Tag: jelly

November 29, 2022 – Learning New Things From Self Reliance Magazine

November 29, 2022 /

I have written about my interest in the Self-Reliance/Backwoods Home publishing universe. Currently, I am buying them as add-on’s when I go buy pet food at the local farm store. I very well may end up subscribing but I am still evaluating the situation because no one wants a magazine subscription where you know all the content. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but I was when I read the Fall issue of Self-Reliance magazine I found some things that I didn’t know or wanted to pursue.

The second article was about how to save seeds from tomatoes. I literally have tomato setting on my desk that I am going to attempt to do this. If you remember from the spring, I had one plant that survived under the lights of my starting. I have planned all along trying to propagate this plant because maybe it has the secret sauce to withstand my abuse.

The fourth article was about building rain barrels. This is another thing that I want to do in the late winter or early spring next year. The reason that I want to do this is to have a water source near my greenhouse. I am hoping that by making things more convenient, it will empower these endeavors to be more productive.

About 2/3’s of the way through, there was an article about using scraps. What they were advocating were making jelly from peach or pear peels. The article also claimed that tomato paste could be made from the skins of tomatoes (after juicing or saucing). There is something called watermelon pickles where you pickle the white part of the watermelon. I had no idea, and I thought that I knew all the frugal tips.

Finally, there is an article on learning how to arc weld. I literally have my dad’s welder in my shop. It is the same model as the article and it is something that I have wanted to learn. We borrowed it work on my son’s projects and kind of muddled through it. But still, talk about being on the same page.

There were some other interesting and useful things in this issue but not to the same scale of symbiosis. So, if you recall from my last review, I was less enamored with Self-Reliance than I was with Backwoods Home. For some reason, the Fall issue of Backwoods Home never made it to the news stands. I have the Winter one that I am waiting to read in a break from Atlas Shrugged. But, this reinforced my thoughts that subscribing in a bundle is the right way to go.

End Your Programming Routine: I am really glad that I gave this title a second chance. I don’t think the information is as comprehensive as I would like, but I get it. You are probably not going to want to read a ten page article on saving tomato seeds. The basic technique is conveyed in one page. I am OK with it having a little gray area because that is how we learn. We take what we know and think about what we don’t to come up with a method that works for us.

October 25, 2022 – I Don’t Think Your Ready For This _____ ?

October 25, 2022 /

Did you fill in the blank as soon as you read the headline? And if you did, did you hear the song in your head? I did of course that is why I wrote it in the first place.

Making Jelly/Jam is a gateway into preserving. It is easy and it takes very little raw material to do so. When I was a kid, my mom used to plan for about a jar a week. A jar is subject to what you are using, but somewhere between half pint an pint is about the right size I think. Plus, we like variety so preferably, we would make more, smaller containers for rotation.

There is a difference between Jam and Jelly. Jam contains fruit, not just fruit juice. So, we usually make jam but with some items like grapes, it is juice not grapes you want. So, I made grape jelly. With other fruits, you would want to strain the pulp and bits out for essentially a clear juice if you are making jelly.

The nice thing is that the instructions to do so is in every package of pectin. Pectin is an apple starch that helps the liquid setup to solid. Some fruits like apples and stone fruits contain there own pectin but read the instructions for details. Weirdly, some people even make pepper jelly or mint jelly. To me those are specialty applications, not to be put on a peanut butter sandwich, so I skip that kind of stuff.

Preservation occurs by super concentrating the sugar. As long as you don’t get mold or something in the jelly, I think it will literally last forever. My mom used to poor liquid paraffin on the top of the jelly and that was the seal. That is not a recommended technique anymore. But, the truth is that we never got sick and I wouldn’t hesitate to eat it. So, I water bath can my jars.

Processing time is pretty short compared to peaches, it is 4 mins in a rolling boil. I made this batch of jelly in about two hours. That was after dinner was cleaned up an before bed and I was done with the whole thing.

Despite the fact that we probably ate one jar a week, in my current life there is only so much jelly one can eat. I sometimes will use it to supplement barbecue sauce or compote. But, that is less about needing it in the recipe and taking the opportunity to empty things out of the refrigerator.

To be honest, grape is the least preferable choice in my house. My favorite is actually blackberry. I made this for a couple reasons 1) we are almost out of jam and that would mean buying it to make it through the season 2) I had a few pounds of grapes that I needed to find something to do with 3) I wanted to see if the apple press would press grapes. Check, check and check.

End Your Programming Routine: My wife has said many times that she should carry a container of homemade spread when we go to a restaurant. I skip the industrial jelly altogether because I usually order rye toast and eat only with butter. So, it has been a long time since I have had something other than what I have made. But, give it a try. You will learn something and get a lot more confident with preserving.