The Conscious Kitchen: Preserving the harvest: from fruits, berries to cucurbits
Preserving the harvest is a hands-on workshop where we’ll explore the art of preservation - turning surplus fruits, herbs, and vegetables into delicious, long-lasting pantry staples. With a focus on the summer harvest and its abundance: fruits, berries, squash, courgette etc. Reduce waste, capture the best flavours of the season, and take home your own homemade preserve!
What to Expect
Join us in the OmVed kitchen for a session dedicated to the magic of preservation. We’ll focus on a few key ingredients and transform them into jams, chutneys, fruit molasses, fruit leathers, stocks, fermented hot sauces, and herbal syrups. Expect plenty of tasting, experimenting with bold flavour pairings, and the chance to make your own unique preserve to take home.
What You’ll Learn
Essential techniques for preserving seasonal ingredients
How to make jams, chutneys, and syrups with natural methods
The basics of pickling and fermentation
Smart ways to reduce food waste by using every part of an ingredient
Creative flavour pairings to elevate your preserves
What’s Included
Expert guidance, ingredient tastings, a hands-on session, and your very own homemade preserve to take home
Who Can Take Part?
Open to all! Whether you're a home cook, gardener, or simply love great food, this workshop will leave you inspired to get creative in your kitchen.
What to bring
We kindly ask participants to bring 1 or 2 glass jars (max 500ml) as this helps us to keep the cost of the course down and encourages the re-use of old jars!
About the Hosts
Josephine Marchandise
Head of the OmVed Regenerative and Creative Kitchen. Jo is one founding voice behind the kitchen ethos at OmVed Gardens, a vision rooted in the journey from seed to plate to gut. Her work focuses on the intersection of wild foraging and deep fermentation, exploring how hyperlocal ingredients can sustain both people and the environment. She is a member of the UK Fermenters Guild, organises fermentation festivals and teaches across London and France. @jomarchinfood
Georgia Dowling
Holistic chef and Co-Head of the OmVed Kitchen, she co-runs the space with Josephine Marchandise. Passionate about plant-based food, she specialises in nutritionally dense baking and spent over two years as a recipe writer for Minimalist Baker. Inspired by seasonal produce, Georgia champions low-waste, conscious cooking, always seeking creative ways to make food both delicious and planet-friendly. @everymoodfood
This session is part of a wider series called the Conscious Kitchen. Explore the full programme here.
A note on accessibility: The gardens are set on a hill, featuring steep paths and may not be suitable for those with limited mobility. Wheelchair access across the site is currently limited while landscape works are underway. For events, there is drop-off access by car to the Barn main building. If you require wheelchair drop-off, please get in touch with us ahead of time. There is an accessible toilet located inside the Barn.
Subsidised Tickets: We have a few reserved tickets at a subsidised rate. If this workshop is not monetarily accessible, please write to us at events@omvedgardens.com to avail yourself of a subsidised ticket rate. Subject to availability.
Refund Policy: These tickets are non refundable unless the event is sold out and a wait list is open. In the case of an open waitlist, we offer exchanges up to 10 days before the start of the session.
