(Riverton, WY) Freeze drying is on the agenda for the Fremont County Master Gardeners, who will hold their first meeting of the year this Wednesday, January 10.
Tomorrow’s meeting begins at 5:00 p.m. at the home of Jim and Carol Brodle on 307 West Pershing Avenue. Items on the agenda include the Farmers’ Market report, Strawberry Project report/discussion, a discussion on ordering onion plants, and the booth for the upcoming Farm and Ranch Days, which will be held on February 7-8 at the Fremont County Fairgrounds.
Following the meeting will be a presentation on freeze-drying by Carol Brodle. She and her husband, Jim, have been members of the Fremont County Master Gardeners since 2019. They bought their Harvest Right freeze dryer in October 2022.
Carol has freeze-dried an extensive amount of different foods and has reconstituted many of them for soups, stews, and other meals and recipes.
“Tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, beets, green beans, corn, apples, pears, peaches, squash and pumpkin, carrots, all kinds of cheeses, pineapple, mangos, bananas, applesauce, strawberries, mixed berries, raspberries, coconut. Ice cream sandwiches, Milk Duds, taffy, gummy worms, Skittles, eggs, duck eggs, and chicken livers,” she said. “Green and yellow kiwis are very good…and beet chips. The onions are almost like candy.”
Carol has also experimented with ice cream sandwiches, Milk Duds, Skittles, taffy, and gummy worms. “Some of the candy puffs up, like the Milk Duds,” she said.
For more information about the Master Gardeners, contact Ernie Schierwagen at 307-851-7562, email [email protected], or visit the Master Gardeners’ website. The Riverton Saturday Farmers Markets are from 9:00-11:00 a.m. at the Little Wind Building, Fremont County Fairgrounds. Visit the Farmers Market Facebook page for more information.