New classes for the Fall.....

I'm trying to come up with some new interesting classes to teach at the MRC this Fall. I know I will be teaching soft and hard cheese making classes. I love teaching cheese making, but I also would like to come up with other classes since I learned to can this summer and I'm loving it.

1943 Poster. Artist: Parker, Alfred, 1906-1985. United States. Office of War Information.

Canning and freezing food cannot be thought of as chic and stylish but the trend does fit into the movements of going green, urban farming and local food eating and growing. People want to take back their food from factory food farms. They want to eat well and eat healthy. Sales of canning equipment is up 50% from last year. The U.S.D.A.’s strict guidelines for canning procedures, which have become even stricter over the last two decades. Blake Slemmer has written these guidlines in plain language for the rest of us on http://www.pickyourown.org/ Another trend in canning is the community kitchen or community canning event such as the ones on http://www.yeswecanfood.com/ . Everyone comes together at the time that a certain fruit or vegetable is ripe and cans together and then split or sell the proceeds. Canning has fallen out of favor since convenience foods appeared on the grocery shelves in the last fifty years. But if people only knew the chemicals and toxins they were eating to get those convenience foods, the inhumane treatment of animals we are supporting by using those foods, I think many people would think twice about using them all the time. The fresh taste of homemade strawberry jelly or orange marmalade is too good not to learn how to do it yourself, even if only for special occasions.

I'm wondering if there would be an interest in learning how to make a cheesecake? This is simple to do if you know the secrets. I've always had very good luck with my cheesecakes, attaining the holy grail of cheesecake making, a cheesecake without a cracked top, almost every time. Homemade cheese cake is good food. Very rich and flavorful, especially if you make it yourself, without preservatives and other extra ingredients.

Another idea I've had is a Gingerbread House party--great memories for the holidays. Get together for an old fashioned, pre-holiday festivity, complete with music and cocoa! What better way to welcome the holidays than by building a gingerbread house to show off for weeks to come! We'll have the "building materials" ready so all the parent-child teams have to do is choose from a variety of edible decorations and let your imaginations run wild.