Area residents can peel, pack, shell, prepare and can their vegetables, juices and sauces, stews and soups, fruits, fish, and meats at Tri-County Community Council's Canning Centers in Washington and Walton counties. Both centers are fully stocked with all the equipment needed to take fresh foods from pre-preparation to jars or to the freezer.
Special equipment located in the centers helps make the job easier. Each contains a pea sheller, meat grinder, potato peeler, bean sheller, nut cracker, vegetable chopper, juicers, and other processing equipment.
The Washington County Center is loacted on Highway 79 South in Vernon. The Walton County Center is loacted at 1588 US Highway 331 South in Defuniak Springs.
While some Holmes, Walton, and Washington County qualifying, low-income residents can use the canning centers for no fee, others must pay a small charge for use of the equipment. The pay schedule is as follows: processing, 20 cents per pint or quart; shelling peas or beans, $3 per bushel; peeling potatoes, $3 a bushel or 75 cents per peck; pecan cracking, 20 cents; juicer, $1 per bucket; grinding beef or pork, 30 cents per pound, hog head and feet, $2.50 per set; and chopping, 50 cents per gallon.
Out-of-area residents must pay the following fees: processing, 40 cents per pint or quart; shelling peas or beans, $6 per bushel; peeling potatoes, $6 a bushel or $1.60 per peck; pecan cracking, 40 cents; juicer, $2 per bucket; grinding beef or pork, 60 cents per pound, hog head and feet, $5 per set; and chopping, $1 cents per gallon.
The Tri-County canning centers will be open from May 1 through September 31. Those with questions or wishing to make an appointment should call either Emma Peterson at the Vernon Center @ (850) 535-2937 or Bertha Hood at the Defuniak Springs center @ (850) 892-3615
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