Homemade pectin. New kitchen caper

Just wondering if it was worth it to take a longish store trip considering, to get a new supply of liquid pectin, since I decided I'm not a fan of the powdered no-cook variety, and decided maybe I could make it in some way.  

There must have been a way to make pectin before manufacturers produced it. So I did a bit of searching and came up with a way of doing it.  And, since I'm always up for a new thing to try in the kitchen on a day when it's too hot to go out in the afternoon, I got to work.

I needed unripe apples,which I don't have, or quinces, which I also don't have.  However I thought it might be an idea to try Granny Smith green apples, and I picked out six of the greenest in the produce department at the Asian store.  Just under three pounds, for future reference in case I ever do this again.

Then scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed them again, and

chopped them, pits, core and all, into rough bits.  Added enough water to cover, and cooked it all down. 

I arranged two layers of cheesecloth artistically over the top part of the steamer I was cooking the fruit in, slung over a big bowl, so as to be ready to drain it. About 45 minutes later, the fruit was cooked down, very soft, and I started the draining.  Left it for a few hours, then squeezed the cheesecloth to encourage, or bully, the juice to come out.

Then put all the juice back into the cooking pot, now clean again, and cooked it down to about half in volume.  Took, hm, maybe up to an hour, didn't count, boiling constantly to concentrate it.

Ended up with a container of a sort of applesauce, the mash, that is, from which I took a little bowl to test as dessert with a touch of sugar, not bad at all.  Froze the rest, probably for an apple crumble, waste not, want not.

And now I have four cups of pectin, measured into containers, and ready to freeze. You'll notice the tried and true recycled freezer containers, they're indestructible.  I also tested my ladle and found that two scoops is about one cup, always good to know. This was the good bit, that you can freeze this stuff till ready to use it.  I did a bit of math and decided that one pint of the homemade is about enough for one of my smallish batches of fruit.  And homemade works best with small batches.

I'll report back when I use it for an actual jam.  But meanwhile I feel like a pioneer lady, in my handpainted and dyed apron, ready to  sweep the cabin once I find my broom. Listening to Lord Peter Wimsey detecting in an audio book on YouTube kind of spoils the effect, but I do like a nice murder while I cook.

So this is what happens when I'm too lazy to drive to the store.. 

Thrills and spills in the kitchen

I made a wonderful lunch as planned, farm tomato, farm mozzarella, homegrown basil, sea salt, Tunisian olive oil I'm trying and liking. Chardonnay vinegar I made from leftover wine. And cherries and apricot dessert. Doesn't get much better.

Then I embarked on no-cook apricot jam, using the pectin that's supposed to work. Followed all the directions and ended up with something awful. The sugar had failed to dissolve, and the whole thing didn't work.

 Sooooo I tipped the two jarsworth into a pan and boiled the jam, until I got the metal spoon test working, to show the sugar had melted and the pectin had worked. You know this test? 

When a  big metal spoon, dipped in then held up to drain results in the jam coming off in more than one stream at once, you're done. Sterilized the jars again, just in case, and found that the jam now only filled one. 

 So this is rescue apricot jam! We'll see how it works after a night in the fridge.

West Windsor farmers market great haul today

Seized on the chance of apricots, very short season, maybe a bit of jam will happen. And Kennet Square mushrooms, cherries, first locals I've seen this year, first tomatoes. And farm mozzarella for great lunch today, with homegrown basil, homemade vinegar. Eggs from the same farmer who produces the mozzarella.

And a great new addition to the market, a grain farmer! The oats were harvested yesterday on his farm a few miles away. He has other grains and is working on hulling barley. I'm seriously planning on stocking up on produce from this farmer. Nothing like fresh flavor in flour like anything else.

The first taste of anything is the best. Today cherries, apricots, mozzarella and tomatoes,all first tastes of the year. Tomorrow breakfast oatmeal with sliced apricots..

Peppermint harvest and geranium discovery

On care package run to handsome son, now down with flu, it seems to be going around, I found a stand of peppermint growing all over, where long ago a misguided neighbor had planted it in the ground, rather than a pot.

So I picked a few stems to replant in water then a pot, my own having sort of vanished, and with the leaves I took off, made a great Sunday morning drink back home. Spoonful of lemon ginger marmalade mixed with glass of water, peppermint leaves torn and added. Good for flu convalescing.

Back home I did a bit of pruning, and found that what I had thought was spearmint was, on closer inspection, rose geranium, another lovely flavoring for desserts. I had it years ago, lost track, then it shows up now. Surprising that in such a small area you can lose plants.

Potatoes again, but different dressing

The second half of the potato harvest for the year. Steamed again, but with a sauce of melted butter and fresh picked Italian basil, named to specify it's not Thai basil. No need for salt, plenty in the ham.

Steamed new potatoes

First half of the harvest, steamed for about ten minutes, dotted with butter, sprinkled with fresh picked thyme, some smoked ham. Great small lunch. Dessert farm blueberries and yogurt.

Doesn't get much better. No need to do a lot when the ingredients are this good.

Tattie liftin. Translation: potato harvest 2018

The potato foliage having died back and started to shrivel, I emptied out the patio containers, and harvested a nice crop of new potatoes.


A couple of meals here, to be steamed in the skins, dot of butter, herbs yet to be chosen.

I did replant a couple that already had new foliage starting and we'll see what we get. This year we had the best flowers ever, and this is not a bad little crop for a little container project.