Learn to cook with local food at upcoming events

By Jacqueline Palfy, for Pigeon605

It’s midsummer, which means you’ve probably already grilled all your favorite warm weather foods, gorged on potato salad and are just waiting for your garden to really start producing.

You know, the kind of producing where you suddenly have a 5-gallon bucket of tomatoes or a zucchini the size of a small child. Where you have to actually plan time in the week not only to pick things but also to preserve them.

The Sioux Falls teaching and cooking community is here to help. Cooking classes take a seasonal flavor at the Outdoor Campus and Nyberg’s Ace this month and next.

If you’re new to canning or just want to get better at it, Nyberg’s Ace offers free water bath and pressure canning seminars at its 41st and Minnesota location. The events are at 6:30 p.m. July 19 and Aug. 23. You can register at 605-336-6474.

Kelly Nyberg says the classes have been popular for years. They also saw surges in the last two years, as more people stayed home and planted gardens, and supply chain issues frustrated home canners.

“We couldn’t get lids for canning jars,” Nyberg said. “People were freaking out and we got 40 or 50 calls a day.”

Don’t worry – they are well-stocked now, she said. They are expecting up to 50 people in the class next week, and they encourage people to sign up soon for the August class. That one coincides with their Colorado peach shipments – and everyone’s ripening tomatoes – so they are often packed.

“It’s just that time of year,” Nyberg said. “We have literally anything anybody needs.”

She said the classes are great for those new to canning, but even those with experience will learn something. The class has been going on for more than 25 years, and Nyberg says people are still learning new things there, noting that instructor LaVonne Meyer “is amazing. She knows anything and everything.”

If canning isn’t for you, you still can find a way to spice up grilling and camping meals.

Try the Summer Outdoor Cooking class with Homegrown Sioux Empire. The classes are from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 21 and Aug. 18 at the Outdoor Campus. The class promises to showcase local foods – and teach you how to prepare them.

You also can try the Pheasant Cleaning and Cooking course with Women on the Wing, a women’s group with Pheasants Forever in South Dakota. That class is at 6:30 p.m. July 28.

You can register for Outdoor Campus classes by clicking here. All classes require registration.

July and August promise to be delicious.