04/10/2026
Our Ballymun Biodiversity Action Group organised an evening of learning the skills of preserving, pickling and making jam!
Our workshop with the fantastic Chef Éilis from Learn Local was completely booked out which is a great sign that there is still a real appetite for learning traditional skills and finding ways to make the most of the food we have.
We were delighted to receive a wonderful donation of cooking and eating apples from Falling Fruit Ireland, a brilliant initiative where volunteers harvest fruit from peoples gardens who cannot do it themselves and who then want to donate the fruit to groups who can use it.
It was the perfect fit for our workshop because one of our main aims was to look at how we can reduce food waste by bringing back traditional preserving skills. As a bonus we also got the opportunity to learn how to make an apple crumble, but we also got to eat it later as a reward for all our hard work in the kitchen.
We made delicious strawberry jam and we pickled carrots, cauliflower, kale, beetroot and red cabbage. There was plenty of chopping, stirring, tasting, learning and, of course, eating!
But the best part was the sharing of skills and knowledge, learning techniques that generations before us used to preserve seasonal food and make it last longer.
There were lots of chats, laughs and stories along the way, and everyone went home with new skills, new ideas and hopefully a renewed appreciation for just how much we can do with food that might otherwise go to waste.
Preserving food is sustainability in action, lets keep it going!
A huge thank you to Chef Éilis from Learn Local, to Falling Fruit for the apple donation, and to everyone who came along and made it such a fun and enjoyable workshop. Here’s to less food waste and lots more community cooking!
