Peaches and more peaches

Whilst galavanting up to Bayfield last Tuesday, the peach truck came to the parking lot of Shopko.  My good friend Jane picked my box up along with some blueberries, and I in return, gave her a box of strawberries for her trouble.   So tucked in my frig until yesterday morning was about 60 or so lovely Georgia peaches.  Today was the day where the peaches needed to be mostly dealt with.

I began my day with freezing a bunch of them.  Jane's sister apparently freezes peaches (I have canned them with Jane in the past, but she had to head out to a family reunion) using white grape juice.  So I thought what the heck, it is worth a try.  I don't generally can on my stove, I don't want to damage the glass top, so I have to work around that fact.  Freezing seemed like a good option.

So I bought 2 jugs of white grape juice and then decided I needed more, so I bought a couple additional ones.....  I did not need them.  I only needed one!  Oy, well live and learn.

Plunge peaches into boiling water for a few minutes, then cool them quickly in cold water

Peeled peaches

Sliced peaches

You begin this process with peeling the peaches by dunking them in boiling water for a few minutes- I used 4 minutes for mine.  Pull them out of the water and drop them into cold water for a bit, peel, and slice.  Sprinkle a little lemon juice on them, stir and pack into jars.

I used the approximate guesstimate of 3 peaches per jar- I bought 1.5 pint jars as I like the fact that they were straight for freezing  and for storage in the freezer- and that worked out quite well.  Pack them in pretty tightly, not smashed in, but try to fill in the big gaps.  The 9 jars of peaches took about a half of the jug of white grape juice I had purchased.....  yeah.  Maybe I can make popsicles or something.

Wipe the rims and cover- be sure to leave a 3/4 inch space for expansion

 Fill the jars slowly with white grape juice (you could also use a light sugar syrup), and use a knife to push the peaches around to remove the air bubbles.  Let them sit for a while so the bubbles have a chance to escape and make sure the peaches are about 3/4 inch below the top and they are covered with juice.  You want some expansion room for the freezing liquids.

Wipe the rims and put on the cap.  Then put it in the freezer!

Immediately after that, I had some peeled peaches left and so decided to make a batch of peach freezer jam.

Freezer jam is easy peasy- all you need is the fruit, sugar, pectin, lemon juice and water

For the peach jam you need:

2.5 cups peeled, sliced and then chopped or ground peaches
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
5 cups sugar
1 package of pectin/Surejell/Certo/or equivilant of bulk thickener
3/4 cup water

Basically you mix the peaches with the lemon juice first and then the sugar. Stir and stir
Boil the pectin in the water for a minute, then pour into the fruit and sugar mix and stir for 3 minutes.  Ladle into jars, leave 1/2 inch space, wipe rim, cover and leave on counter for 24 hours and then freeze.  See!!  Easy Peasy and I might even add lemon squeezey!

Aren't these pretty??

Lastly, as I had a messy messy kitchen and a bit of energy left- I made a Peach Blueberry Cobbler that I  adore, but only make a time or two a summer..... for obvious reasons----  YUMMMMMM

Baking in the oven

Oh yeah- this was good!

AND it is even better tomorrow when it is cold!  Sigh....

So it took me a while to clean up the kitchen, and I had done some cleanup as I go, but I sort of hate the cleaning part.

Maple syrup sort of an afternoon

The supposed "spring" that we are having is making things difficult for most of us.  We cannot get out and rake our lawns, plant our gardens, ENJOY OUR DAFFODILS, clean up our flower gardens.....  For most of you, I am not giving you any surprising news here.  However, the nasty, cold, wet weather IS good for at least one thing- and that is for making maple syrup.

Bag of partially frozen sap

The outdoor kitchen where the syrup making process occurs

You see the very conditions that make us whine and carry on, are the conditions that are ideal for the spring sap run.  And a long sap run it is turning out to be.  I do NOT claim to be any sort of an expert on maple syruping, I am merely repeating the information that I have gleaned from the fine folks up here who do it, most notably the Mad-friends- Jane and Rog.  HERE is a link to a previous post that Jane and Roger appeared in 2 years ago!  

So for the sap to run, the weather conditions have to be slightly warmish (read: above freezing: 40 would be nice) in the daytime and freezing at night.  It is important for both of these conditions to be in place, because if it doesn't drop below freezing the sap will stop.  I am not going to get into the exact reasons, but basically if it doesn't warm up in the day, the tree thinks it is still winter (and these days the tree would be right) or if it doesn't get cold at night the tree thinks that it is time to produce leaves pronto!!  (The tree would be seriously delusional this year).

Jane in the middle of sap gathering

So this inbetween time is the time when the sweet maple sap runs through the tree and a clever person can put in a little metal tube and stick a covered  bag on it and collect the watery stuff that runs up the tree.  This does not hurt the tree, so don't worry and the taps come out easily, so they don't stay in place forever.  In fact, if the taps are in a long time (like this year it is a month!), they start to heal up and push the taps out!  

Dumping the ice out of the sap bag

The basic plan is that one trudges through the woods with buckets (the old way way to put bucket under the tap, but the bags are easier to cover, as you really don't want extra water in the sap) and pour out the sap and hang it back on the tree.  After the buckets are full, you lug those back to the cooker, which is manned by our handsome host, Rog. Our lovely hostess, Jane, was the main sap gatherer!

Once the sap is at the cooker, one filters it, puts it into the sap tank, get it into the cooker, cook it down to a certain sugar level (science and measuring the sugar is involved here), pour it off and "finish" it, with bottling to follow.

The cooker/evaporator

The upper tank and waiting buckets.  Sap goes into the lower tub, through the filter on top and gets pumped into the upper tank where it awaits being drained into the cooker

On this particular day, we were there at a time when only the gathering and first round of cooking was going on, as the day before was snowing and super cold and NASTY out.  And the trees had quit running for that day.  But as the glorious sunny day went on, the sap began to run again, and there was some liquid in the bags from the little bit that had dripped out since Thursday evening. The sap in the bags were partially frozen to totally a block of ice, but as we went the super frozen ones thawed a bit.  INTERESTINGLY, the stuff that stays frozen the longest is the water and the liquid is the more pure, sweet part of the sap. The evaporation process is partially done if you can leave the ice chunk behind!  It took a while, but we poured off the sap, opened and dumped out the ice, reset the bag and on we went.  The Mad-Art Teacher and her friend Jane had a great time catching up with life, as it has been a while since we touched base!!  After a while the MA and the Barber (who tagged along on this trip) joined in the sap gathering whilst Rog manned the cooker.  Of course it is the easiest and fastest if the sap doesn't have to be frozen into an ice chunk!  But Mother Nature is just not being particularly cooperative in that regard.

Bucket-lugger and bag emptier

The second squad of sap gatherers

Anyway, we got the sap back to the outdoor kitchen, which is such a cool setup, and Roger got the sap into the upper tank and began the cooking process.  In the meantime, while allowing the evaporation to take place, we had coffee, treats and really good coversation!  The sun was warm, but the wind was NOT!!  And we were rewarded for helping with a lovely, amber bottle of syrup!  YAY!!!

The icy, cold day- sunny though!!

part of this years harvest

One batch of syrup was not filtered for calcium- lots of minerals in the sap this year.  The rest of the syrup has been filtered to remove the calcium.

A bag that is a picture example of what this year has been like!

Strong sun on the snow makes for interesting shadows you just don't usually see

Interior of the cooker

The barber enjoying coffee, conversation and the entertainment of watching the water and snow fall off the metal roof. It was more entertaining than you might imagine!

The frozen remains of the sap buckets- This excess water remains frozen a long long time and makes for an interesting ice sculpture

I wish I could have shown you the rest of the process- the finishing and bottling, but that part will take place today!
What a NICE day it was!

Talk about joy givers!!!  THANK YOU for the lovely afternoon, Jane and Roger!

Birfday celebration- Birthday month ends with a bang

I had a wonderful birthday!  Thanks to any and all who participated in any way. And there were a lot of you!!  I got lots of love and hugs and wishes and it was great.  Birthday month is a great idea, you all ought to try it!

I began my day by going out for breakfast with the Mad-accountant.  I love going out for breakfast, and we haven't done it for a while.
 I have a picture of me in the morning, before breakfast- compare to the later in the evening photo!  hahaha  Great face- and that was the best one of me sitting by the campfire.  It was darker than it looks in the picture.  Really I was only on beer #2!

I spent a good deal of the day baking and shopping and cleaning and arranging and generally getting myself party worthy!  This is a pix of the somewhat homely chocolate cake from heartburn hell!

Here are some of my friends and relatives either feigning interest in my boisterous stories or the M-A, who is trying to pretend he doesn't know me!!  HAHAHAHAHA, that'll never work buddy!  

M-A, Rog and Lisa 

The elusive Mike plus Ed and Cathy

I let Jane sit on my butterfly throne!

I need to sit in my throne MORE often- now where did that tiara go??

The Builder and Brenda!

Cake cutting went terribly wrong

Now you know why

WA HOO

Can you imagine who was trying to take pix after 3.5 beers???  And 1.5 pieces of nasty chocolate cake???  5 points for the first correct answer!  Go and post those responses!!

Gorgeous smile

Notice the lack of blood shot eyes!

Wisely handed off the camera to other more sober guest

Cathy and birfday girl

Lots of Oswalds!!

Janey and me!!

The more you drink the more teeth that show!!!

I was pretty busy all day, what with making birthday cake, and then birthday dinner for myself, Fred and Mike, plus shopping and preparing for the party at the end of the day.  I was sort of exhausted by the time the guests arrived!  My guests included the Builder, Joe and his wife, Brenda, Jane and Rog and Ed and Cathy.  And of course Lisa, The Builder and Brenda's youngest, Joey- their oldest, and Mikey- my youngest.  I made that huge chocolate cake, brown-butter Rice Krispie treats (if you never had the brown butter kind, you havent tasted the best RK treats!) a few munchies and a selection of beverages.  Got a couple more outdoor chairs from town and a few other useful things from the rez!

Woo hoo!!!

Look closely for an unwanted guest!

Thanks again for all the birthday wishes~  Until next time hug your joy to pieces!