The Richmond Food Security Society started a regular drop-in canning session every Tuesday night at the Garratt Wellness Center since 20th July 2010. The event is from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Participants can either preserved their own produce or help to preserve fruit and vegetables harvested from the Sharing Farm in Terra Nova for food bank and community meals.

These sessions are free and child care will be provided upon request. For more information, check out the Richmond Food Security Society website here.

These informal canning sessions allow participants to learn the canning techniques hands on. An instructor will also be on hand on certain dates to guide the participants. Hot water bath canners and jars will be provided for those participants who wish to can their own fruits. Just bring the ingredients like fruits, pectin, sugar, etc.

I attended the second session of this wonderful drop in program this week. I’m so pleased to see Karen DW again who volunteered as the instructor. For this session, two participants brought their own fruits for canning; blueberries and apricot.

Both of the participants used Bernadin No Sugar Needed Pectin to make the jam. This pectin do not require substantial quantities of sugar to gel.

Ingredients

• 4 cups chopped or crushed fruits
• 1 cup unsweetened apple juice
• 1 package No Sugar Needed Pectin
• Sweetener, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon butter (to reduce foaming, optional)

Source: www.homecanning.ca

Yield: 4 to 6 250ml jars

Instructions

Blueberries	Apricots
Crushed the blueberries.	Do not peel. Pit and chop very finely, do not puree.
Add apple juice.
Add pectin.
Add butter to reduce foaming.	Optional
Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil.
Sweetener is optional.	Add sweeter if using. Stirring constantly, return mixture to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim off foam if necessary.
Fill and process jars as per canning procedure described in this post.
	Label and store jars in a cool dark place.