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CHECK PRESSURE CANNER GAUGES

It’s summer and time to preserve your summer produce. Safe, high quality home canned foods begin with the right equipment used properly. If you use a pressure canner with a dial gauge, you need to have it tested to make sure that it is showing the correct pressure.

Call the Extension office at 626-3742 and schedule a time to have your gauge checked. You just need the gauge or the lid with the gauge. There is no charge for this service.

CANNING 101

Preserving Foods Safely Classes

Juicy ripe peaches, snapping fresh green beans, sweet blackberry jam, and crunchy dill pickles. Nothing tastes better than home-canned foods. For many, preserving these and other foods at home can be an intimidating process. However, this does not have to be the case. In fact, with a little knowledge, the right skills, and practice, anyone will find that it is so easy to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables at home.

The University of Tennessee Extension Office in Claiborne County is pleased to announce a course to help with canning foods safely at home. “Canning 101: Preserving Foods Safely” is a course designed to teach, through hands-on demonstrations, the “ins and outs” of home canning. Topics to be covered in the course include:

• Using a Pressure Canner to can low acid foods;

• Preserving Jams and Jellies;

• Pickling;

• Using a Water Bath Canner;

• Freezing and Drying Foods.

Whether you are an experienced canner who has preserved food for years or a novice wanting to learn more about home canning, this is the course for you. Three separate “Canning 101” classes are being offered this year:

• July 17 and July 19 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Tazewell Senior Citizens Center. You must attend both sessions to cover all of the topics;

• July 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at LMU Gardens;

• July 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Servolution Health Services in Speedwell.

During the course, participants will learn basic of food preservation and home canning principles and terminology and will actually preserve foods. Participants will have the opportunity to preserve jams and jelly, pickles, fruit, tomato salsa and green beans, all with assistance.

In addition, all participants who complete the course will receive a dozen canning jars, a copy of “So Easy to Preserve” food preservation recipe book and foods canned during the class.

The cost for the class is $60. This includes canning book, resources and canning supplies. Individuals interested in registering for the course should call Carol Brandon at 626-3742 or email cbrandon@utk.edu by July 12 to sign up for the class that you plan to come to, so supplies may be purchased. Classes are limited to the first eight people that sign up.

This course is open for anyone who would like to learn more about preserving the wonderful produce from your garden or from the farmer’s market or your local farmer, so you will have home preserved foods to eat all year long.

If you would like to learn more about how UT-TSU Extension serves Claiborne County you can visit the office, call us at 423-626-3742, visit our website at claiborne.tennessee.edu, like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/extensionclaiborne), or follow us on Twitter @ClaiborneExt.