Red thumb
One of the nice things about living in Utah is the quality produce we have access to this time of year. Fresh corn, fresh just about everything, and a lot of it is locally grown. Farmer's markets are opening up and in a couple of weeks, they'll be chock full of the season's first tomatoes and cucumbers.
County fairs start next week, and with that, it means soon peaches will be ripe and so will pears. It's the time of year that all the hard work and TLC that's gone into the garden will pay off.
One of the things I've learned to do is to "can" the things that we grow. We were very blessed with raspberries this year; enough so that there were enough to make two batches of jam and some left over. With the leftovers, I made a batch of raspberry syrup, with the help of my roomie, Miss June (who apparently I have full custody of again) for the first time ever.
I needed to add some raspberries and rather than purchase store bought ones, I drove up to Garden City for a case of Bear Lake raspberries. In a taste test, mine were better. Smaller, by far, but better in flavor. The first batch of raspberry syrup I made was with mostly my own raspberries. The second batch was entirely Bear Lake raspberries.
The process works like this... wash the berries, measure out 6 1/2 cups of them and cook them down. After that, to remove as many of the seeds as possible, I ran them through a food mill which was picked up from a yard sale several years ago. You then take the juice and add 6 3/4 cups of sugar and cook to a boil for one minute. Viola, raspberry syrup.
At Smith & Edwards, they have bottles for use in home canning. It's a dorky thing to be excited about, I know, but hey, it don't take much to entertain me these days. The thing is that the bottles take up less shelf space and will fit in the fridge nicer than mason jars. The bottles can be re-used and the store also sells new lids. These will be perfect for this year's BBQ sauce and chili sauce. Perfect because in part, they'll be nicer to give as gifts.
The canner and food mill have been enjoying a workout this week. In addition to making syrup, I made three batches of apple butter from apples my neighbor grew on his tree.
Below is a photo of the finished raspberry syrup. It's nice to know that I'll be enjoying the fruits of the garden for quite a while after the plants are done producing. It's not a bad life.
County fairs start next week, and with that, it means soon peaches will be ripe and so will pears. It's the time of year that all the hard work and TLC that's gone into the garden will pay off.
One of the things I've learned to do is to "can" the things that we grow. We were very blessed with raspberries this year; enough so that there were enough to make two batches of jam and some left over. With the leftovers, I made a batch of raspberry syrup, with the help of my roomie, Miss June (who apparently I have full custody of again) for the first time ever.
I needed to add some raspberries and rather than purchase store bought ones, I drove up to Garden City for a case of Bear Lake raspberries. In a taste test, mine were better. Smaller, by far, but better in flavor. The first batch of raspberry syrup I made was with mostly my own raspberries. The second batch was entirely Bear Lake raspberries.
The process works like this... wash the berries, measure out 6 1/2 cups of them and cook them down. After that, to remove as many of the seeds as possible, I ran them through a food mill which was picked up from a yard sale several years ago. You then take the juice and add 6 3/4 cups of sugar and cook to a boil for one minute. Viola, raspberry syrup.
At Smith & Edwards, they have bottles for use in home canning. It's a dorky thing to be excited about, I know, but hey, it don't take much to entertain me these days. The thing is that the bottles take up less shelf space and will fit in the fridge nicer than mason jars. The bottles can be re-used and the store also sells new lids. These will be perfect for this year's BBQ sauce and chili sauce. Perfect because in part, they'll be nicer to give as gifts.
The canner and food mill have been enjoying a workout this week. In addition to making syrup, I made three batches of apple butter from apples my neighbor grew on his tree.
Below is a photo of the finished raspberry syrup. It's nice to know that I'll be enjoying the fruits of the garden for quite a while after the plants are done producing. It's not a bad life.
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