The Home Cook: Stephanie Allen

Stephanie Allen

We spent the afternoon with Stephanie Allen of Spring Hill’s Allenbrooke Farms and learned the art of canning. After a tour around the farm and meet-and-greet with the family’s two mini pigs, we settled in the kitchen to talk family, farming, and “puttin’ up.”

Stephanie learned how to preserve the farm’s crops out of necessity, as she and her husband, aka “Farmer Dan,” wanted to make the most out of their harvest. She took a class at her county Ag Extension and picked up a few books, including “So Easy to Preserve” from the University of Georgia, and the “Ball Blue Book of Preserving.” Not one to ever waste, especially after sacrificing so many years to get to where they now are, Stephanie preserves every bit of the bounty she can to use for gifts or for her family to enjoy in later months, such as this tomato sauce, which can do triple duty as soup, marinara sauce or Bolognese sauce.