Thursday, September 17, 2009

My Pot Runneth Over

It seems to be a theme. Tonight's batch of grape jelly spilled over the sides during the all-important minute when the pectin boils. There was nothing I could do but let it boil over and burn. While I like the smell of burnt sugar, I'm not so fond of the cleaning up part. But let's back up...

Yesterday...no, wait, further back...

2 years ago, I found a notice on our town email list that someone was giving away grapes which grow in her backyard. I connected with her, got 3 pounds of concord grapes, made jelly and gave her a few jars in return. Last year, for whatever reason, we didn't connect, but I made another batch from *gasp* store-bought grapes.

Yesterday, I noticed that she was posting on the email list again with more grapes. I immediately called my friend, since I was stuck at work, and asked if she could pick some up for me. I came home to a bag full of grapes, just enough to make the 4 cups of juice required for the jelly. (Thank you!) I washed and boiled the grapes, let them drain through a cheesecloth, and put the juice in the fridge because I was too tired to make the jelly.

Tonight, after everyone was asleep, I made the jelly, and had the above-mentioned boiling over incident. I still got 7 half-pint jars plus a little more which is in tupperware. But I still had a little time on my hands, and had just picked up today's farm share, so I set about to find something else to do. Hmmm. Maybe the daikon radish?

Actually, I know people use daikon in cooking, but I was looking forward to making those little yellow radish pickles you get at Japanese restaurants. I found this recipe, and the only difference was that I processed the pickles in boiling water for 10 minutes and let them sit for 5 before I took them out. I'm so excited to try them!

4 comments:

  1. That hasn't happened to me yet. I have a huge pot that I use for jam, a Revere Ware stock pot I've had since I was 22 and will, hopefully, have for the rest of my life.

    My husband loves grape jelly and his eyes lit up when I just now told him about your grape jelly. Except for the boiling over part.

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  2. I use a 6 quart pot and should really move to the 8 quart one.... The grape jelly is SO easy. And even better when the grapes are free! I planted a concord grape vine in my backyard 2 years ago but it hasn't done anything yet, but it's great that my town has people who are willing to give stuff away like that.

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  3. On a related note, see this post on Urban Fruit Gleaning: http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/09/10/urban-fruit-gleaning-harvesting-homegrown-produce-for-free/

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  4. The daikon radish pickle is too salty. I'll have to find another recipe.

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