All In A Jar

Penny is so skilled and creative! I never would have guessed that corn cob jelly could be so flavorful and delicious! And pie in a jar? Genius.
Penny also lives in a stunning home with a spectacular view. She is so welcoming and charismatic. I can’t wait to go back and learn more of her inventive recipes!

Penny is amazing! All of the preserves she makes and teaches are absolutely incredible, and her creativity blew me away. Corncob Jelly? Sweet Pickled Jalapeños? Espresso Curd? Yes please! Penny is a patient and helpful teacher, and is concerned first and foremost with safety, a vitally important component of food preservation. I will definitely take another class with Penny and All In A Jar.

Took my first class in April 2014. BECAME ADDICTED. I have taken 6 classes with Penny. After the first class, I had such a blast that I commissioned a private class so I could bring my friends. I am scheduled for 4 classes this month! Penny is a delight– very warm and welcoming. Class is in her home in a HUGE kitchen. I have met some really nice, cool people through this class. And you come away with delicious stuff. It is awesome for gift giving. People have tasted the things I have canned and encourage that I go into business and sell the stuff! Well worth the cost, and you will have a blast!

My husband and I went to this class and had a lot more fun than either of us expected to. When we first arrived, we thought perhaps we were in the wrong place, as we were in a residential neighborhood. Well, we were exactly where we were supposed to be, and when we rang the bell we were greeted by a most professional wonderful Penny! She made us feel welcome and at home immediately! We waited just a few minutes for one other class mate Sue. We started our class by getting to try several of the wonderful treats that Penny has made, and enjoyed them out on the deck with a wonderful view. We learned some of the dos and don’ts about canning as well as a few tidbits about pickling. We then got down to business and started with the hands on part. We all washed our hands and started dicing onions and peppers and tomatoes. We were going to make salsas. We made two different types and both are wonderful. Penny even catered to my hatred of cilantro and I got to can both of my delicious recipes with out it! YAY! We got to leave our class with a jar of each recipe and look forward to eating them!!! I would definitely recommend this to all of my friends! This would make a great gift for anyone! All in a Jar!

After three fun, informative classes I can unequivocally recommend the creative hands-​on classes at All In A Jar. Learning the proper methods and science of canning organic fresh fruits and vegetables, using unique recipes developed by Penny, is time well-​spent in her beautiful gourmet kitchen that overlooks a bucolic and scenic valley. With small classes of 4 to 6 people, there is plenty of time for questions and full participation while socializing. The fruits of your labor come home with you along with the recipes and all the instructions you will need to replicate the results in your kitchen.

My husband and I went to a class with Penny last week and had a wonderful time. We were both very motivated to try to do more canning — we have lots of fruit trees and I can’t wait to try making jams and preserving the fruit. We both enjoyed the class so much that we signed up for another one. What a great way it was to spend a Saturday morning. I highly recommend attending a class with Penny!

Great class and Penny is very passionate about getting you all the info you need to safely preserve food for your family.

Great class with Penny at All in a jar! Amazingly great time learning about all the fun ways to can and fresh recipes!

If you are looking to make your garden last throughout the year or a fun hobby… the All in a Jar class is for you! We learned to make canned artichokes and homemade white wine mustard. it was so simple and now have 2 jars of each to try with the family.
Canning was like nostalgia to me. awesome memories with grandma and mom in the kitchen. I want to create that same memory for my kids but wasn’t of age to remember how!
The class is at Penny’s super immaculate clean home, which has a view to kill! You can browse and admire some of her previous canning creations which are on display to see. She also puts together a nice spread of hors de vours for you to try. YUM! I’m inspired!
Penny is a wealth of information from proper canning techniques to awesome recipe tips.
I’m so excited to pick up a new hobby and be able to have fresh peach or apple pie all year round! Also excited to sort our recipes for all the lemons I have on my tree!
Thanks Penny for a great class experience! We’ll be back. or maybe have you to our house for a private party… FUN!

Just a little update. I have gone to more classes and they are all FAB! I now know how to put up tomatoes, jar marinara sauce, pickle garlic, make and can the most amazing eggplant spread and corn salsa and OMG the grilling class was INCREDIBLE!!! I am the main griller at our house and I learned SO much. I cannot say enough about these classes. I cannot wait to go again!

The first thing I want to mention, is that All in a Jar is in a residential neighborhood. I thought my map had taken me to the wrong place, but if you are up in the hills you are in the right place!
I had an amazing time at All in a Jar. We had a deal, so it was $ 35 for 3 hours of entertainment plus the food you take home! This was a steal, and I would definitely pay more for such a great experience.
The roasted red pepper eggplant spread we made was so delicious, and I am anxious to try the pickled vegetables. Penny is quite a character, and makes the class so much fun. You also get to try a bunch of her jams, curd, and other pickled items.
She does a BBQ/​jar class that I want to go back and try. The other fun part, is my friend and I who did the class, became friends with the other people there! It’s a great way to meet new people in the area!

I went with a friend to keep her company. I hadn’t expected to fall in love with canning and the science of it. I hadn’t expected to try tasty treats when we got there. I hadn’t expected Penny to be such an AMAZING instructor with a beautiful home and spectacular kitchen. I hadn’t expected to be riveted by her knowledge or as engaged as I was with the other canners. I sure as hell didn’t expect to leave there to purchase canning supplies… All in a Jar is All Good, if you ask me, and I have been talking about how much fun I had for the last two weeks. Even if you have never tried it, do so. You’ll have a wonderful time and walk away with a couple jars of yummy goodness.

My wife and I took the tomato canning class on Saturday and had a great time! We did some canning before but made mistakes. Penny’s process and advice eliminates the complexity of canning, but doesn’t forego the focus on safety.
If you want to learn to can anything, make pie fillings, or pickle something, this is the class for you. We spent a delightful 3 hours in her gorgeous kitchen laughing at her stories. And we left there fired up to start canning at home.
We have already signed up for the next class, canning and grilling! Yummmm.

Super fun class. Had a ton of fun at met some really cool people and brought home my projects.

Great class and a super Teacher! Just did a class last night and, as a novice canner, it was full of tips and tricks and, of course, the basics.
Penny is very knowledgeable and passionate. Passion, I think, is just as important as knowledge because passion can be very infectious and engaging. We’ve all had teachers sans passion, did you learn anything? FEAR NOT! You will learn and have fun!
Our class of six arrived to a lovely spread of tasty treats that were all prepared with the canned goodies — and they were all GREAT! We prepared pickled Okra (can’t wait for the 6 weeks to pass to taste it – gotta wait for it to pickle, don’t ya know) and Peach Pie filling… I have to admit, half of the pie filling filled my family’s tummies the same night — soooo good!
Everyone receives the jar of each recipe they prepared — bonus!
Capture the bounty of summer and sign up for one of her classes, but be warned — the slots fill up quickly! — Yep, she’s that good!

I attended a canning class last night that was purchased through a LivingSocial deal. Penny is the owner of All in a Jar and she has a real passion for canning and food. She’s also a fantastic hostess/​teacher! The classes are taught in her amazing cook’s kitchen with a stunning view of the east bay hills and Mount Diablo.
The class sizes are small (mine had 6 people) and all the supplies are provided for you. Upon arrival, students nosh on an array of delicious jams, spreads, dips and desserts that All in a Jar makes. Penny walks you through the canning process and students get hands-​on experience at every step. The recipes and instructions are emailed to students following the class and everyone gets to take home two jars of the preserves made during the class. There is a calendar online of the scheduled classes and the 2 recipes to be made in class are listed. All the recipes on the calendar sound delicious — things like peaches in sparkling wine with vanilla bean, fig lemon jam, nectarine chutney, lime curd, and spicy honey mustard. Mmmmm!
In addition to the normal class schedule, private parties can be arranged for groups of friends or couples. And if you won’t be satisfied with taking just two jars of preserves home or if you have an overload of fruit that you need to do something with, then the Bring Your Own Fruit class is probably for you. You bring the fruit/​vegetables to the session with a few friends and your group gets to leave with the entire bounty made in class!
After one All in a Jar class, I feel well prepared and confident that I’ll be able to can on my own. I’m glad that I attended one of Penny’s classes… and with my intentions for canning in the near future, I’m certain that my friends and family will be glad I attended also!

I just attended Penny’s canning class and it was fantastic! When we arrived, she had a lovely layout of finger foods featuring some of her canned specialties. They were delicious!
The class itself was very informative, giving us the hands-​on experience to really learn how to can. Penny also provided the recipes for the items we made in our class, as well as handouts with information and tips for canning at home. Penny was really helpful in answering specific questions I had, including my numerous questions about where to buy materials, etc.
I will definitely be making more batches of her recipes at home and I feel confident enough to try other recipes now, too! I can’t wait to can items to give as gifts to friends and family! I would absolutely recommend Penny’s class to anyone interested in canning and I plan to attend another class sometime to try more of her recipes!

My girlfriend and I took our first class from Penny and knew upon meeting her that we would be having a fun day! First of all, she had coffee/​tea available and an array of snacks with most of her canning goodies available to munch on. She was so friendly and knowledgeable and we made two types of preserves/​chutneys and took a jar of each home as well. After the canning we had a delicious hot lunch and dessert that she prepared in her lovely kitchen. Our second class was just as great. We made an apple pie filling and vanilla pears… yum. We also took a jar of each home. We will definitely be back as Penny obviously cans not only seasonally, but locally.