Pear Honey- pure deliciousness!!!!

     Peeling and coring pears for my Spiced Pickled Pears left me with a ton of peelings. I fed the cores to the piggies- but for some odd reason, I decided to look online for recipes using the peelings. I found a few called Pear Honey, but most of them said to add either a can of pineapple, or pineapple juice. I thought adding pineapple would overpower the delicate flavour of pear- so I kept looking. I found a recipe that looked pretty simple, that was also called Pear Honey. 8 cups of pear juice, 4 cups of sugar, and a splash of lemon juice(if you wanted you could omit this) Pretty simple, I thought I'd give it a whirl.
     I figured I had enough peelings to make the juice, so I got started. I put all of the peelings into a pot and covered them with water. After it came to a boil, I turned it down and let it simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peelings were nice and soft. I strained the water and peelings through 2 layers of high quality cheescloth. Hmmmm.........I was still very short on juice- no matter how I squished and squeezed those peelings I was NOT getting 8 cups of juice out of it. So, I ran the now-cooked peelings though the food mill, and put the resulting mash in a pot. I then covered the pear mash with water and brought it to a

boil.(As I was doing this I really began to have my doubt about the whole recipe) I then strained my cooked mash through the cheescloth again. Finally I had the 8 cups of juice that I needed. After that, all that was required was to bring the juice to a boil, add 8 cups of sugar, and boil it down, and down, and down(more doubts) As it cooked, the texture became more and more thick, until finally it was dripping........................... .......just like honey!!!!! I poured it quickly into clean jars, wiped the rims, sealed the jars, and processed it in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. It looked awfully pretty in the jars- and I just couldn't wait to try it..........so I cracked one of the precious few open and tried a spoonful. So hard to describe the flavour, similar to honey- yet more light and floral. Completely amazing is what it is.

I'm really not sure if any of these are going to make it to Christmas to be given as gifts...............

The recipe-

Pear Honey
8 cups pear juice
8 cups sugar
1/4 cups lemon juice(if desired)

Bring pear juice to a boil, add sugar. Boil on medium-high until liquid has the consistency of honey.
That's it, that's all- its really that simple- but the flavour is divine!!!

Spicy Pickled Peaches and Pears.

     Peach season is still going strong here in Ontario- the peaches this year are beautiful. I have been buying seconds at a nearby market for $12.00 for a half bushel. The last time I went I decided to buy a 1/2 bushel of pears as well. Sometimes I buy things without thinking. As I brought home all this beautiful fruit- my husband asked me- "What are you going to do with it all?" Oh.......right.........so, I Googled 'What to do with a ton of peaches' and 'What to do with a ton of pears'. I found some fantastic recipes for pickled peaches and pickled pears, so I got to work. The peaches were scalded, peeled, pitted and halved. The pears were peeled, quartered and cored.

The basic syrup I used for both was;

8 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
6 cups white vinegar
2 cups apple cider vinegar
4 cups water

     This makes quite a bit of syrup, but I used almost the entire 1/2 bushel of pears- so needed to have quite a bit to cover the fruit as it cooked.

Spices I used in both the peaches and the pears were
Cinnamon Sticks
Whole Cloves
Whole Allspice
Directions said to make a spice bag- but I really like those spices- so didn't bother with that extra step. If you do make a spice bag, you have more control over how spicy your mixture becomes.

     I boiled the syrup for about 20 minutes before I added the fruit. I cooked the fruit(pears needed to be soft- so they were cooked longer than the peaches) Then I turned off the stove and let them sit overnight to plump. In the morning, I strained out the fruit, boiled the syrup again, then packed the fruit in jars with a stick of cinnamon and a couple each of both the cloves and allspice. I then poured the boiling syrup over them. After wiping the rims and sealing the jars- I put them in the boiling water canner for about 10 minutes.
     We had ONE peach left over from jarring....I split it with my youngest son. Made my eyes water- but had an INCREDIBLE depth of flavour. I am buying another 1/2 bushel of peaches with the intention of pickling ALL of them. They will make wonderful gifts and look so pretty in the jars. I am thinking they might mellow after a couple of months- so they will be perfect just in time for Christmas.

Peaches!

     Today I happened to stop into a marketplace that is just around the corner from our farm. Imagine my delight when I found half-bushels of peaches for sale! Needless to say, one of those half-bushels ended up in our van, and I began to plan my afternoon of peach processing. Peach season has just begun and will last until the middle to end of September.
      The first recipe I tried was a spiced peach jam, turned out nicely- perhaps a little too sweet- but beautiful colour and texture. I have finally decided to make all of my jams without using certo- so there is a bit of a learning curve in regards to how much sugar needs to be added. It takes a little longer to make jam without using packaged pectin- but I feel the end result is definitely worth the extra time.



 I'll try again tomorrow with a plain peach preserve as well as a strawberry-peach preserve. I still have strawberries in the freezer from my visits to a nearby pick-your-own. I can't wait to see what the blend of strawberry and peach looks like.

My next endeavor was something I've never tried before....chutney. I have an old recipe book with recipes form the late 40's- and one of the recipe was for a peach chutney. It took longer to cook down than I expected- but it looks lovely in the jars. I think it turned out quite well. I'll let it age for 3 months or so before I try it, just to let the flavours blend together- but from how it smelled as I was jarring it- it will be quite tasty. 

It's mid-summer, but feels more like fall.....

The weather has been much cooler this year than I was hoping for- the garden is not doing as well as I would like. Late planting, due to the copious amount of rain we had in the early spring, coupled with lower than normal temperatures, means that my squash and pumpkins are JUST blooming now, and I haven't seen any fruit on them yet. Hopefully we'll see something!

The lambs though, love this cooler weather- they are growing like crazy and haven't seen the set-back in growth that very high temperature usually brings. I am very happy with my lambs this year, the finns are just beautiful, and the more I see of them, the more I like them! This is a picture of one of my piebald badgerface ram lambs born here this year.

Veliraf's Jolly Green Giant

Veliraf's First Class- 'Ticket'

On May 16, 2013, our family said goodbye to Zilla (Veliraf's Jolly Green Giant- March 25, 2001- May 17, 2013) She has left us with a huge hole in our hearts.  She was quite the character- didn't think she was a dog, and preferred to spend time with people instead. Didn't bother with the cats- but LOVED to steal their food, repeatedly, and without remorse.  She had 2 litters in her lifetime, and we have a daughter out of her that in the last few days has become my little shadow.  She has been put to rest underneath a pine tree, where she always was, trying to stay near me- but also to keep out of the sun. We'll miss you very much Tilly, there will never be another dog quite like you.

Sweet Rolls

Ever have the urge to bake? I do, though I often don't have the time to do so. I did however, find time to bake this past week-end. I was looking for a recipe for yeast sweet rolls- the picture is what I ended up baking. I liked them(and the kids went crazy for them) but I'd like to have a lighter roll. I'll try again, perhaps this week-end. I need to find the perfect recipe for light and fluffy yeast sweet rolls. These ones baked very nicely though, and for my first try, I think they turned out fairly well.