Plum Torte & Jam Cooking Class & Meal Kit

02/27/2022
- 02:00 pm

Plum Torte & Jam Cooking Class & Meal Kit

February 27, 2022
2:00pm - 3:30pm

Learn how to make delicious treats using plums with local baker, Heidi Leuszler of Berries & Flour. Heidi will teach you how to process plums for different purposes then walk you through making a scrumptious plum torte and plum jam. The virtual Zoom class is free to attend but class participants have the option to preorder a class kit to make during the class with the instructor. This $30 Meal Kit includes everything you need to make the plum torte and plum jam including frozen plums, sugar, flour, eggs, butter, pectin, and other spices. Funding for this class is provided in whole or in part by the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant program, awarded to The Land Connection and in collaboration with Common Ground Food Co-op.

 

Register below to attend the free Zoom class on Sunday, February 27th from 2-3:30 pm. To preorder the class kit, fill out the form below and you will be directed to PayPal to complete your payment. Pick up the Class Kit at Common Ground on Friday, February 25 from 4-6pm. You will receive a confirmation email and reminders about upcoming class and pick-up date with Zoom class link. Meal Kits are not available for pick up outside of the designated pick-up time.

 

Register for class

 

About Instructor: Heidi Leuszler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I grew up the daughter of parents with wanderlust who believed that culinary experiences were among the best ways to know a place. We harvested wherever we lived; mangoes in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains, and chokecherries in North Dakota. We traveled the world, dined in people's homes and ate from hedgegrows & tidepools & local markets. As we moved through a delicious world, my mother taught me to preserve seasonal bounty, and be adventurous with flavor pairings from the myriad of places I have lived and visited.

 

My husband and I purchased a home on 7 acres of rich loam soil, and we promptly planted native prairie, trees, and wildflowers, an orchard, berries, asparagus, and a "Midwest Hedgegrow". I now prepare seasonal dishes based on what grows in the backyard and on local farms. As a professor of ecology and botany at Parkland College and sometimes University of Illinois, I have continued to learn more about native plants, ethnobotany and agriculture. All of these experiences have helped me to become an advocate of food security based on a local food supply.

 

Recently, I decided to start a small bakery that is the synergy of all of these passions for me; culinary skills, ecology of native landscapes, growing of plants, foraging for wild foods, and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land.


Upcoming Perennial Class Series

  • MARCH 19th at 2pm - Fruit Leather: Preserving and Snacks... All in one! with Jeff Hake
  • APRIL 23rd at 2pm - Perennial Cocktails and Simple Syrups with Liz Sands
  • MAY 28th at 2pm - Asparagus & Rosemary Quiche with Hazelnut Crust with Sarah Buckman

 

Funding for this series is provided in whole or in part by the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant program, awarded to The Land Connection and in collaboration with Common Ground Food Co-op.

Perennial Class Series

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