Handmade Food & Craft Tutorials for Beginners
In today’s episode we are diving into the process Anna went through to be licensed to sell her amazing jams in person at farmer’s markets, craft fairs, etc. While your state may have a different path, this episode is valuable for anyone interested in exploring how to become legal in selling their canned goods. Listen to learn how you can too, the ins and outs, and all about Anna’s experience!
In September of 2022, I asked my friend Anna of Smart Home Canning to co-host a podcast with me. We dove in and our canning and preserving podcast, Perfectly Preserved, releases an educational podcast episode once a week (on Wednesdays!) available wherever you listen to podcasts, or on our websites (known as ‘shownotes’).
Podcasts are radio style shows hosted on the internet. You can listen on Apple podcasts, on my blog from your smart phone, tablet, or desktop computer (click here), on Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can click on any episode topic that interests you, share it with a friend, and best of all, subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Hosting a podcast was really the last thing Anna nor I needed to add to our very busy plates. We met online as canning friends (or, dare I say, canning influencers!) and then she hosted me in Ogden, Utah when I traveled to take the Master Food Preserver course. We affirmed that we were canning friends in real life as well as online. We kept in touch of course and shared back and forth the things we wished we could tell the new and experienced canners out there about saving time, canning safety, and best practices.
We knew we wanted Perfectly Preserved to be all information and very little chit chat. You know the podcasts where one host says, “How was your weekend?” and the other host shares for several minutes all the details of the weekend when you as the listener are just trying to wait for the diatribe to be over get to the reason you clicked on the podcast in the first place? We didn’t want that. Each episode of the Perfectly Preserved Podcast hits the ground running. We dive into the topic for the day, sharing what we know as Master Preservers, or with a guest who is an expert in their field. We love food preservation and we want to share that love with our listeners.
If you have food preservation questions or want to be on the show as an expert guest please email perfectlypreservedpodcast@gmail.com
We love answering questions on the episodes.
We want to keep creating this free, fun resource for the world, but we need your help to do it. If you listen, there’s several ways you can help. You can:
Here are some of our most recent episodes!
In today’s episode we give you all the good ideas for canning for charcuterie and appetizers. Anna is a whiz at canning hot (and hotter!) pepper jellies and she gives great flavor combination suggestions in this episode.
We mention an awesome site for board inspiration, Ain’t too Proud to Meg. Check her out for amazing board ideas!
One tip from this episode is to can in small jars so the preserve is portable and easy to take to the location of the gathering.
Some of the recipe combinations for hot pepper jellies include: jalapeño jelly, cranberry jalapeño, apricot habanero, pineapple habanero, peach jalapeño, blackberry basil, apricot, strawberry rose, strawberry coconut, and more.
Get the dried pepper powder online here: The Sonoran Spice Company
A few pickles I love for charcuterie boards are the carrot pickles and the pickled pearl onions.
On today’s episode we have expert fermentationist and homesteader Stephanie Thurow, author of several books on fermenting as our guest. She blogs at Minnesota From Scratch, and you can buy her books here.
Fermentation is in some ways the art counterpoint to the science of canning. Fermentation is “done” on X day, rather than Y minute in canning. Fermentation uses the wild bacteria in the air on on veggies to make them easier to digest, to save money, and to recall fermented foods of yesteryear. It extends the life of fruits and veggies far beyond their natural shelf life. Fermentation uses simple tools and is an easy practice to begin today!
Listen to the episode for step by step directions for how to get started making sauerkraut, common mistakes to avoid, and more!
In this episode, Anna and I share some beloved holiday food traditions. Food and family is at the heart of what we love to discuss and on today’s episode we share our beloved holiday food traditions.
Anna was raised in Alaska and her food traditions are salmon-heavy. She ate smoked salmon dip with cream cheese, mayo, and ritz crackers growing up and even today, those flavors feel like home.
Anna’s family also ate chicken and wild rice soup which sounds incredible.
Her inlaws always have homemade hard candies with flavors of cinnamon and anise in pretty dishes around the house.
Anna is always the party MVP when she brings her spicy jellies to holiday get togethers.
Jenny recalled family rolls; in her family, her Gram made the rolls for years and now, her sister and cousin make them too.
Jenny’s aunt used to make chocolate peanut butter balls and now, it hardly seems like Christmas without them.
Jenny’s mom always made homemade Kailua (a coffee liqueur) with instant coffee. Get the recipe here! The best part is that recipe takes only an hour!
Both of us recalled the iconic jello salad – red, green, and white layers of nostalgia!
