preserving.  Wholesome, honest to goodness jams, jellies, preserves, relishes and pickles that will allow you to enjoy the harvest all year long.

Biography

As a kid I remember my mom making massive amounts of strawberry jam and peach preserves, but I never really learnt how to can.  Life took me on a few adventures, as life tends to do.  In 2002 I left Ottawa to move to Toronto where I got a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Women's Studies from York University.  I moved back to Ottawa, worked a few boring retail jobs and then quit to go farming.  Summer of 2007 I volunteered on an 80 acre organic farm.  It was here at Everdale Farm and Environmental Learning Center where my canning education began, as we tried to preserve the harvest for the winter.  I was hooked. After 10+ hours of work my friends and I would stay up for hours canning everything from pickled garlic scapes to hot packed tomatoes. 

I've been canning everything I can get my hands on ever since, and have taken my farming knowledge to grow a personal vegetable garden in one of the city's many community gardens, canning nearly everything I grow. For the past two years I have been doing canning workshops with Just Food, an Ottawa based food security organization.  Being able to teach others to preserve is exciting.  It was a dying art and it is wonderful to be experiencing a rebirth.

In April 2009 I completed a post-bachelor certificate in Food Security from Ryerson University.  Although I loved learning about food security the idea of sitting behind a desk did not appeal to me.  They saying goes if you do what you love you will never work a day in your life.  I love food, I love local agriculture, I love preserving and I love interacting with people.  And so the Sweet and Sour Preserve Company was born.  I took the food handling course through the city, and I rented a commercial kitchen and now I am able to make some money doing the thing I love.  Thank you for buying my products, and for supporting small entrepreneurship and local agriculture.   

-Liz Charles, Owner and Proprietor of Sweet and Sour Preserve Company