Home Food Preservation

Announcements

Helpful winter and holiday tips and resources

Helpful winter and holiday tips and resources! The following links provide helpful tips and ideas for the winter season. Read more...

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Featured Resources

Publications

OSU Extension Catalog has a number of publications that provide comprehensive information related to food safety and food preservation.

Home Food Safety and Preservation Program

Master Food Preservers are trained and certified volunteers who assist OSU Extension Service in their efforts to provide up-to-date food safety and preservation information to Oregonians. After a comprehensive, hands-on training, ...

Home Food Safety and Preservation Program

Canning Timer & Checklist App

Select from over 50 popular foods used in home canning—including vegetables, fruits, meats, jams, jellies, pickles, and seafood—to generate a checklist and timer for processing. This app lets set you set your jar size, pack ...

Jeanne Brandt | Mar 2020 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

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Preservation types and equipment

Low sugar jams & jellies/fruit spreads (SP 50-765)

Low and no sugar jams and jellies are becoming very popular as people are changing their diets and reducing their intake of sugar. This publication gives tips on how to make low sugar jams, jellies, and fruit spreads.

Feb 2019 | Article

Freezing Fruits and Vegetables

This publication describes how to freeze fruits, vegetables, and juices, and how to refreeze frozen foods. Includes freezing fruit without sugar, with ascorbic acid, in syrup, and packed in sugar; and blanching vegetables. A chart lists freezing instructions for dozens of fruits and vegetables.

Jeanne Brandt | Sep 2018 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

La congelación de frutas y verduras

La congelación es un método sencillo y rápido para conservar los alimentos. Con las condiciones óptimas, se conservan bien los nutrientes, el sabor y la textura de los alimentos.

Jeanne Brandt | May 2020 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

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Master Food Preservers operate hotline in summer and early fall

Home food preservation is popular in Oregon. But misinformation related to food preservation is widely available, particularly from online sources. There are deadly risks if foods are preserved in unsafe ways.

With the goal of providing safe, research-based information to the community, the Oregon State University Extension Service remains the most trusted and reliable source of food preservation instructions and recipes in the state. That is why well-trained, certified Master Food Preserver volunteers are essential.

The toll-free hotline, 800-354-7319, runs from Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from July 12 until October 8.

Reach out with your questions

Credit: Candi Bothum (Cropped from original)

Answers to your food storage and safety questions

Jams and jellies: problems and solutions (SP 50-746)

Publications provides information on common problems and solutions when making jam, jelly, and fruit preserves.

Mar 2013 | Article

Are one piece lids approved?

Q: Are one piece lids approved for water bath canning? I was wanting to switch to one piece plastisol lined canning lids for jam- the continuous thread type not lug. are they acceptable for products sold at farmer's markets or at our farm store?

A: View answer | View all featured questions

Preserving Garlic - SP50-645

How to preserve garlic - including harvesting, storage, freezing, drying, and pickling. Recipe for Pickled Garlic include.

Feb 2013 | Publication

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Want to savor the sweet taste of summer fruit later in the year?

Try canning strawberry jam and also learn about safely preparing other berries, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, and plums!

Learn how

Photo by Lynn Ketchum (Cropped from original)

Latest News

OSU Extension food safety and preservation hotline opens for the season

The toll-free hotline, 800-354-7319, runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Oct. 8.

Chris Branam | Jul 8, 2021 | News story

Pandemic leads to unprecedented burst of questions to Ask an Expert tool

Questions have ballooned to 6,625 in the first half of 2020, more than all of the questions answered in 2019.

Kym Pokorny | Jul 29, 2020 | News story

OSU Extension and Bi-Mart team up to offer food preservation information

The Extension-designed posters hang in appropriate aisles – canning, hunting, drying – in the employee-owned chain’s 80 stores in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Kym Pokorny | Jul 16, 2020 | News story

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Community Disaster Preparedness

Garden Vegetables and Herbs

Family Emergency Preparedness

Meet Our Experts

Cindy Brown

4-H Youth Development

Contact me for questions on 4-H youth development programming in Sherman County as well as healthy living topics such as MyPlate, gardening, food preservation and food storage!

Denise Fennell

Education Program Assistant

Glenda Hyde

Associate Professor of Practice, Family and Community Health; OSU Extension Service Extension Disaster Education Network Delegate

Contact me with questions about food safety and preservation, managing stress and emergency/disaster preparedness

Lauren Kraemer

Associate Professor, Family and Community Health

Contact me with all your health and wellness questions in the Columbia River Gorge.

Have a question? Ask an Expert!

Ask an Expert is a way for you to get answers from the Oregon State University Extension Service. We have experts in family and health, community development, food and agriculture, coastal issues, forestry, programs for young people, and gardening.

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Can I use Himalayan pink salt for canning?

Q: Do you recommend using the Himalayan pink salt in canning? Or should I stay with the pickling and canning salt?

A: View answer | View all featured questions

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