I went blackberry picking this morning, which I’ve been feeling torn up about having had no time to do. (I genuinely feel better for having gone.) I’d found a good run of them a couple weeks ago and went to check it out, to great success:
That’s over a kilo of berries picked in about 45 minutes, which I felt was a pretty good haul. While I was picking, one woman walking by said, “Good day for picking!” and another one who had been out picking yesterday actually stopped to talk to me (Her: I always feel SO GUILTY when I drive by these berries! Me: YOU UNDERSTAND ME!!!!), and that was really nice because almost everybody who’s spoken to me about picking at all thinks I’m bonkers.
So I came home and washed the berries
and got them into the pot
and made jam
and three hours after I started picking blackberries, I had homemade blackberry jam on fresh homemade bread.
Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. :)
I then made PEAR JAM because we have STUPID NUMBERS of pears on our pear trees (there are by far more pears fallen to the ground than we have had at all, in previous years at this house), and it is wonderful. I had no idea if it’d be any good because I’ve never had it, much less made it, but it’s pretty splendid. It starts out sweet and kind of apple-y and then suddenly it’s like NO WAIT THIS IS *PEAR* JAM!!! and it’s really good! And Ted, who likes pears (or at least processed pears) thought it was wonderful, so I’m very pleased with myself.
Tomorrow I have ambitions of making pear jelly, because I have An Awful Lot Of Pears here, and I bet that’ll be really nice too. And I gotta start doing something with the crabapples and the appleapples and…*despair*
(I mean, I gather other people can just walk on by fruits of the trees and whatnot without even flinching, but me and that lady from this morning, WE JUST CAN’T DO IT.)
(We’re gonna get a pressure cooker. That way I can make applesauce and canned (or at least jarred) pears and…other stuff…that will last if pressure-cooked but won’t otherwise.)
Nummy. I have been inspired by your posts the past several years to do something with the amazing windfall of apples we got this year. It seems such a crime to let food waste for want of some effort. Thank you!
Also – have you tried the King Arthur English Muffin Toasting Bread? It’s amazing, and very quick. I make it even quicker by using instant powdered milk, and we did a great library program mixing it in ziplock bags (at home it’s easier and less mess to use a bowl, but it was fun for the participants to squoosh everything in their hands).
Milk powder goes in with the dry ingredients, I use warm water from the tap or heat it briefly before adding with the other wet ingredients, give it a stir, plop it in the pan (it’s a batter bread), let it rest 45 min & then bake. Wonderful!
have you ever considered making cider with the bears or apples??? hard or otherwise? I have a craving for cider… and it just keeps sneaking into everything i talk about lol
or even the pears…bear cider would be… odd
BEAR CIDER LET’S MAKE BEAR CIDER :) :) :)
I am, in fact, going to give cider a go this year! I got a cousin’s recipe and am looking forward to trying it!
:) hope its yummy!!!!!