This blog represents my opinions and my opinions alone, and certainly doesn't represent the collective thoughts of any of the Boards or organizations that I serve on. Unfortunately I make all sorts of miistakes, I'm a picky eater, I can't sing and I just recently found out I have been spelling certain words in my vocabulary wrong my entire life. That being said, I still continue to muddle ever onward. Welcome.





Sunday, April 11, 2010

Anyone Interested in Starting a Canning Kitchen?

I have been a long-time fan of 'putting up'. I would love to get some interested gardeners to help start a community canning kitchen in Monona. We don't have central air in our house (yes, I know how bizarre this sounds, but it's entirely too true) and I would love to approach the Monona Senior Center with a plan to use their kitchen for a week or two during harvest time. It would also be wonderful to partner with the seniors on canning techniques- it seems to be a dying art form that isn't handed down generation to generation anymore. And when you're screwing around with botulism, I'll take all the advice I can get.


Canning Kitchen: "Canning Kitchen "
The canning kitchen is a self-help facility equipped for the preparation, preservation, and heat processing of seasonally available fruits and vegetables, pickles and relishes, sauces and syrups, and of course jams and jellies.
The resources of the Canning Kitchen enable you to bring in homegrown produce or what you have purchased to preserve them for future consumption.
The foods are processed by using the 'home-style' method of canning by using traditional water bath canners and dial gauge pressure canners on commercial gas ranges.
How Does the Community Canning Kitchen Operate?
The Canning Kitchen is supervised during all hours of operation by a knowledgeable, experienced assistant who will help and educate you each step of the way with the latest, safest methods and processing techniques.
The kitchen is equipped with all of the necessary tools and appliances that you will need to preserve fruits and vegetables, sauces, relishes, jams, etc., pea shellers and juicers are also available for your use.
You bring your own canning jars, produce, and recipe ingredients such as; spices, vinegars, etc. If you need help with ingredient amounts and requirements, please call ahead.
After you wash and prepare your produce, you will fill your sanitized canning jars and apply the lids. "

9 comments:

  1. I love canning! My dream is to give all home-canned Christmas presents. Great idea on the community canning kitchen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea. I've wanted to can (and have checked out every book in the SWLS on canning) but I've been afraid to try it on my own because my kitchen isn't ideal and I don't want to put my family in peril (with large vats of boiling water or the risk of botulism). I'm totally in. I've also wondered about renting commercial/community kitchen space around the holidays to bake in larger quantities than I can at home with one mixer and one oven.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'd be in too but I don't have a kitchen, and would be willing to put a few bucks towards the rental of a space if necessary. What a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Will you be doing lyme pickels and will there be a contest?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Erica and I would definitely have interest in helping with a canning kitchen.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Definitely interested in this - we usually have a surplus from our CSA box every week & I'd love to find new ways to extend the harvest! I also like Jen's idea about a community kitchen space for holiday baking.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I too believe it is becoming a lost art and think you have brought up a very good idea. I sincerely hope it becomes a reality!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jessica
    I used to do some canning, but not an expert. I would love to get back into it. I will work with you and Jake and the Senior Center to see if we can put something together. I also think that perhaps can get some expertise from the UW Extension. Lastly, when I chaired Park Board we talked about using some open space for community gardens. If we could come up with ideas for some open space.. like graham park or bridge road park, perhaps we can get the city to allow us to use some space for gardens. Let's talk about this.

    Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome Kathy! That sounds great!

    ReplyDelete