I had a lot of pears to can this week and work has also been busy. On Tuesday, I got a call asking if we wanted apples. I said yes and then called my mom and whined a little about canning season. On Friday, someone asked on Facebook if I wanted peaches. Of course I said yes, and then immediately prayed to express gratitude for the abundance and to ask for help to get through all the canning.
Monday - made the pear bread
Tuesday - Young Women's church activity, pears weren't really ripe
Wednesday - Got up early....can't remember when. 5'ish or earlier. Laundry, grocery shopping (needed spices!) and pear butter before work, pear sauce after work (got home at 9, so this was a long day). Oh, and I bartered pear bread for vanilla. Awesome!
Thursday - Got up at like 4am to can the items that I did on Wed. Ran errands after work, was supposed to do a cooking lesson but she was a no-show, had an appointment. No pears done.
Friday - Horribly busy day at work, left late. Cooking lesson. Picked apples. Came home completely exhausted and knew I had pears that were ripe. I cried and prayed that the pears wouldn't spoil before I could do them.
Saturday - Got up at 4:20am for our volunteer shift at the temple. By the end of the shift, I had a smile plastered on my face (my survival method when I can't keep going) because I hurt and had no clue how I could go home and do pears. I prayed so much for help getting through this day. Got Chick-Fil-A, which helped. I think I was hungry and dehydrated. Got home and Sarah had been having horrible stabbing pains in her abdomen and wanted to go to urgent care. On the way there, the pain stopped and because of insurance coverage concerns, we turned around and went home. Oh well, it gave me a break. Laundry, endless pear peeling, canning, mopping. Yay, done! Well, almost. I have pear sauce cooking down in the crockpot for Sarah, but I won't can hers.
On Monday, I'll tackle the apples. They're small this year, so I may only get juice and sauce.
Total pear weight: 105 lbs. Not bad, for a poor crop year. Shared with people, made the aforementioned pear bread, and tried new canning recipes.
All recipes were loosely followed, and honey was used in all but the mincemeat.
Pear sauce - 6 pints + 3 quarts (chunky mashed pears, lemon juice, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, all to taste)
Orange-nutmeg pear butter - 8 pints (plus about 3 pints that got eaten/shared, SO good)
Pear mincemeat (minus the rum) - 2 quarts
Spiced pear butter - 3 pints (I don't really care for it)
L - first batch of pear sauce, R - orange-nutmeg butter
L-R - Overly cinnamonized pear sauce, spiced pear butter, mincemeat
I was given a canning funnel! Thank you, Amy S.!
3 comments:
How in the world do you do it?
Wow.. Super women. I wish I knew how to make all that stuff. Canning I would even know where to start. It all looks very yummy!
At the end of canning season, you need to post a picture of it all - and where you store it. I would run out of room.
You should have seen me last night - I was so red, hot and flushed. We cooked down grapes from my brother-in-law and canned grape juice. The kitchen gets so hot - but the grape juice is worth it. I think it's my favorite.
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