Fill the Pantry Project: Our first canning workshop

We’re excited to introduce Fill the Pantry Project, an initiative aimed at enhancing our food preservation skills through pressure canning and other preserving methods.

While we are familiar with classic methods such as pickling, jam-making, and preserving fruits, pressure canning takes preservation to a whole new level. By using glass jars and applying pressure and sustained heat we can safely store food on pantry shelves indefinitely—no fridge or freezer required!

Our mission is to empower our community with the skills and knowledge of canning and preserving to make it a household practice. By preserving food, we can reduce waste, store seasonal harvest, and make the most out of market bargains for a rainy day.

We recently held our first Pressure Canning Workshop at Papatuanuku Kokiri Marae. Homesteader and canning expert Chrissy Small from KeriKeri ran the workshop and taught us how raw-pack spaghetti bolognese, corned beef, buttered potatoes, and roasted pumpkin into glass jars, and successfully pressure canned them! While the pressure canners were doing their thing we made a ‘Chow Chow’ pickle to add to the days bounty.  Everyone at the workshop went home with 3-4 jars of kai for their pantry. This is the model we would like to adopt for ‘Community Canning Days’.

What are Community Canning days?

We want to encourage a culture of preservation and sustainability in our community. Church, community and family groups will have access to the pressure canning equipment to fill their pantries. We will be running train the trainers workshops for everyone to learn.

We are gearing up for our next workshop to explore ‘fermenting’ where we are co-labing with Pacific Food Labatories Aotearoa. 

If you have any preserving skills or knowledge to share we would love to hear from you! ☺

-Sera Schwalger