We came, we canned, and we conquered!

This past weekend, Chef Jean and I had the pleasure of working alongside eleven eager guests of Marcel’s preserving workshop. For two days we chopped, diced, and measured, sampled, adjusted, boiled, simmered, ladled, lidded, water-bathed and finally canned jams, chutneys, and preserves.

Day one was filled with questions and answers, trials and adjustments, past experiences and shared tricks and tips. Everyone left that day armed with new knowledge, a sense of accomplishment, and two warm jars of sticky fig jam and brined squash and onion relish.

Day two began revisiting what we learned, welcoming a new guest to the group, and offering up a few confessions (it was Sunday after all and Jean and I had gone a bit wayward on a couple of recipes the day before!). A busier day, but a more confident one for all; what seemed intimidating yesterday, seemed routine today. When the day was over we had toasted the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor, and canned towers of treats to savor and share.

Citrus marmalade, and ginger mango chutney, peach preserves, sweet and sour pickled onions, cherry chipotle relish, and jardinière

More importantly, and I’ll speak for myself here, I left on Sunday recalling just 24 hours ago, when on Saturday we all dipped our toes into unknown intrepid canning waters, and ended up preserving a truly memorable experience with truly wonderful people.