Food Preservation

Whether you're preserving your own harvest or you've purchased locally grown fruits or vegetables, canning, freezing and drying can be effective ways to serve foods that taste harvest-fresh at a later date. To ensure that the products you serve are safe, it is important to follow tested guidelines for safely preserving foods by these methods. Cooperative Extension offers both information and hands-on, small group training in a variety of home food preservation topics.

If you have specific preserving questions please reach out to Diane Whitten with CCE Saratoga at dsh23@cornell.edu or visit https://ccesaratoga.org/nutrition-food/food-preservation. 

Resources

National Center for Home Food Preservation Website
This site includes science-based information on home food preservation, publications, and links to other Extension sites. The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to address food safety concerns for those who practice and teach home food preservation and processing methods.

So Easy to Preserve, University of Georgia, Cooperative Extension, 6th Edition (July 2014).
This edition contains the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations for safe food preservation, along with step by step instructions and in-depth information for both the new and experienced food preserver.

Complete Guide to Home Canning, USDA, revised 2015 is available online at: nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html Also the196 page full-color publication is available in a spiral-bound book format from Purdue University's Education Store.

Food Preservation - University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Penn State University Food Preservation Data Base.

The Food Preservation Data Base links to approved recipes, food preservation questions and answers, kitchen unit conversions, and food safety.
See also: The Penn State Extension Commercial Food Processing website which addresses food safety issues; includes links to commercial companies selling preservation supplies & equipment.

Cost of Preserving and Storing Food, Colorado State University, 2008 updated 2014, includes a downloadable 4-page PDF on this topic.

The Cornell Food Venture Center (CFVC) provides comprehensive assistance to beginning and established food entrepreneurs to help enhance food safety, satisfy regulatory compliance and promote economic development. The CFVC provides access to educational materials, industry resources, workshops and direct assistance for product and process validation for safety and stability, as well as guidance in local, state and federal regulations for food manufacturers.

How to freeze strawberries

Last updated November 21, 2023