Can It! Intro to Home Preserving and Canning Class at Valerie Confections

Canning and preserving carries an air of nostalgia, Depression-era savvy, and resourceful American pluck. There's also the dark side and sordid legacy of preserved and canned foods, which is another story entirely... Anyway, for many people, the memory of making preserves is this big treasured childhood thing. Yet I don't know of anyone in my family who jarred anything; maybe someone stashed pickles and cheap fish back in the day in a cramped Lower East Side or Newark tenement.

Taking a class with Valerie Gordon of local treat maker Valerie Confections and Kevin West of the blog Saving the Season might change that bit of family culinary history (or lack thereof). I jumped at the chance when invited to attend a session of hands-on instruction, since we already consume jars of Valerie's preserves made from local organic farmers' market-sourced ingredients at a frightening pace.

We've got the no-knead bread happening all the time, so makes sense to have fruit preserves to go with it. And what a perfect way to spend an afternoon away from my kids while doing something that benefits them. Right? Especially since most toddlers will eat just about any pickled vegetable.