Released June 8, 2009
ORONO, Maine— Whole Foods Market has called on the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for food-preservation advice. The UMaine Extension’s canning and preserving Web site is featured in “This Is What Summer Tastes Like,” a seasonal entertaining guide available in Whole Foods Market stores throughout the country.
“Preserving delicious summer fruits and vegetables is an amazing way to enjoy the tastes of flavors of summer’s seasonal harvest year-round,” said Barbara Gulino, marketing team leader at the Whole Foods Market Portland store. “With UMaine Cooperative Extension’s extensive knowledge of food preservation we hope the partnership will help educate our shoppers and other people in the community about how simple and cost effective it can be to preserve locally grown summer favorites.”
In addition to the Web site (http://www.extension.umaine.edu/food/) Whole Foods Market has sponsored food preservation outreach throughout southern Maine this summer, including a series of classes at the Portland store, located at 2 Somerset St. Cooperative Extension educators will present free workshops at Whole Foods Market from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturdays June 27, July 18, Aug. 15, Sept. 12, and Oct. 3; 9-10:30. The classes will cover jams and jellies, pickles, tomatoes, apples and root cellaring.
“It’s a partnership,” says Extension educator Kathy Savoie, a food safety expert based in Cumberland County. “This reinforces that we are the go-to place for food preservation information.
”Whole Foods Market’s sponsorship will allow UMaine Extension to hire two program aides to assist in offering food preservation education, including the Master Food Preservation training series. The partnership will continue this fall with a “5 Percent Day” fundraiser, in which five percent of the Portland store’s daily sales will benefit UMaine Extension’s ongoing food safety and preservation efforts in Cumberland County.
“A large part of it is Barbara Gulino realized we were credible, timely, relevant and we can respond immediately,” Doug Babkirk, associate director of UMaine Extension, says of the partnership.
UMaine Extension leads food preservation workshops statewide and offers up-to-date information online and through a variety of publications. The Cumberland County office also offers the Master Food Preserver program, a more intensive course that gives participants the expertise to go out and teach others how to preserve, extending the organization’s outreach. This summer, UMaine Extension educators also will visit farmers markets throughout Maine to give informal food preservation demonstrations.For a county-by-county list of UMaine Extension’s food preservation workshops, visit http://www.umext.maine.edu/foodpreservation/workshops.htm or call 1-800-287-0274. To ensure safe canning practices, UMaine Extension also provides testing for pressure canning gauges.
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http://extensionnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/whole-foods-market-partners-with.html
Sources: Kathy Savoie,(207) 780-4205
Douglas Babkirk, (207) 712-1414
Barbara Gulino, Barbara.gulino@wholefoods.com, (207) 774-7711
