Food Preservation Project

What is it All About?

Did your garden produce more tomatoes than you know what to do with, or are you just looking for some healthier prepared food options? In the food preservation project you will learn how to freeze and dry foods and make jams and jellies. You will also learn what to do with those tomatoes, cucumbers, and other advanced food preservation techniques.

Grow in Your Project

Starting Out

Identify basic types of food preservation
Learn food freezing basics
Learn to freeze fruits, juices, vegetables, meats, fish, and poultry
Know how to properly thaw frozen products
Learn food drying basics
Learn to dry fruits, make fruit leathers, vegetables, and herbs

Learning More

Understand the basics of water canning
Learn the difference for canning low acid and high acid foods
Understand making altitude adjustments
Learn the different between a hot pack and a raw pack
Select the right produce and jars for canning
Make salsa, jams, jellies, and pickles

Going Further

Understand the basics of pressure canning
Select a pressure canner
Understand the types of produce, meats, poultry, and fish that require pressure canning
Be able to prepare your jars and lids
Conduct a taste test
Properly label your products

Resources

Take Your Project Further!

Learn more about your local food systems by participating in a farm tour of one of your local farms
Visits a farmer’s market to better understand local produce you can preserve
Participate in Food Cook Off at Showcase Showdown, use foods that you preserved in your recipe
Plan a special meal that incorporates preserved foods for your family
Do a comparison on the value (monetary or nutritional) of home preserved foods vs preserved foods purchased in a store
Enroll in the 4-H gardening project and grow your own food to preserve

Applying Project Skills to Life

Enhance Your Communication Skills

Give a demonstration on food safety when canning
Create a display on the different food preservation methods

Get Involved in Citizenship and Service

Donate canned food to the local food pantry
Work with your local food pantry to can items to preserve items that might otherwise be wasted
Volunteer to help with a local community garden

Learn about Leadership

Organize a food preservation workshop at your local library of community center
Host a freezer meal making session

Showing What You’ve Learned

Enter canned items
Enter items you freeze
Enter dried foods
Create a display chart showing pH values of your favorite fruits and vegetables and the correct canning method to use for those foods
Make a poster on the importance of head space
Create a display on how to prevent oxidation
Design your own labels for your preserved foods
Make a favorite preservation recipe book

Adapted with permission from Wyoming State 4-H, Project Information Sheet, Food Preservation. Retrieved from: https://www.uwyo.edu/4-h/projects/healthy-living/foods-nutrition.html.

*Resources available at your local Extension office or shop4-H.org.

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