July 27, 2010: I'm Jammin'

So....what do you do when your neighbor lets her peaches ripen and fall to the ground, because she doesn't want to deal with them? They were too bruised for canning or fresh eating, so I made jam.

Bruised peaches, waiting to be used. Since they were from the neighbor's tree, the 8-1/2 pounds won't be counted in my harvest total.

Seven pints and eight half-pints of peach jam, six half-pints and a tiny jar of hot pepper jelly were made this morning.

Since I already had a mess in the kitchen, I got out all those green peppers I'd picked the other day, ran to the store for some jalapenos, and made hot pepper jelly. I cleaned and chopped my peppers, then donned rubber gloves and tackled the hot peppers. After I'd cleaned a couple of them, I noticed my eyes weren't tearing up, I wasn't choking, and my nose wasn't running. I tentatively took a small bite of jalapeno, and those things were as sweet as my bell peppers! I chewed on a seed....nothing! How upsetting. That's how my home grown ones were last summer, but you'd think commercially grown ones would be hot. I ended up having to add hot pepper flakes to the jelly, and I wasn't sure just how much to use. One and a half tablespoons might have been overdoing it, ya think? I tasted it, and it was muy caliente. It will get hotter as it ages. Oh well, I'd rather have it too hot than too mild.



After I finished the jam, I went back over to Pat's and picked another 5 pounds of peaches so we can have a fresh peach pie for our dinner. I got these off the tree, so they weren't so bruised, but there are a lot of them on the ground yet. What a waste, but we won't need more jam than I've already made.