried thoroughly. Lids should be put in hot water before using so that the seal is soft and ready to use.

2. Fill the pot halfway with water and heat it until it just starts to boil.

3. The food being canned should be ready at this point, as indicated by the recipe. While the food is hot, put it into your clean, warm jars. Fill the jars to the 0.75 mL line, about 1/4-inch from the rim.

4. Rinse the lids and rings in hot water again before you put them on the jars. Ensure that the sealing material on the lids is soft. Put the lids on the jars and then tighten the rings around them. If the rings are too loose, liquid may leak out, but if they are too tight, trapped air inside the jars cannot get out.

5. Load the filled jars onto the canner rack and use the handles to lower the rack into the water. If you don't have a specialized canner rack, you can use a metal steamer tray or any other heat-proof rack that fits in the bottom of your pot and keeps the jars up off the bottom of the pot.

6. Add more boiling water, if needed, so that the water level in the pot is an inch above the tops of the jars, and then put the lid on.

7. Turn the heat to high and boil vigorously.

8. Let the jars boil for the time indicated in the recipe. As needed, add more boiling water to ensure the jars are always covered with water.

9. When done, lift the jars out and put them on a rack or a towel, with 1 inch between them to allow for cooling.

10. When the jars cool, you will hear the lid click. This means that the jar is properly sealed. Check again in 24 hours to make sure the lids and rings are still tight. If a jar does not seal, put it in the fridge and use the food right away, within 24 hours or less.