Do you like pickles on your hamburgers? What about chips and salsa, peanut butter and jelly, or jerky? Food preservation is a way to enjoy seasonal fresh-grown fruits, vegetables, and even meats, all year long! The foods mentioned can all be preserved by canning, pickling, freezing, or drying.
Show Your Skills
- Display of how to preserve foods safely showing the different types of food preservation
- Exhibit your canned foods
- Make a recipe book for preserved foods
- Present a food preservation topic at a local public presentations contest
Service and Leadership
- Make jam/jelly for others in your community
- Teach others about how to preserve food
- Volunteer at a community garden
- Volunteer with a local food pantry
- Organize a food preservation workshop
- Share food preservation recipes with others
- Start a food drive for commercially canned foods in your community
- Grow your own garden with vegetables you can preserve
Entrepreneurship
- Create your own food preservation cookbook
- Contact the local health department for local rules on selling your products, then sell your preserved good at a farmer’s market or create an online store
- Create a business plan for your preserved food sales
Technology Connection
- Videos of how to properly can foods
- Take virtual tours of canning factories
Connecting with a Mentor
- Master Food Preserver
- Extension nutrition and wellness educators
- Extension Master Gardeners
- Older 4-H members
Events
- Local Illinois Extension workshops and events
- Exhibit opportunities at your county and state fair
- Local taste test
- Local food cookoff
- Local food fairs
- Farmer’s markets
Project Manuals & Exhibit Requirements
- Put It Up Food Preservation for Youth Online Resources
- Boiling Water Canning Project Manual
- Drying Project Manual
- Freezing Project Manual
Purchase manuals on the Shop Illinois 4-H Store.
View exhibit requirements and scoresheets on the Illinois State Fair page.
Related Projects
National Center for Food Preservation
University of Wyoming Extension 4-H project sheet
South Dakota State University 4-H Project Sheet
North Dakota State University Extension 4-H Project Sheet
4-H Spark Sheets are a collaborative effort of 4-H staff, volunteers, alumni and teens from across Illinois. A big thanks to the many contributors and reviewers!