Peachy
The day before we left for GenCon I made up two batches of jam: Cherry Berry Jam and straight Blackberry Jam. (The Cherry Berry jam came out GREAT.) It really got me in the mood to do more. Over the weekend Kate and I went out to Remlinger Farms where I had hoped to buy some "farm fresh" produce and canning supplies. I left with a box of peaches, cucumbers for pickling, some apples and pears (just a few of each) and some pint jars for jam, since I'm out. I took a detour to Whole Foods to pick up some of their heirloom tomatoes and fresh figs, which I have no particular plans for but will put to use somehow.
I've been decadently eating ripe, juicy peaches from the box whenever the urge strikes. Tonight I made a peach cobbler (Kate is intrigued, even though she doesn't like peaches the word cobbler is so funny she just might try some) and some peach salsa. I still have quite a few peaches left, so I might try my hand at some other preserves. On the short list I'm considering are Peach Pickles, Spiced Peaches, Brandied Peaches, and Peach Preserves.
Before Kate was born and then when she was a little baby (when I still lived in Canada) I spent a lot of time cruising the rec.food.XXX groups (rec.food.cooking, rec.food.recipes, rec.food.preserving). To my delight postings going back to 1997 and possibly earlier are archived and available through Google Groups. A name from those old days (Barb Schaller) still pops up as an active user; when I was a rec.food.preserving reader, Barb had just started posting reports of her successes at the Minnesota State Fair, where she won ribbons upon ribbons for her jams and baked goods. Apparently, she's still at it; BARB SCHALLER, WINNER OF MORE THAN 70 BLUE RIBBONS proclaims this news story about the MN State Fair in the Pioneer Press. Barb has no idea who I am, but she was a good-natured inspiration to me when I tried my hand at canning in those early days. It made me smile to see her name again.
Thinking back to that summer of canning, there are two recipes that I've since lost and kick myself over every time: my friend Elizabeth's family recipe for mustard pickle (which I just LOVE with cheese on some good crusty bread) and the recipe for pear-vanilla preserves that I made with my friend Catherine back in the day. I may just have to try to recreate those recipes, they were so good! Meanwhile, in my "to consider" pile, I have a recipe for Dilly Green Beans and Pickled Beets, in addition to some good old plain Dill Pickles. I don't need these things, but there's something about making them myself, putting them in jars for later like my mother and generations of women before us have done, that gives me great satisfaction.
For now, things are peachy.
I've been decadently eating ripe, juicy peaches from the box whenever the urge strikes. Tonight I made a peach cobbler (Kate is intrigued, even though she doesn't like peaches the word cobbler is so funny she just might try some) and some peach salsa. I still have quite a few peaches left, so I might try my hand at some other preserves. On the short list I'm considering are Peach Pickles, Spiced Peaches, Brandied Peaches, and Peach Preserves.
Before Kate was born and then when she was a little baby (when I still lived in Canada) I spent a lot of time cruising the rec.food.XXX groups (rec.food.cooking, rec.food.recipes, rec.food.preserving). To my delight postings going back to 1997 and possibly earlier are archived and available through Google Groups. A name from those old days (Barb Schaller) still pops up as an active user; when I was a rec.food.preserving reader, Barb had just started posting reports of her successes at the Minnesota State Fair, where she won ribbons upon ribbons for her jams and baked goods. Apparently, she's still at it; BARB SCHALLER, WINNER OF MORE THAN 70 BLUE RIBBONS proclaims this news story about the MN State Fair in the Pioneer Press. Barb has no idea who I am, but she was a good-natured inspiration to me when I tried my hand at canning in those early days. It made me smile to see her name again.
Thinking back to that summer of canning, there are two recipes that I've since lost and kick myself over every time: my friend Elizabeth's family recipe for mustard pickle (which I just LOVE with cheese on some good crusty bread) and the recipe for pear-vanilla preserves that I made with my friend Catherine back in the day. I may just have to try to recreate those recipes, they were so good! Meanwhile, in my "to consider" pile, I have a recipe for Dilly Green Beans and Pickled Beets, in addition to some good old plain Dill Pickles. I don't need these things, but there's something about making them myself, putting them in jars for later like my mother and generations of women before us have done, that gives me great satisfaction.
For now, things are peachy.
Just an FYI--I posted the kick-ass pear sauce recipe in the comment's section of JD's blog since my blog is on hiatus.