HippieDog

Plum Lovin

 

We have a Santa Rosa plum tree and this year it produced quite a lot of plums. I read that it usually takes this tree about four years to produce fruit. We had a few plums last year, but this year was the year I could finally start canning :)

I'm excited to use these plums for Cobbler. I use this recipe a TON! Using all of our nectarine and peach stash. It always turns out wonderful.

I found it very helpful to watch this video on "How to Pit a Plum in 10 seconds". I couldn't for the life of me get these pitted until I watched this video. It's all in the twist :) 

When I'm cutting my plums, I toss them in a little lemon juice to prevent browning. 

Canning Plums

Plums, washed, pitted, quartered
lemons
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 cups water
quart jars, lids and rings

Pack washed and prepared plums in sterilized quart size jars. I like to keep my jars in the oven on a cookie sheet 200 degrees until I'm ready to use. This keeps the jars from breaking during the hot water bath.

Meanwhile, combine sugar and water. Stir and bring to a boil. Ladle hot syrup in jars, covering fruit. Be very careful, the syrup is hot! Allow 1/2 inch head space between jars. Place sterilized lids and rings on jars. 

Process in hot water bath, for 30 minutes. Store in cool dark place when all jars have sealed and cooled.

Pickled Jalapeños

Such a great way to use all of those Jalapeños from your garden. I plan to use them on nachos, in soups, casseroles, stews, enchiladas and to spice up anything else I can think of :)

Pickled Jalapeños

10 jalapeños, washed and sliced into rings

1 garlic clove, minced

3 tsp. oregano

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 TB Kosher salt

3 TB sugar

Prepare jalapeños, set aside. In saucepan, combine all other ingredients. Bring to a boil, add jalapeños. Turn off heat and cool. Add jalapeños to sterilized jars, fill with enough liquid to cover, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add sterilized lids and rings.

Refrigerate or process in hot water bath for 10 minutes, or specified time for your region. I actually did both :) just a few for the fridge and processed the rest.

Note: If processing, no need to let cool. I more than tripled this recipe.

Recipe Source: Allrecipes.com

End of Summer Canning

It's always a mad dash to get everything canned before Summers end. I thought we were doing pretty good, but we are patiently waiting for our tomatoes to ripen. We have more peppers than we know what to do with. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be able to make a few batches of salsa.

So far we've canned nectarines, spaghetti sauce, nectarine preserves, pickled jalapeno peppers, cinnamon applesauce and strawberry nectarine jam. The peaches will be ready any day now, I'm so excited for this :) I'll probably freeze a few for smoothies too.

I'm looking forward to Fall, even thought it's going to be sad to take down our little pool---and put away the summertime things. I did a little decorating around the house today......that always makes me feel better.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Just pick'in Peaches

Have a great Weekend!  :)

Strawberry Peach Jam with a chance of rain

I was up late last night.

Not making jam but watching and listening to the rain.

It's about time we had a decent storm. I was just starting to get sleepy around 3 in the morning. I know.....crazy. Then the thunder and lightning show begins.....until around 5:30. Needless to say, I'm one tired girl.

No time for a nap because it was jam making day. I just have one more batch of strawberry nectarine (my favorite) to make tomorrow.....and that's all for the year.

I sure need some takers for our peaches and nectarines.

Note to self: Please ----remember to thin the fruit trees next year.

So anyway, I found the cutest labels for my jam today-----just what I was looking for.

and......I can personalize them. Sweet.

I found them over at Toad's Treasures......no doubt my new favorite place to hang.

When I make my strawberry peach jam, I keep the fruit in bite size pieces. When it's just about the right consistency, I use an immersion blender to only keep about half of the fruity pieces.

It's kinda like a piece of wheat toast's lucky day to have these little bite size pieces of fruit with jam.

 

Strawberry Peach Jam

4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
4 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup lemon juice
6 1/2 cups sugar

Toss fruit with lemon juice and place in large saucepan.

Add sugar and stir on medium-high heat until dissolved.

Bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat to low-medium and simmer on stove for about an hour, stirring occasionally. When jam starts to thicken and stays on the back of your wooden spoon, laddle in sterilized half pint jars. Wipe the tops of jars and sides. Run a plastic knife around jar to remove any air bubbles. Place sterilized jar lids and rings on jars.

Process in water bath 15 minutes.

Store when cool, making sure each jar has sealed properly.

Makes 6 half pint jars.

Did I tell you how much I LOVE these labels? I can't wait to download a few new Fonts to make them even better---I just used a basic font on this one---but an old typewriter font would be cool too.

Lots of sunshine and pouring rain.

We have the best view of rainbows from our porch.

I don't think we'll be lighting the tiki torches tonight.

Nothing but rainbows.......