It has been years since I have canned. I use to do most of my canning when my children were small. Canning is one of those things you can work all day at and then exhaustedly sit down on the couch and enjoy the fruits of your labor, sort of like having a child. I am curious to know if that is where the commonly used phrase “the fruits of your labor” comes from. It certainly wouldn’t be cleaning house, you can spend all day cleaning and by that night it seems you are back where you started. Unlike work where you receive a paycheck, you have already worked the hours, and then come the taxes and the bills and it is gone.
Canning has to sit at least 24 hours before consumption, I have lied and said it takes much longer so all the jeweled bottles of seasons best fruits and vegetables take up space on the kitchen counter longer then necessary. In fact I would share with you this small bit of magic…hide some of your canned goods and slowly bring them out each day and you will be forgiven for laying totally spent in front of the television watching reruns of NCIS.
Making jams is an exact art. You must follow the directions to have it jell and set. However that stifles my creativity, so a little almond extract in the cherry jam and adding a pat of butter to the jams right before pouring them into their nesting place gives me the thrill of not following the rules. Perhaps I ought to name it Rebel Jam.
I have also looked in my fridge to see what may be aging, like a couple of wrinkled nectarines and plums and add them to the jam I am making. I wonder if pectin would do the same thing for my face that it does for wrinkled fruit. I may be on to something.
I also heard substituting part pineapple juice for water when canning apricots is divine. Not finding the exact recipe, I made a big cauldron of 16 cups water, two cans of pineapple juice and 10 cups of sugar. There was left over syrup so I poured it over my bottled unpitted cherries too.
I have canned with my kids and their friends who have never heard of such a thing. This time I spent quality time with my only daughter and her only daughter so far. Little bits is only 17 -months -old, her mom and I have always done this dance together in the kitchen. That will be another story, for now the bottles will sit on my counter and when someone asks what I have done all day…I will wearily point to my accomplishment.
3 comments:
I'd love to see the Dance you perform. You need to video tape that some time!!
Sylvia blogs!! I finished my peaches recently. They sat on my counter for a week because I didn't know where to put them!!! (Small house issues!) I didn't even get as many peaches as last year, but it seemed to be so much more work this year. And we got these worms that really grossed me out. I actually just threw out the last handfull that were sitting on my counter because I was tired of looking at them and was afraid of the worms that were inside them. (Silly? yes, maybe. But I can't take it any more!) I did make apricot syrup from my moms apricots. I am so glad you shared that at an enrichment a few years ago!
I am jealous. I love the thought of canning, but the actual work is, well...daunting. I loved this post. Very poetic (?) and entertaining. Very...Sylvia. Don't make us wait so long next time...
Post a Comment