Changes at the Blueberry Patch

It seems the conditions this year were right for the wild blueberries, and it was a cooler day than usual so my husband and I went to pick some berries. What we found was that the area near the blueberry patches is under construction - a very large new school is being built nearby. Since the berries are under major power lines, I am not worried that they will go away, but the usual trail has been widened, smoothed and graveled. So, while the time we were there was not quiet or peaceful in any way, the sheer amount and size of the berries meant we filled our half-gallon container in about an hour and half, which is quite fast, especially for just the two of us. And we didn't have to leave the first patch we found. 

We now have 10 jars of wild blueberry jam, and more in the fridge for now. 

Making jam did require some teamwork as I broke my right elbow last week and am not allowed to lift anything heavy. The canning pot full of water definitely qualifies as heavy, so my husband helped get it on the stove and was nearby if I needed anything. Fortunately, the rest I could do with my left hand - stir, ladle, close the jars, etc. I am out of work due to this injury and hopefully it won't take longer than six weeks to heal. 

Keeping Currant

One of the types of plants that we put in the front garden, which is an edible garden, were several red currant bushes. This is the first year the berries were plentiful. Enough to make a batch of jelly.

The first thing I noticed is that while I was preparing the juice it smelled similar to crabapples. Almost a little cinnamon-y. It's also very pink, which made a nice bright red (think Kool-Aid) jelly. One batch of jelly used 6.5 cups of juice, 7 cups of sugar and a box of pectin, and made about 10 cups of jelly. 

Also today, I made mulberry jelly from the juice of the berries I picked from our tree in the backyard. Four cups of juice, 3 T. of lime juice, 5 cups sugar and 1 box of pectin, made 12 half-cup jars and one 12-ounce jar. This is a good start to this year's gift stash!

Jellied Plans

The farm share sent along a bunch of mint. I don't use fresh mint a lot in my cooking, maybe I should, but the first thing I thought of was making mint jelly. I haven't made any in years, because both of the kids stopped eating lamb and that's generally what we would serve it with. However, the kids are spending a lot less time eating at home, so I thought making a batch would be nice. 

Mint leaves were steeped in 4+ cups of water for 10 minutes, then the resulting tea was combined with 5 cups of sugar, 1 package of powdered pectin, and 3 drops of green food coloring and one cup of blue. This made just under 6 cups of jelly.

My red currant plants finally started producing and I have enough to make a batch of currant jelly this year, which I will do when I harvest the rest of the berries. As I do with mulberries, I extract the juice and save it for when I have enough volume. So far I have 5 cups, I need 6.5 cups so I'm close. I also have about 5+ cups of mulberry juice, but I currently have 10 jars of mulberry jelly and 4 jars of mulberry syrup in my inventory so I'm not sure what to do about that. Maybe gift stash?

From Freezer to Cupboard

Making stock involves taking meat or vegetable scraps out of the freezer and converting it to canned, shelf-stable stock. This is helpful for so many reasons, but one of the big ones is that freezer space is limited. Shelf space, not so much.

After making a big batch each of chicken and vegetable stock yesterday, today I could skim the fat off the chicken stock and can it. We did use a little last night to make soup, but I had just enough for 10 pints. Now the pantry is full and the freezer is...not empty, but a little roomier.

Happy Mother's Day!

Added Benefits

For the past few months we've been getting a mushroom share from our CSA. Every other week we bring home about 2 pounds of oyster, lions' mane, and sometimes shiitake mushrooms, all grown locally. In addition to a lot of mushroom based meals*, I have been saving the trimmings with my other vegetable trimmings to make stock.

Today I made and canned nine pints of vegetable stock. We were running out, and the pantry needed replenishing. The addition of mushroom trimmings makes the stock darker, and it smells richer as well. I'm sure it will taste better, too. 

I also made a pot of chicken stock, since I had everything out. That's in the fridge, so I can skim off the fat. Tomorrow I'll can that, too. 

*In addition to the usual mushroom things (stroganoff, pasta, pizza), we have made mushroom steaks with the lions' manes, a mushroom scampi, and some glazed mushroom dishes. A lot of these recipes are coming from the NYT cooking app which is a tremendous resource of recipes. I'm not sure why I waited so long to subscribe. 

Back From the Dead

Legion was ailing.

The rise time was getting longer and longer, and Legion didn't smell right. At first, it was more sour, but then it started to smell...off. It still made bread, but not very good bread. I wasn't sure if I should give up and start over. I mean, Legion is 9 years old. Maybe it was time?

Recently I was lucky enough to be at an event catered by the culinary school, and got to see the Chef who had given me Legion and still had the original culture. We chatted and I learned some things. Things like - don't leave it in the fridge. Feed it more often. It needs to be stronger.

So I followed his advice and started dumping out starter, feeding it a smaller amount daily, and keeping it on the counter, with the lid slightly off to give it more oxygen. After a few weeks, it lost the funky smell. Finally I felt like it was ready for bread so over the past weekend, I made a batch. 

And it was as good as I remembered, with normal rising and proofing times. I think I have been successful in resurrecting Legion!