Intro post

I've been growing, canning and preserving most of my life (starting in my parents garden and kitchen), and for the past number of years I've been making enough jam and jelly to feed an army (mostly designated to become gifts). A couple of friends suggested that I start a blog to share some of what I do, especially recipes and techniques, so here we go...

I figure over the winter months I can try to catch up on posting some of the jam and jelly successes from this year. The only recipe I have readily accessible today is ginger peach, which is one of my favorites:

The original recipe here is from Gourmet Preserves by Madelaine Bullwinkel, but I've changed it a bit:

3 lbs peaches (I usually use `seconds' for jam)

~ 1/3 c fresh/frozen ginger, peeled and chopped

1 T lemon juice

1/3 c water

2 c sugar

optional 1/4 tsp citric acid (to prevent discoloration)

optional 1/4 c homemade pectin (boiled, strained, and canned quince or apple from last year)

Drop peaches into boiling water for 30 sec to 1 min, then drop them into ice water. Peel, halve, and remove the pits. Chop them up. Combine peaches, ginger, lemon juice and water in a pot. Cover, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes uncovered. Add sugar 1/2 c at a time, bringing back to a boil after each addition. Add pectin and citric acid if you wish. Simmer, stirring frequently, until the jam thickens and liquids clear. Keep a cover handy as it may splatter near the end. Basically cook it down until it's thick enough (it won't really fully jell, but it doesn't really need to) around 15 - 20 min? Fill hot clean jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe clean, attach lids and rings, then seal in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Today was the first real frost of the season, and pretty much the beginning of the end of the growing season here. I spent a good chunk of yesterday starting to clean out my community garden plot. I still have some work to do, but I made some decent progress. Finally dug my potatoes, picked a bunch of tomatillos, a few pepper, some late season peas, a few carrots, some celery, and lots of edamame. I even managed to get a few late season tomatoes from this year's devastated tomato crop.

Now I just need to get going in the kitchen. I'm thinking a big pot of veggie stew (enough to fill the canner) would be a good thing, but I don't think I'm going to get to it until mid-week, unless the grading process magically speeds up.

Fall crops are still going: cabbage, chinese cabbage, cauliflower, a few broccoli plants, and some brussels sprouts that don't look like they are going to do anything. I'm overwintering bunching onions again this year and I plan to plant garlic soon. I'm hoping to get a good layer of mulch down before it snows, but we'll see.