The North Carolina Cooperative Extension is wrapping up its Food Preservation series with a session focused on dehydration and fruits.
The session is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at the Sampson County facility, 55 Agriculture Place, Clinton. During the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to learn about dry herbs, fruits and making fruit leather. Another goal is to make people feel more comfortable about using a dehydrator, in a safe way.
Workshops led by Sydney Johnson started in April and were held at Sampson and Duplin Extension offices. As a Family and Consumer Sciences agent, Johnson’s goal was to help people save food for a long time. Some of the scheduled topics included jams and jellies; canning vegetables; pickles; and meat and poultry.
During the process, she also stressed the importance of avoiding problems such as botulism — food poisoning from bacteria growing on meats and preserved meats.
After the first class, some of the participants enjoyed taking more than one class throughout the year. A lot of people from outside Sampson County participated.
“I feel like everyone who attended the classes learned a lot,” Johnson said. “They enjoyed doing the hands-on workshop and some of them came to numerous classes.”
Johnson said she plans to continue having workshops in 2018, with a goal of helping people.
The cost of the upcoming class on dehydration is $15, which includes materials and supplies for the workshop. Ball Blue Books will also be on sale for $5.
For more information, contact the Sampson County Extension Center at 910-592-7161. Johnson may also be reached by email at [email protected]. Additional information regarding the classes is available at https://goo.gl/HaEbaF.
