Can, Pickle and Preserve
Home Canning Parties Teach Skills Our Grandmothers Knew

Canning is “hot,” according to Master Food Preserver, Susy Hymas. And we’re not just talking “hot pack” canning. In the past two years she’s seen a surge of interest in canning, pickling, jam making, and food preservation that isn’t simply explained by tough economic times. The trend in home gardening, a greater awareness of local foods, the desire to know what is in our food and where it comes from are spurring a new generation to learn how to can and pickle their own.

Home Canning Parties

People are concerned about access to healthy food. “I see a lot of young mothers in my classes because they want to feed their babies food they know is safe,” says Susy, who teaches nutrition and food preservation to the community through her Bellingham area business, Daylight Harvest Foods. “This is a time when we need to have a resurgence of support and education to get people back to making basic food they can grow and preserve themselves.”

Yet, learning how to preserve foods is intimidating to some. Canning takes time and requires knowledge of how to prevent spoilage to assure food safety. To make the process easy, she offers in-home Food Preserving Parties for groups of seven or more, in which she comes to your home and provides step-by-step instruction on how to preserve foods safely. Relaxed and hands-on, with friends learning together, the parties take the apprehension out of first-time canning, and give the party host a chance to preserve garden-harvested foods or U-pick fruit.


Wonderful Memories

Susy’s love of canning began as a child. “I have wonderful memories of my grandmother’s garden and her home canned preserves,” she says. When her grandmother died, Susy inherited her canning equipment, but didn’t know how to use it. Inspired by the warm memories of home canned food, and the 1970s back-to-the-land movement, she taught herself to garden and to preserve her harvest.

In time, food, canning and nutrition became a passion. She studied Environmental Health and Nutrition at Western Washington University’s Huxley College, and became a Master Food Preserver through Oregon State University and Whatcom/WSU Extension.

Today she shares her enthusiasm for food preservation with the community. “I never thought I would love teaching as much as I do,” she said. Food preservation is a skill people want to learn. “When you teach canning classes, nobody comes unless they have a passion for it.”
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Susy Hymas offers classes, consults and preserving parties through her business, Daylight Harvest Foods. Contact her by email at daylight@fidalgo.net

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3 Ways to Preserve Tomatoes: Tips from a Master Food Preserver

Recipe:
Roasted Tomatoes