Farm Share Apples

Each week for 8 weeks we get our "fruit share," in addition to the regular farm share. I have been tossing 1/2 peck of apples in the fridge every week, figuring that if we don't eat them, I can make applesauce. Well, today since I was staying around the house waiting for the annual boiler maintenance to happen, I finally got to them. I washed and cut up the apples, leaving the skins and cores, and boiled them with a little water, then ran them through the food mill. This batch is "pink-smooth-white sugar" and yielded 5 quarts, but it's not too sweet since I only added 3 1/2 cups of sugar to the potful of sauce. (I'm having an easier time washing the food mill, by the way - lots of practice lately!) And I got to eat the leftovers for lunch. Mmmmm.

(Regarding the photo, really, it's pink. I know it's hard to tell...)

Hopefully we'll be going apple picking this weekend, so I'll have even MORE apples. Maybe there will be "Apple Pie in a Jar" in our future!

Still Working On Those Peaches

Not too many left now. 1/2 a bushel is a LOT.

First thing I made today was the Zesty Peach Barbecue Sauce from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It smells divine. It tastes divine. It only makes 5 8-ounce jars, not 8. Just so you know.

Then after a bunch of errands and a trip to the dentist, I got to work on 2 more peachy things: Fruit Ketchup, from the same cookbook, and Peach Soup, from Preserving Summer's Bounty. The soup is for dinner tonight, but it had to be chilled, so I had to get it going early. As far as the ketchup goes, I only had enough tomatoes for 1/2 batch. For this, I brought out the food mill:
The ease of setting up the food mill is countered only by the difficulty of taking the $&%*&^#@ thing apart and cleaning it. But it really is easier than running stuff through a sieve. Especially during applesauce season. Note to self: move the coffeepot next time.

I hope to make some peach salsa with the last of the peaches. Maybe tomorrow night. I'm pretty tired.

I ended up with only 1 8-ounce jar of ketchup for all that work. Hardly seems worth it. Tastes pretty good, though for future reference if your kids do not like "spicy" foods, don't put the cayenne pepper in.

Oh, yeah, and I bought more jars. It's a sickness.