Planning For Some Canning
Summer’s bounty of fruits and vegetables is enjoyable while it lasts, but there’s no reason you can’t keep some of it around for the rest of the year.
Food safety advisers from Washington State University Cooperative Extension will tell you how in a free Food Safety and Preservation Fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Spokane County Agricultural Center, 222 N. Havana.
Topics will include canning (from fruit pie fillings to salsas), sugar-free jams and jellies, pickling, drying foods and making flavored vinegars. For further information, call Diane Moe at 238-4814.
Can do
If you can’t make it to the fair, there’s still help available by mail.
“Salsa Recipes For Canning,” a booklet with seven tested salsa recipes, is available for $2.50 (including shipping and handling) from WSU Cooperative Extension, Cooper Publications Building, WSU, Dept. S, Pullman, WA 99164-5912. Ask for PNW0395, and make checks payable to WSU Cooperative Extension Publications.
The new “Ball Home Canning Basics” booklet, geared to beginners and featuring more than 25 recipes, is available for free by calling (800) 240-3340, ext. 391, or by writing to Alltrista Corp., Direct Marketing Dept. PHB, P.O. Box 2005, Muncie, IN 47307-0005.
For the larger, more comprehensive “Ball Blue Book Guide to Home Canning, Freezing and Dehydration,” with more than 500 recipes, send a check or money order for $4.95 plus $1 postage and handling, payable to Alltrista, to Direct Marketing Dept. CN6, Alltrista Corp., P.O. Box 2005, Muncie, IN 47307-0005.
And for a free copy of the “Heinz Successful Pickling Guide,” write to Canning and Pickling Made Easy, P.O. Box 57, Pittsburgh, PA 15230.
Fest wishes
A couple of contests with approaching deadlines:
Oysterfest Seafood Cook-Off, for main dish, soup/stew and appetizer recipes in amateur and professional divisions. Finalists will compete at the Washington State Seafood Festival Oct. 5-6 in Shelton, with a $400 grand prize in each division. Send recipes by Aug. 25 to Bob Rogers, SE 200 Mermaid Lane, Shelton, WA 98584.
Craneberry’s Cranberry Harvest Getaway Drawing, Sept. 3, for an all-expenses-paid weekend at the Cranberry Festival Oct. 4-6 on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula. Send a purchase receipt or empty bag from Craneberry’s dried cranberries, or “Craneberry’s Cranberry Harvest Getaway” written on a 3- by 5-inch card, to Craneberry’s, 606 NE 20th Ave., Portland, OR 97232.
, DataTimes MEMO: We’re always looking for fresh food news. Write to: The Fresh Sheet, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.