Canning Your Backyard Bounty

So much fruit, so little time. Dive right into this fast paced full day class with Madeleine and learn how to make the most of the fruit we're so fortunate to have here on the Central Coast.

What You Will Learn

• Step-by-step canning process—from sterilization of jars to storage
• Differences between jams, jellies, marmalades, conserves, preserves and anything else Madeleine knows how to make!
• How to select and prepare your fruit
• A variety of tips and tricks gathered through years of experience

What You Take Home

• Experience of making two totally different creations: a jam and a chutney
• Your share of whatever the class makes (we'll divide it up evenly at the end of the day)
• A long handled wooden spoon that is a foundational utensil for beginning and established canners

What To Bring

• An apron (full bib is recommended; please leave billowy sleeves in your closet that day)
• A sharp knife (a paring knife should do the trick)
• Fruit from your backyard (amount and type to be determined one week prior to class based upon what is most readily available)

Cal-Folk will take care of the rest!

No experience necessary, and recommended for Folkies ages 15 and up. Have younger children you want to bring? Kindly email us before registering to talk possibilities and make arrangements.

Head Folkie for the Day

Madeleine Jex is a force of nature and a long time Valley resident. She also knows a thing or two about canning since she's been doing it for more than half of her life. When pregnancy kept her from riding her horse in those final months, she encountered a jam recipe in a magazine and thought, "how hard could this be?" She tried some things on her own and then had a friend teach her more, and we're lucky she's willing to be that kind of friend to us here at Cal-Folk.

"People need to know this class will be a lot of work, especially because I like to find ways to use every bit of the fruit we have" she asked us to tell you. "But there is nothing better than the taste of your own homemade jam," she adds with a knowing smile.

When not teaching for us, Madeleine can be found zooming around the Valley training her champion hunting dog, or towing her horse trailer all over the nation on the prowl for antiques to sell at her shop, The Gentleman Farmer.