Bea Sias

Logan County, Step by Step

For 2 days, July 30th and 31st, we learned to can Peppers. There were two different kinds of recipes: hot banana and sweet banana peppers.Several people showed up including men and women and one woman who just wanted to learn. At the first workshop on Monday we had 13 people and on Tuesday we had 11 people, which was ideal to have for our classes.

In two days of canning the gardeners canned 20 pints of peppers. Dana Wright, from WVU Extension, came and conducted the classes. After we were finished, the product was divided among the participants, and each gardener got 2 pints.

I was asked by Dana Wright and the ladies to taste the peppers.  Now I am an avid fan of hot peppers, and I was anxious to give them my opinion. “Oh my goodness they were HOT, one slice of a pepper was all I needed. The ladies said they were glad they were HOT; because that was the way their son or husband liked them. And we aim to make everyone happy. But, like we talked about, they will have recipes and different flavors.

Our Gardeners have asked for years to have a “hands-on canning class” and they got 2 and loved everything. Some knew how to can, but the younger ladies knew some but wanted to learn more, and I hope by honoring their request they continue to learn.

In August, we will have one more class, we will freeze Corn or Beans or whatever, they want to prepare for that day. You might wonder about this for August, but some gardeners have planted another crop of Corn or Beans for late fall canning. I hope next year, we can have more canning lessons and each year learn a little more about canning.

We really had 2 days of learning, getting to know each other better, and just having a good time. Our lessons lasted one day about 5 hours and I could tell when we were through they were tired.  It was worth it and hopefully, it will happen again next year.