September in Edmonton can feel like tomato roulette: some ripen faster than you can eat, others stubbornly stay green.
If your garden is overflowing or frost is on the horizon, this hands-on workshop will help you rescue your harvest and preserve the unparalleled taste of homegrown tomatoes well into the winter months.
Limited Kitchen Size: 15 students max
Led by local urban homesteader and garden sage Cindy Suelzle, this session goes beyond just canning—though we’ll certainly roll up our sleeves and fill a few jars. You’ll explore freezing, dehydrating, ripening, and smart storage strategies that make the most of every last tomato on the vine… or windowsill.
What You’ll Learn
- Hands-On Tomato Canning: Learn hot water bath canning techniques tailored for tomatoes—acidity, salt, timing, and that classic home-kitchen tomato flavour.
- Freezing Without Fuss: Discover how to freeze whole tomatoes (no prep needed!) for easy access to summer flavour in winter recipes.
- Dehydration Basics: Explore drying tomatoes for soups, stews, or grinding into tangy tomato powder.
- How to Ripen Green Tomatoes: Learn when to harvest, where to store, and how to coax flavour and nutrition from indeterminate green tomatoes.
- Tomato Storage Myths (Debunked!): Is refrigeration really the enemy of tomato taste? (Short answer: yes.)
- Using the Whole Harvest: We’ll cover fast uses for ripe tomatoes—from fresh sauces and roasting to preserving “just enough” for a cozy pasta night.
Why This Matters in Central Alberta
Our growing season is short, but our tomato dreams are big.
Alberta gardeners often end up with too many tomatoes… or too many questions. This workshop is timed to help you avoid waste, preserve peak flavour, and build skills that work in our actual climate.
Whether you’re dealing with green tomatoes before frost, cracked skins after rain, or a counter full of “almosts,” we’ll help you turn overwhelm into pantry gold.
Taste You Can’t Get at the Store
This workshop isn’t just about food—it’s about reclaiming what summer tastes like. You’ll learn why homegrown tomatoes are so different from store-bought, how to hold onto that nutrition after harvest, and why preserving in-season food is more than just practical—it’s an essential life truth.
Who’s Leading the Class?
Cindy Suelzle knows tomatoes—intimately. With up to 28 plants in her backyard each season, she’s experimented with every way to store, ripen, roast, and preserve them.
Based in Edmonton, Cindy brings years of experience, practical wisdom, and a deep love for that irreplaceable homegrown tomato taste. Her teaching style is down-to-earth, full of humour, and always grounded in real life.
Cindy writes at her website Backyard City Homestead website and YouTube channel.
Cindy also instructs our Beginner Jam Making class.
New to Water-Bath Canning?
This tomato-focused workshop includes a live canning demo, but if you’re looking for a full beginner-friendly experience, check out our Beginner Canning workshop. It’s a hands-on introduction to safe, simple canning techniques—perfect if you want to build lasting skills from the ground up.
Take Home More Than Just Tips
This is a workshop about flavour, confidence, and using what you have.
You’ll leave with a jar of your own preserved tomatoes, a game plan for your harvest, and the know-how to stretch your garden’s bounty into the winter months.
Let’s honour your tomatoes—and your hard work—with preservation techniques that make every bite count.