Master Food Preserver Certificate Program: Kona, Hawaii – WEEK 1

For the last 10 days, I have made the Big Island my new home. I traveled here to attend the Master Food Preserver Certificate Program that the University of Hilo offered this month. I have been wanting this certification for years, but it is not currently offered in Minnesota (though it used to be, and hopefully will be again in the future). My family and I visited the Big Island 4 years ago and have been eager to get back, so when this course opened up, we bought tickets the next day. It was a bit impulsive, but I’m certain it was the right decision to make.

In the course, we are taught about food preservation methods including canning (waterbath and pressure canning), fermenting, pickling, dehydration and charcuterie. Last week in our first 24 hours of classes, we started a 15L batch of sauerkraut, and a batch of kimchi, made with Hawaiian peppers. We canned lilikoi (passion fruit) jelly, POG jelly (passion fruit, orange and guava), strawberry, orange, tangerine and guava jelly, strawberry jam, marinara sauce and mango chutney. Much of the ingredient’s were harvested from my classmates’ home gardens/farms, which makes it all that much more special. I’d never tasted lilikoi or guava before, or even freshly harvested mango – mmmmmm they are all so delicious.

There are 12 students in the class, with 2 instructors. The age range varies vastly and everyone is from a different walk of life. We all get along great and have one main interest in common: food preservation.

Here are some photos from the first week 🙂