Preserving Floyd: Salem Museum Herb Faire, April 28th

I nearly forgot to put this event up on the calendar!  Next weekend is the Salem Museum Herb Faire at the museum (website here) in Salem, Va.  I'll be there along with Maxine Fraade in Master Food Volunteer mode demonstrating herbs.  In addition to the demos there will be lots of herb starts for sale!

Salem Museum Herb Faire

Saturday, April 28, 2012

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Here's the class schedule although I don't have descriptions for the Master Gardener classes.

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.       Planting Techniques for Herbs

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.   Herb Pastes and Butters

Learn why herb pastes and butters are the best way of preserving delicate and quickly lost herb flavors.  Perfect for common culinary herbs, pastes and butters are wonderful to spread on meat, poultry and seafood, add to soups and sauces, and flavor mayonnaise and spreads.  Come learn with Rebecca Shannon how to make, freeze and use these great additions to your pantry!

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.    Fresh Herb Salads/Vinaigrettes

Fresh herb vinaigrette salad dressings are a simple, delicious and inexpensive way to capture summer's lively flavors in each mouthful of greens, as well as perk up familiar family-favorite salads. Join Maxine Fraade and  learn how to make several kinds of herb vinaigrettes to use on your mixed salads and add new tastes to traditional potato, tuna and chicken salads.

12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.   Cooking with Fresh Herbs

Hard to say which is better, the wonderful taste of summer fresh herbs add to your cooking or the amazing fragrance they'll add to your kitchen as you use them in soups, stews, vegetable dishes pastas and more!  Let's find out as Maxine Fraade makes several quick dishes incorporating fresh herbs as an ingredient. 

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.         How to Dry Herbs

Come learn with Master Food Preserver Rebecca Shannon how to dry herbs by hanging, microwaving, oven-drying, and using a dehydrator.  We'll learn which technique to use  for different situations and taste tomatoes tossed with an Italian herb blend made with Rebecca's own home-grown and home-dried herbs from her garden!

1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.       Ways to Grow Herbs

Maxine Fraade is among the most popular instructors for Roanoke County Parks and Recreation programs where her cooking classes on international cuisine are frequently full.  She has studied at the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City, as well as other culinary schools across the United States, Europe and Asia. Maxine is a graduate of the first  group of the Virginia  Cooperative Extension Master Food Volunteers. Her website, The Roanoke International Cooking Experience (RICE),  is found at  http://www.binaryspark.com/asian/