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.

Valerie and Kevin bring a perfect mix of no-nonsense knowledge, humor and charm to the process.  First Kevin walked a dozen of us students through his method of making asparagus pickled with tarragon and green garlic. We had those jumbo Zuckerman Farms bad boys tamed in no time. So easy! So chic! The most inconvenient part, frankly, is sterilizing the jars, and that's not terribly taxing. I can't wait to taste the results. I'll probably toss the spears in a salad like the one that was served after class, since it's just like one I make anyway. Basically red leaf lettuce with a simple lemon vinaigrette and avocado.

Next, we sliced rhubarb into matchsticks, quartered fresh strawberries, and macerated them with sugar and Meyer lemon before boiling it all down into a pretty pink burbling mass, and then the mixture was dosed into individual jars for us students to bring home.

 

After the dirty work was done, we sipped New Mexico-made Gruet sparkly and sampled some of Kevin and Valerie's preserved veggie and fruit handiwork, laid out in a very attractive and appetizing manner, of course. Aesthetics are crucial when deliberately taking the freshness out of inherently beautiful foods.   

 

It didn't take long for the class's utility value to prove itself. When stumped with what dessert to serve to guests the night after I took the class, I whipped up some cream (kids never get enough of the standing mixer), folded in the strawberry rhubarb jam as per Valerie's suggestion, put in glasses garnished with a dollop of jam and fresh strawberries. The mint leaves were my personal touch. Insta-dessert.

Check the Valerie Confections website for info about upcoming larder-oriented classes such as cocktail ingredients, BBQ condiments, and cheese accompaniments. Sadly I don't have the free time as I'd like to preserve and can as much as I'd like to, but I'll get back to it. Since I'm committed to making baby food this round, I've got extra preserving needs. I already invested $3.95 in a handy jar lifter at Sur la Table.

Comments

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