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Best Practices When Harvesting Leafy Greens for Market and Home
The harvesting of leafy greens to maintain quality and safety focuses on the key risk factors from the time harvest begins to selling at market. The food safety risk factors involve temperature, time, water, worker hygienic practices, and food contact surfaces.
Disposable Gloves: Guidelines for Food Handlers
Improper handling of food and poor personal hygiene by food handlers are leading causes of foodborne illness. Disposable gloves do not take the place of good hygiene and proper hand-washing.
Canning Tomatoes Safely
Home canning tomatoes is a great way to preserve them for later use. It is critical to use proper methods of heat processing to ensure a safe finished product.
Canning Tomato-Vegetable Mixtures
Tomatoes are unique when it comes to home canning recipes. Some tomato and vegetable recipes recommend using a boiling water bath canner, some recipes recommend a pressure canner, and some recipes offer both options.
Altitude Adjustments for Home Canning
There are many guidelines to follow when canning, an important one often overlooked is checking one’s need to adjust for altitude.
Protecting Yourself From Ticks
During wet springs, tick populations tend to thrive in South Dakota. These parasitic arthropods require blood to fulfill their nutritional needs and commonly use humans as a host. Some ticks can also carry bacterial diseases that are a threat to human health.
July 2019 Climate Outlook: Challenges Continue
This year’s seasonal pattern of wetter than average conditions is projected to continue through July and the rest of the summer season. The latest climate outlook, released June 20, 2019, shows an increased chance of wetter than average conditions in the next one to three months for the state of South Dakota.
Be Ready for Mosquitos
With the very wet 2019 spring and recent rains, it inevitable that mosquito populations will be high this year. Although there are over 20 species of mosquitoes that call South Dakota home, there are really only two species that account for the majority of observed individuals.
Water Bathing vs. Pressure Canning
Water bathing and pressure canning are two common ways to preserve foods by canning. These techniques use heat processing to preserve foods, and which technique you use depends on the acidity of the food.