rhienelleth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rhienelleth) wrote2010-09-04 11:31 pm
rhienelleth) wrote2010-09-04 11:31 pm
Adventures in canning.
I'm coming to my canning late this year, due to the late produce being, well, produced this summer, and then there were things like surgery...anyway, I realized this week if I don't get on it, the season, such as it is this year, will have passed me by.
Since my little raspberry vines are still small enough this year to produce only a handful of berries, I trekked to the farmers market this morning and bought the last gasp of strawberries for more jam, and a flat of raspberries for this year's batch of the husband's favorite, raspberry jam.
I sorted the bad from the good, and put the 8 cups worth of raspberries in my large glass measuring bowl in the fridge, while I hulled the strawberries and made that batch. Then, when I happened to open the fridge, I noticed my lovely raspberries had a few friends:
Those aren't leaves or needles or seeds on the side of my measuring bowl, but...I don't know, exactly. Baby slugs? Tiny worms? Whatever. I am not super squeamish, being farm raised, but I do have my limits. I immediately felt mildly ill about the few berries I ate while sorting them earlier. Ugh.
Ah, well. The trick with raspberries is, if you rinse them too vigorously, you lose a lot of the firm juicy berries, and end up with watery mush. But I do not prescribe to the school of no rinsing, for exactly the reason you see above. So, I rinsed them five or six times in cold water, then dumped them in a pan and proceeded to heat and mash them until anything living would be dead. Now the berries are sitting in my fridge, slowly draining juice through a sieve and several layers of cheesecloth. I do not care for seeds in my jam. Or slugs, or worms, or whatever. But I very much doubt a single one of those little critters could survive the rinsing/heating/mashing/sieving process. Right? Ah, well. I'm sure I consumed much worse with all the gallons of wild blackberries I ate out of our field growing up, back when I didn't pay enough attention to look and see what might be on my berries.
And yes, that is my Ronon cup-of-sex icon. Because I haven't used it in forever, and it sort of relates, given all of the sugar that goes into jam. :)
Since my little raspberry vines are still small enough this year to produce only a handful of berries, I trekked to the farmers market this morning and bought the last gasp of strawberries for more jam, and a flat of raspberries for this year's batch of the husband's favorite, raspberry jam.
I sorted the bad from the good, and put the 8 cups worth of raspberries in my large glass measuring bowl in the fridge, while I hulled the strawberries and made that batch. Then, when I happened to open the fridge, I noticed my lovely raspberries had a few friends:
Those aren't leaves or needles or seeds on the side of my measuring bowl, but...I don't know, exactly. Baby slugs? Tiny worms? Whatever. I am not super squeamish, being farm raised, but I do have my limits. I immediately felt mildly ill about the few berries I ate while sorting them earlier. Ugh.
Ah, well. The trick with raspberries is, if you rinse them too vigorously, you lose a lot of the firm juicy berries, and end up with watery mush. But I do not prescribe to the school of no rinsing, for exactly the reason you see above. So, I rinsed them five or six times in cold water, then dumped them in a pan and proceeded to heat and mash them until anything living would be dead. Now the berries are sitting in my fridge, slowly draining juice through a sieve and several layers of cheesecloth. I do not care for seeds in my jam. Or slugs, or worms, or whatever. But I very much doubt a single one of those little critters could survive the rinsing/heating/mashing/sieving process. Right? Ah, well. I'm sure I consumed much worse with all the gallons of wild blackberries I ate out of our field growing up, back when I didn't pay enough attention to look and see what might be on my berries.
And yes, that is my Ronon cup-of-sex icon. Because I haven't used it in forever, and it sort of relates, given all of the sugar that goes into jam. :)