My mother used to put up lots and lots of food in the fall time. I remember the jars of tomatoes, beans, and pickles. The root cellar full of potatoes, carrots, and beets; the attic strewn with onions, the freezer packed with corn. I also remember the few failures: Exploding jars in the water bath, less than air-tight seals; but they were few and far between. I remember, in mid-winter, the cellar-cold jars of stewed tomatoes making side dishes laced with a bit of salt and copious pepper. Oh my word! The ghost of summer past swirling over the night's dinner table. I remember the smells, textures, and the sense of bounty.
So it's with great excitement that I put up some tomato sauce and pickles these past few days. How very gratifying, and I can vouch that the sauce is scrumptious: I had the leftover bit last night with pasta. I think the pickles are going to be quite tasty too!
I don't have a proper canner yet so it was a bit of an improvisation, using my tallest pasta cooker. It worked fine for the half-pints but took some looking after with the pints. It was hard to maintain an inch of water over the pint jars and there were frequent boil overs. But the seals were accomplished and my 4 pints and 4 half pints are now sitting side-by-side with the 6 half pints of pickles.
Sometime next week I'll visit an orchard for some apples and will hopefully put up some apple chutney. Oh I love the stuff. The still somewhat abundant amount of green tomatoes in the garden will be stored as piccalilli. Oh I love the stuff! There may also be some applesauce put up before month's end.
Day 5 of the $4 scrap quilt. Working it on the Singer 66, of course!
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