Making Pectin from Quince

I get a large, sturdy knife to cut these things; seeds, cores and all. All I do is rinse off the downey soft fuzz that covers them. They are a hard as stone so slicing them takes some muscle! When they are ripe they are a little easier to cut up, but not much!

This is all of the fruit cut up into random chunks with enough water poured over it to cover them. They smell alot like apples when they are cooking.

Now I let the fruit cook into the water for about 2 hours or until it is good and soft. I love the way it turns a beautiful pink color.

Here I have 3 sieves going at once, draining the juice into the bowls. I just bought 2 of these sieves at a yard sale last weekend. I guess that was pretty good timing! I saw a recipe on the internet that uses the pulp for some kind of desert dish. I forget what it was called. It looked like a good recipe, but unfortunately I had already discarded my pulp into the compost bin. Next year I will have to try this other dish.

I just let the fruit sit in the sieve until all the juices run out. I don't squeeze it or press it or anything. I just let it set.

Once I get the juice extracted from the pulp, I boil it down for about 45 min.

Then I cold pack it into jars. After all that hard work, I only got two pint jars. I am going to try mixing it with grapes to make grape jelly tomorrow. Supposedly, I can use it in place of pectin, so this will be an experiment. I hope that it works!

Humboldt Harvest

So among many other things, I have been "putting up" preserves. This is a chore that I have grown to love. A labor of love, I guess you could call it. Since I don't have a lot of my own fruit trees any more, I have to hunt. Yes, just like the guys trek through the forest looking for the perfect buck, I too must trek (or ride my bike or drive) through town looking for neighboring yards with lonely trees laden with fruit. When I find one that meets my needs, looks neglected with fruit dropping needlessly on the ground, I do what I call a cold contact. I knock on the door and ask if the owners would mind if I pick their fruit tree. Most of the time people say "Sure! Go ahead." So I do. Of course, I don't need to do this too often, as most of the time I can get what I need just from friends who have an abundance of fruit, like these little beauties from TJ & Mark.

While out with girlfriends the other day, I spotted a tree that I had been searching for. I hollered, "A quince tree. Stop!" Quince is a very oddly unique fruit that most people are not familiar with. Back in the day, a homestead would always include a quince tree. Why? Well, the fruit of the quince, while being very unpalatable raw, provides an essential ingredient for canning and preserving.

This strange looking little fruit makes a great source of pectin. And as any Canning cook can tell you, pectin is the one ingredient that makes or breaks a great jelly.
So, I went back to the house, drove up the long driveway to the house that we call the "Castle."
My kids said, "You went up to the castle?" The castle is a weird monstrosity of a house that is made of stone and comes complete with large turrets on every corner. The trees are largely overgrown and unkempt which gives it a very spooky kind of feel. I shyly drove up the driveway with my daughter, who opted to stay in the car. When I stood in the driveway, I felt strangley vulnerable, but determined to accomplish my mission. The owner came out cautiously to investigate this intruder in his domain.
As he gingerly poked his out from over one of the turrets, it turns out I know the guy from years ago and we actually had a really nice conversation! He was more than happy to let me have whatever fruit I wanted from his tree! When I can these things I will post some photos so you can actually see the process. It's quite involved.

Cherry pickin' - pt. 2

As I mentioned before, preparing all the delicious cherries I have been......pardon me, WE have been picking would be another post. Today I got the 3 boys out there to help out with the harvest and we finished the task.

Jo tried to help, but she just couldn't quite get the hang of it. She kept getting all messed up in the branches and stuff so we told her to get lost. She did help pit the cherries, though.

We have been picking, washing, pitting, and canning all the cherries I/we could possibly want! Oh yes, and eating them also! They are so yummy! The tree is so tall and so loaded with fruit it is amazing. I have heard from other people that this has been an excellent year for cherries. I canned 12 quarts in total and DIL canned 3 quarts. That will make some super good pies over the winter. I want to try and make turnovers as well. My hands are stained a grossly dark purple from all the juice.
Canning is such a rewarding activity. I have always been intrigued by the concept of "putting up" fruit and vegetables. Nowadays our food is commercially canned, but it has not always been this way. Many women have spent many long summer hours harvesting and canning their own food. When I was growing up, my mother never canned at all, so when I moved here to Humboldt, a close friend who was a few years older than me taught me how to can. We started out with something simple, I think it was blackberry jam. She showed me how to pick them and then transform them into lip smacking jam. Once we tried making "Ouince honey." That was taking this weird fruit called a quince, cooking it up and using only the juice to make a jelly. It was mostly sugar but very pretty to look at. Just about the color of honey. Another time she taught me how to make applebutter which is a personal favorite of mine. Since that time I have canned tuna, green beans, salsa, peaches, applesauce, pears, marinara sauce, dilly beans, lots and lots of wild grape jelly and other stuff. I get a great sense of accomplishment when I look at the jars lined up neatly in the cupboard.

When I moved into the old house, I was tickled to find that whoever built the shelves in the pantry made them just the right size to store pint jars and quart jars. Every single shelf was exactly the right height. I also discovered several hand drawn diagrams of the previous owner's garden plot pasted to the back side of the cupboard door. When I remodeled the room I couldn't bring myself to throw them out, so I kept them. I don't know why I couldn't and I don't know what I will do with them, but nonetheless, I kept them. One day perhaps I will make a collage of all the old items and the old wall papers that I have found since restoring this old house. But that sounds like another project!