tlpoague |
For as long as I can remember, my life wasn't measured much by calendars or clocks, but by seasons. There was a fishing season, hunting season, and a couple harvest seasons. There was a time dedicated to when you would go out and load up on wood or coal. Many of these memories were wrapped around family gathers to help with the work load.
This year, my hubby and I decided we would try our hand at canning, drying, and making a bit of butter. Of course it had been decades since some of us had done anything like this. There was nothing more interesting than dusting off the cobwebs of the brain and getting back into the swing of things.
Many a phone call was made to my mother, as she endured her cancer treatments, to reassure myself that we doing things properly. (Sorry Grams, I know a few of them apples and pears weren't pealed paper thin.) With each pass of the knife I could hear a small voice in my head chastising me if I tried to hurry. I could only imagine the chaos I would have endured had my great-grandmother witnessed my quick tips for making apple sauce and jams.
Between my dad's gift of pears, and my sister's gift of apples, I had plenty to keep the hubby and I busy for weeks. We began with the traditional task of hand peeling them until we realized that we owned an apple peeler/corer. This make the task so much simpler and quicker. Soon ideas began to develop. How could we speed up the mashing process?
It didn't take long till we had a rhythm going. Mr. P. would peel and core the apples while I ran them through a shredding process. Then it was off to the stove to be cooked into sauces or jams.
Photo by tlpoague A small sample of our sauces and jams. |
Of course, horrified at the idea of the pressure caner popping its lid, I got it in my head to multi-task by making caramels and bread. Mr. P. decided to add butter to the list.
I didn't realize how simple it would be to make butter. The process was amazingly easy.
Step one: Gather some real cream.
Step two: Add half the cream to a butter churn.
Photo by tlpoague Here is Mr. P. prepping the churn for me. |
Photo by tlpoague Mr. P. thought this would be quicker. |
Instead, the fastest and cleanest version was to mix it in a food processor.
Step three: Drain the solid from the liquid. (The solid is your butter and the liquid is the buttermilk.)
Photo by tlpoague |
Photo by tlpoague Here is a small sample of the jam, bread, and homemade butter, we made while waiting on our canning. |
Photo by tlpoague Our grandson wanted to join in the baking fun. |
Photo by tlpoague Bit by the canning bug! |
Photo by tlpoague |
Photo by tlpoague |
You've sure been busy and so productive too. I haven't done any canning in so long but maybe next fall I'll start again. Can't wait to try your method of making butter via the food processor. I'll let you know how it turns out. Your crocheting work is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I can't wait to hear how your butter turns out. As an added note, only take out small portions if you want it to be really soft without going bad. We just take out what we need and nuke ours to soften it up. Otherwise it is like stick butter from the fridge. I forgot how addictive canning can be. Hubby made a suggestion about maybe writing a few posts on it. I'm giving it a thought. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks again for the chat today!
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