Clinton County · Clinton County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences [email protected] Canning? Watch Your Headspace! In canning, headspace is the empty space

Cooperative

Extension Service

Clinton County

2601 North Hwy 127

Albany, KY 42602

(606) 387-5404

Fax: (606) 387-4380

www.ca.uky.edu/ces

Clinton County

Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Newsletter

July/August 2016

Christy’s Comments

Summer is going by very quickly. Take advantage of opportunities to relax with those individuals who are important to you. It’s an exciting time of program planning for FCS Extension and Homemakers. After August planning meetings and our Homemakers Picnic, there will be lots of important dates for your calendars. Help promote Clinton County Cooperative Extension on Facebook. Share and encourage others to “Like” us!

Best wishes,

Christy Nuetzman Clinton County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences [email protected]

Canning? Watch Your Headspace!

In canning, headspace is the empty space between the top of the food and the top of the jar. This empty space allows the food in the jar to expand during processing. If too little headspace is left, the hot food may bubble over the top of the jar during processing, leaving a deposit on the rim and preventing the lid from sealing. If too much headspace is left, the processing time may not be long enough to drive all of the air out of the jar. This may cause the food in the jar to discolor and may prevent the formation of a strong vacuum seal on cooling.

Research-based canning recipes will specify the correct headspace to use. This is usually ¼ inch for jams, jellies and juices; ½ inch for pickles, fruits and tomato products processed in a boiling water canner; and 1 to 1¼ inches inch for most pressure-canned vegetables and meats.

It’s important to leave the correct headspace for the food you are canning. If you have trouble estimating, you can use a specially designed headspace tool to help. This inexpensive tool, available where canning supplies are sold, measures the headspace in the jar in ¼-inch increments, removing the guesswork and helping to ensure canning success.

For more information and recipes for safe home canning, contact the Clinton County Extension office or visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation website at http://nchfp.uga.edu/.

Source: Debbie Clouthier, Extension Associate for Food Safety and Preservation, University of Kentucky; College of Agriculture, Food and Environment

Homemaker Lessons for 2016-2017 August 2nd at 11:30 a.m. Making Healthy Beverage Choices Many of us are aware we need to make healthy food choices. We know to choose vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free milk and lean-protein foods. Many do not realize that making healthy food choices also includes paying attention to what we drink. Many of our drinks are very high in calories and very low in nutrients. This program provides examples of daily calorie intake in the form of liquids, and gives suggestions for improving nutritional content and ways to reduce calorie content of favorite beverages.

September 6th at 11:30 a.m. Understanding the Basics of Teamwork In the discussion of leadership, often the leader is the star. However, one cannot be a leader without followers—and some would argue that followers are just as essential as leaders. To reap the benefits of successful teamwork, we must understand why and how people follow.

October 4th at 11:30 a.m. Creating and Maintaining Family Traditions Building a strong family takes time and effort. Strong families are unified through deep emotional connections with each other, a sense of belonging in the family system, and healthy relationships between members. The purpose of this lesson is to reinforce the importance of family traditions, emphasize habits to preserve and respect traditions, and provide practical ways to establish new traditions. Participants will: identify primary assets to help families develop and maintain healthy relationships; learn how to establish family rituals and traditions while maintaining expectations for all family members; learn to adapt to challenges as a family; and, learn to connect families and communities.

November 1st at 11:30 a.m. Economical Entrees Enjoying easy and healthy main dishes while stretching the family food dollar.

December Keys to Embracing Aging (Mailout Lesson) Aging in an inevitable and unavoidable process that affects each and every one uniquely. Aging brings on many changes as a person develops throughout the lifespan. The way in which you take care of yourself through the years both physically and mentally will impact the way in which you age.

January 3rd at 11:30 a.m. Savvy Sellers/Bargain Hunters Many of us have items in our home that have been kept long beyond their usefulness. These items often clutter our houses while we scratch our heads wondering what to do with them. Many times, clothes, bags, furniture, or odd knick-knacks are still in good condition, yet we no longer have a use for them. On the other hand, many of us also have upcoming purchases, such as back-to-school clothes, home redecorating, or furnishing a college apartment, that make us wonder whether there is a cheaper option. Checking out local yard sales and consignment shops might help you save substantially. This program highlights the difference between yard sales, consignment shops, and thrift stores. It also helps you identify items that could be sold and determine which outlet would be the best fit to sell those personal items. In addition, helpful steps to planning a yard sale and preparing yourself to host one will be provided.

July: National Berry Month

Berries account for $3 Billion in sales.

Strawberries are grown in every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada.

Blueberries have more antioxidants than most other fruits and vegetables.

Roll Call: What is your favorite berry and why? Thought/Quote of the Month: No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted. ‐ Aesop

Homemakers Council The Homemakers Council will meet on Monday, August 1st at 4:30 p.m. This will be our first meeting of the new program year. Lots to discuss including the Homemakers Picnic, lessons for the year, Homemakers Night Out, Annual Meeting, etc. Members will be sent a separate update following the Council meeting. Please make plans to attend this very important meeting.

Homemaker Lessons for 2016-2017 February 7th at 11:30 a.m. Tackling Your Laundry With the ever-changing world of laundry detergents, machine choices, stain removal products and general laundry care and safe laundry practices to consider, the need to educate consumers to make the safest, most efficient choice is needed. This program guides participants to create a safe laundry room that will protect families, choose the right product for the right job, identify ways to re-move common stains, and understand the difference between traditional and high efficiency wash-ing machines.

March 7th at 11:30 a.m. Travel Safety: Know Before You Go Being prepared for any travel makes the trip more enjoyable and safe for everyone. This program will help you complete necessary travel arrangements and be prepared if the unexpected happens. Simple actions can keep you and your property protected while you travel. This program will guide participants in identifying common travel scams, determine personal travel insurance needs, identify safety practices for travel, and much more.

April 4th at 11:30 a.m. Gardening in Small Spaces Gardening, in one form or another, is often described as one of the most popular hobbies in the United States. And rightly so. Involvement by people in gardening activities helps promote healthy habits. The physical activity of working in the garden burns calories. And consuming home-grown vegetables is good for health as well. **NEW this year: Plate It Up Kentucky Proud Recipe Sampling during each lesson if

interested individuals will pre-register for classes.

Steam Canners: Safe to Use?

Until recently, the USDA and Cooperative Extension have recommended only two types of canners for use in home canning — a boiling water canner for high acid foods, or a pressure canner for low acid foods. The use of steam canners was not recommended, due to a lack of research on their safety.

Steam canners (more accurately called atmospheric steam canners) are not pressurized, and should not be confused with pressure canners. Most look like an upside-down boiling water canner, with a shallow base equipped with a rack and a high domed lid. Water is placed in the base, the jars of food to be processed are placed on the rack, and the lid is placed on the canner. As the canner is heated, the steam from the boiling water surrounds the jars and provides the heat for processing. Since the contents are not under pressure, the temperature inside the canner will only get as hot as the boiling water. Steam canners use less water than boiling water canners and can save time and energy.

New research from the University of Wisconsin now shows that steam canners can be safely used in place of boiling water canners to can some high acid foods, like fruits, pickles and salsa, as long as all of the following criteria are met:

The foods must be high acid, with a pH of 4.6 or below. These are the foods that can also be safely processed in a boiling water canner. Low acid foods, which must be canned in a pressure canner to prevent the risk of botulism, cannot be safely canned in a steam canner.

A tested, research-based recipe developed for a boiling water canner must be used. Tested recipes are available from your local Extension office or the National Center for Home Food Preservation website, http://nchfp.uga.edu/index.html. Recipes that come with the steam canner cannot be relied on to be safe.

Standard canning jars with two-piece, self-sealing metal lids must be used. Half-pint, pint or quart jars may be used, if specified in the tested recipe.

Jars must be heated before filling, and filled with hot liquid whether using a raw or hot pack. Jars and contents should not be allowed to cool before processing.

The jars must be processed in pure steam at 212 degrees F. To achieve this, the canner must be vented to remove excess air until a full column of steam appears, before timing of the process begins. A full column of steam (six to eight inches) should vent from the holes in the side of the canner for the whole processing time.

Care must be taken not to allow the canner to boil dry. A canner that is boiling too vigorously can boil dry in less than 20 minutes, resulting in under-processing and an unsafe product.

The processing time must be adjusted for altitude (elevation), as required by a tested recipe. The altitude for any address can be found at https://www.daftlogic.com/sandbox-google-maps-find-altitude.htm.

Only recipes requiring a processing time of 45 minutes or less, including altitude adjustments, may be used. Recipes with boiling water processing times longer than 45 minutes are not suitable for use with steam canners. The processing time is limited by the amount of water in the steam canner base. During processing, the canner should not be opened for any reason, including to add more water.

Cooling of the jars must take place in still air, away from drafts. The slow cooling of processed jars is important for safety, and jars should not be force-cooled.

If you decide to use a steam canner to process high acid foods this summer, be sure to follow all of these recommendations to ensure that your home-canned products will be safe for you and your family to enjoy. For more information on safe home canning, contact the Clinton County Extension office.

Reference: Ingham, B. (June 24, 2015). Safe Preserving: Using an Atmospheric Steam Canner. Retrieved December 17, 2015 from http://fyi.uwex.edu/safepreserving/2015/06/24/safe-preserving-using-an-atmospheric-steam-canner/.

Source: Debbie Clouthier, Extension Associate for Food Safety and Preservation, University of Kentucky; College of Agriculture, Food and Environment

August: National Peach Month

This fruit originated from China and was introduced to the West through Persia.

The 1st peach orchard in the USA was established in Florida in 1565.

Peaches are a good stress reliever, help to reduce anxiety, and are often referred to as

the 'Fruit of Calmness' in Hungary Roll Call: Name your favorite way to relieve stress. Thought/Quote of the Month: Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow. ‐ Helen Keller

Having Trouble Concentrating?

Do you have so many things to do that you just cannot seem to concentrate on anything? There are many distractions in our day-to-day lives. Here are a list of some distractions you may fight and how to deal with them:

Social Media – Social media is a great way to stay connected to friends and family, but it can stop you from being able to concentrate on a task you have to do. If you are always checking for status updates, you may not be able to stay on track. The best way to avoid this distraction is to not log onto social media sites when you are at work. If you feel like you have to check, limit it to only when you have break times.

Email Overload – Do you run to answer each email as soon as it comes into your inbox? If you stop a current project to answer an email, it may take you a little while to get back to work on the project. If possible, create only certain times that you answer emails, even if it is that last ten minutes of every hour. That way you can work on your project uninterrupted and still check your emails in a timely manner.

Multitasking – We like to think that we are good at multitasking; that we are able to get more done in a shorter amount of time. The truth is that it usually takes LONGER to complete those tasks than if you had done each one individually. This is especially true if you are working with a tight deadline. Save multitasking for tasks that are not urgent.

Stress – When people feel like the plate is full, they may not be able to work on any one project. A person may also develop headaches or tight muscles which make it even harder to concentrate. The best way to deal with stress is to find a way to reduce stress. You may start deep breathing or even meditation. One study even found that when people meditated they not only lowered the stress but actually increased their focus.

Being Tired ‒ When you are not getting a good night’s sleep and resting, it can be very hard to concentrate. Most adults need at least 7 hours of sleep each night and some may need up to 9 hours of sleep. By getting enough sleep you are able to be more alert and be able to pay attention to the task you need to complete.

There are many reasons that people have a hard time concentrating. These are a few examples of the issues and a few solutions. Remember you can always talk to your healthcare provider about having trouble concentrating if it is a serious problem for you.

Reference: Ratini, M. (2014). Top Concentration Killers. http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/ss/slideshow-top-concentration-killers

Source: Nicole Peritore, Extension Specialist for Family Health; University of Kentucky; College of Agriculture, Food and Environment

The Cooperative Extension Service prohibits discrimination in its programs and employment

on the basis of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin.

To file a complaint of discrimination, contact Tim West, UK College of Agriculture,

859-257-3879; Terry Allen or Patty Bender, UK Office of Institutional Equity and

Equal Opportunity, 859-257-8927; or the USDA, Director Office of Civil Rights,

Room 326-WWhitten Bldg., 14th & Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20250-

9410 (202-720-5964).

Peach Salsa This fruity salsa recipe comes from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. If this is your

first time canning, please request the publication FCS3-578 Home Canning Basics from the Clinton

County Extension office or visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation website at http://

nchfp.uga.edu/.

Ingredients:

6 cups peeled, diced, under-ripe but yellow peaches

1½ cups diced red bell pepper

½ cup finely chopped yellow onion

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger

1 cup light brown sugar

1¼ cups cider vinegar (5%)

½ cup water

Directions:

1. Wash and rinse half-pint canning jars; keep hot until ready to use. Prepare lids according to

manufacturer's directions.

2. Wash all produce well. Peel and chop peaches into ½-inch cubes. Dice bell pepper into ½-inch

pieces. Finely chop yellow onions.

3. Combine all ingredients in an 8-quart Dutch oven or stockpot. Bring to a boil over high heat,

stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce to simmering, and simmer 5 minutes.

4. Fill hot solids into hot half-pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Cover with hot liquid, leaving ½-

inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed.

5. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids.

6. Process half-pint jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes or 15 minutes at altitudes greater

than 1,000 feet. Let cool, undisturbed, for 12 to 24 hours and check seals.

Yield: about 6 half-pint jars

Nutrition Information (2 tablespoons): 30 Calories, 0 g fat, 7 g carbohydrate, 0 g protein

Reference: Andress, E.L. & Harrison, J.A. (2014). So Easy to Preserve (6th ed.). Athens, GA: Coopera-tive Extension, University of Georgia.

Source: Debbie Clouthier, Extension Associate for Food Safety and Preservation, University of Kentucky; College of Agriculture, Food and Environment

2016 FOOD AND NUTRITION CALENDAR

AUGUST RECIPE

MEDITERRANEAN SALAD

Dressing ingredients:• ¼ cup olive oil• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced• 1 teaspoon dried oregano• salt and pepper to taste

Salad ingredients:• 1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped• ½ medium red onion, diced• 1 (15 ounce) can no-salt-added chickpeas,

drained and rinsed• 1 large green bell pepper, diced• 1 pint grape tomatoes• 1 medium cucumber, sliced• 4 ounces reduced-fat feta cheese,

crumbled• ¼ cup whole black olives, pitted

1. In a Mason jar (or small bowl), combine dressing ingredients. Tightly screw on the lid and shake to combine.

2. In a large bowl, combine salad ingredients and toss with prepared dressing.

Makes 6 servingsServing size: 1½ cups of salad with 1¹⁄3 tablespoons of dressingCost per recipe: $8.16 Cost per serving: $1.36

Source: Jeannie Najor, Senior Extension Associate for Kentucky Nutrition Education Program, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service

Nutrition facts per serving: 250 calories; 13g total fat; 3g saturated fat; 0g trans fat; 5mg cholesterol; 340mg sodium; 23g carbohydrate; 7g fiber; 5g sugar; 10g protein; 200% Daily Value of vitamin A; 60% Daily Value of vitamin C; 15% Daily Value of calcium; 15% Daily Value of iron.

Note: To lower the cost of this recipe, use Parmesan cheese in place of feta cheese.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal and, where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or if all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.) If you wish to file a Civil Rights program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, or at any USDA office, or call (866) 632-9992 to request the form. You may also write a letter containing all of the information requested in the form. Send your completed complaint form or letter to us by mail at U.S. Department of Agriculture, Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, by fax (202) 690-7442 or email at [email protected]. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities and wish to file either an EEO or program complaint please contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339 or (800) 845-6136 (in Spanish). Persons with disabilities who wish to file a program complaint, please see information above on how to contact us by mail directly or by email. If you require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) please contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Copyright © 2016 University of Kentucky and its licensors. All rights reserved.

This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP.