THE JUICER!!!

Well, another project down…75 pounds of Concord grapes. Whoa! I never thought I would see the end. My dear neighbors (the ones with the plum tree), also grow Concord grapes and those lovely vines have just snaked there way over our fence and into our lives. It is a beautiful thing.

I started picking last Saturday and just finished Tuesday. We are talking A LOT of grapes here and that is just what is on OUR side of the fence! I can’t imagine what is on theirs!

We decided to split our first batch and make half of it into just plain grape juice and the other half into grape jelly. So…to start off…RINSE!!

After that we put the grapes into this brilliant contraption called a Steamer/Juicer. My Mom bought one for our family to share and it is BRILLIANT!!

This is the middle part of the steamer/juicer where the juice collects.

Filled to the brim!

This is what it looks like all buttoned up.

Make sure and put a little something under the draining hose to catch any escaping juice.

Then you just wait. That is truly all you do. I would drain it every once in awhile, but you pretty much just let it sit and steam…for 60 minutes to be precise. Then when it is finished you can either bottle up the juice right then and there (which we did), or you can put that juice to good work and make some jelly (which we did).

To make the jelly you just start to boil 5 cups of Concord Grape Juice with a box of pectin until it is dissolved. After that, you can add 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine to help bring down the foam.

Then add the sugar all at once, 6 cups if you are using Concord Grapes. Bring it to a hard boil, stirring constantly and once you have reached that point, stir for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam.

Pour directly into hot jars.

And seal them up! Quite easy and VERY tasty!!

And when you are done your grapes look like this…very sad and thoroughly steamed. But they did a great job and we will be enjoying them all winter!!

Here is to antioxidants!!

Another Idea...Frozen Peach Cocktail

Let me just start off by saying that I love peaches, not just a little bit, a lot. I eat two or three everyday. So, if there is anyway I can preserve them and enjoy them during the months my trees lie dormant, I jump on it.

One challenge with peaches is they don't stay good forever. If left in a warm place (somewhere other than the refrigerator), peaches will continue to ripen and can become too soft and even moldy if left for too long. I found myself in this predicament last week and needed a quick and delicious way to preserve my peaches. Luckily my Mom told me about a Frozen Peach Cocktail she was making and after hearing the ingredient list...I ran straight to the store to make my own!

Frozen Peach Cocktail

First peel and cube your peaches.

Then, put in 1 cup of sugar to every 3 lbs. of peaches.

Mix 'er all up.

After letting it sit for a little while, add 1 can of crushed pineapple (per 3 lbs. of peaches), undrained.

Now here come the tasty part. Add 3 cups orange juice (not from concentrate). It sounds good already, doesn't it! (I am making a double batch).

Then go about juicing your lemons. I am sure you don't HAVE to have fresh lemon juice...I just thought it sounded good.

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze...

Until you have 1 cup (that is for a double batch).

Put the juices into your peach/pineapple mixture.

Then just bag it up and put it in the freezer until you need it.

Very easy and Very tasty!

Frozen Peach Cocktail

3 lbs. (12 medium) fresh peaches

2 cups sugar

1 can (15-1/4 oz) crushed pineapple, undrained

1/2 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)

1 1/2 orange juice (3 oranges)

Peel peaches; cute into bite sized pieces to make 6 cups. Sprinkle with sugar; set aside. After a few minutes stir in pineapple, orange juice and lemon juice. Spoon into plastic freezer containers; freeze. To serve while still frosty (which is when it is best), allow to stand at room temperature about 3 hours. Bananas may be added at serving time.

Makes 6 pints

And The Result Is...Success!

Saturday has come and gone and the desired task has been completed! We bottled peaches! I was crazy uptight about it...but you know what, it was actually very easy. If I can do it...anyone can do it!! Seriously.

For anyone else who would like to try their hand at canning some peaches this summer, here is what we did.

We first washed all of our peaches...our "purchased" peaches mind you. Our two trees are just babies and our entire harvest was about 15 peaches...better luck next year!

After we had given them a nice bath in some nice cool water...

We threw them into this boiling hot inferno to loosen their skins. Brutal but necessary.

Don't worry though, after about 60 seconds they were soon cooling off in this ice cold bath. You don't want them to cook.

In the meantime, I am making a simple syrup. I chose to do a medium syrup as that seems to be the syrup of choice for many canners. The recipe is 3 1/4 cups sugar to every 5 cups of water. I did a double batch. Cook this over medium-high heat until all of the sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved, turn your stove down to low so the syrup stays nice and warm. Make sure to not let any evaporation occur (I did this by just putting a lid on the pot).

Then it was peeling time. This would probably be what took the longest. So, just put on some good tunes and peel away.

Once all of your peaches are nice and slimy...

You can put them in your jars. Make sure and put them "pit" side down and layer them. Fill your jar to almost the first rim.

When you are done, your jars will look a little something like this.

Now it is time to pour in the simple syrup you made previously. You are supposed to fill your jars up to a "generous" 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Also, try and get rid of any air bubbles that might have formed by either sliding a non-metallic utensil down around the fruit or just do what I did...just lightly shake the bottle around.

Once you have done that, it is time to put your hot lids on. To get your lids to the correct temperature, put them into a saucepan of water. Heat the water to a simmer (do not boil) then turn the temperature down. Leave the lids in the water until you are ready to use them. Make sure and only heat the lids, not the bands, you will want the bands nice and cool so you can twist them on. And you don't need to tighten them too tight...just until "resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight" Ball Home Preserving.

Now it is time to stick them in the pot and fill `er up. If you are incredibly strong, you can fill up the pot then move it. But if I were doing it alone, I would probably put the pot on the burner...then fill it with water. Make sure when filling your pot that your water level is at least one inch above the top of the bottles.

Then, crank up the heat. If you have a gas stove top or an electric coil type stove top you are good to go. If you have a ceramic top stove, you will probably need to look for another heating option as the water needs to boil CONTINUOUSLY for 30 minutes (with quart jars) and ceramic stove tops tend to have heat plates that cycle on and off. I have that problem, so we just pulled out the ole Camp Chef and that did the trick. And I didn't have to heat up my kitchen to boot. Yahoo!

Just checking for that "heavy rolling" boil so we can start the timer. Once it started, we timed it for 30 minutes, then turned off the heat...took the lid off...and let the jars sit for 5 minutes.

After that, we stacked them up on a towel, in a non-drafty spot, and waited to hear the "plink" of a nicely sealed jar.

And lucky for us they all sealed. We didn't do that many peaches...about 20 lbs. or so, but that was a good start. We learned a new skill and now I can't wait to tackle something else...next time...jalapeno pepper jelly! I am swimming in those things!!

My Next Great Adventure

Growing up, we always had a garden. It was one grown out of need rather than want, but it was a great blessing for my family. My Mom became a Master Gardener as well as a Master Preserver (is "preserver" a word?). Our garden produced far more than we could eat, so my Mom found ways to preserve it for use throughout the year.

One staple was bottled fruit and veggies. Too be honest, I don't remember eating them much, but our storage room was lined with bottled peaches, pears, tomatoes, etc. Stored food was a critical element to our family making ends meet. Canning was an valuable skill.

Because of this I decided to embark on a new adventure. One that would require a list of important items. So, I went out and got...

One of these.



This black beauty.

One red funnel.




A jar lifter.




A couple cases of these.



And a 20 lb. box of these.

Tomorrow is the day. The day I will tackle my goal for the summer of 2009...
bottling peaches...
without my mother.

I will let you know how it goes.