Peach Preserves

About a month ago a at the Marietta Farmer's Market a grower was selling their peaches. They were gorgeous and delicious. Upon arriving home, I wished that I had bought more. The next week I showed up ready to buy a box full. I was sadly disappointed when they weren't there.

Needless to say, I was overjoyed when another peach grower showed up in the spot to fill in the gap. They realized that people wanted peaches and no other growers were around. Yay! I bought my box of peaches and hurried home, only to have the peach preserve making put off to take care of the figs.

Here is the box of peaches. I had to work fast! Those babies were softening up every day.

Makes my mouth water just looking at them. Tree ripe. Little fuzz. Yum...... drool, but not on the peaches.

I mean can they get even more tempting? Look at how pretty they are all cut up. This is about 12 peaches cut up and just put on the stove top.

Cooking down a batch of peaches on the right and the figs on the left. It was a long day people!

The joy! The bliss! Peach preserves ready to put on the shelf and open up come winter. It is so delicious! I was half tempted to buy more peaches but my shelves are full. And after four days of spending time over the stove I couldn't do anymore. My feet and knees wouldn't let me.

They turned out so nice and so easy. I used this recipe. I would change the number of peaches to ten. Other than that, it is wonderful. Also for something different, and it takes less peaches, try this recipe for ginger peach marmalade. I used a blender and it turned out great. I can't wait to eat this on a warm piece of bread! Let me know if you try making either one. They are both delightful and very easy. I will use the recipes for years to come. I am sure of it.

Fig Preserves

I spent most of the last week and a whole weekend making preserves. I will start you off with figs first. A lot of people don't like figs. I love them! The sweet taste and that texture are one of a kind.

My aunt ant uncle have a two HUGE fig trees in their yard. Unfortunately my aunt suffer from diverticulitis and can't eat figs because of their hard small seeds. So my dad and I went over to pick them. It would be my job to process and can them. Once we started picking I knew that I was in for it! We ended up with at least 2 gallons of figs! Glorious wonderful figs! Oh woe is me..... figs have to be dealt with quickly. They are fragile little things. I followed my aunts instructions.

First my dad and I cut all of the figs in half, placing them in a large pot one layer at a time. Each layer was sprinkled with sugar, then the next layer added until you finish up with all of the figs. I took them home and let them sit over night. Then I had this:

The figs made thier own juice with the sugar. Can you tell how many figs we had? I couldn't count them.

Here they have been cooking for most of the day. I added a bit more sugar and a few dashes of lemon juice. I let them cook all day, stirring periodically.

Finally I put them in jars. It took forever! Looks like we'll be eating a lot of peanut butter and fig sandwiches this summer! Long ago I watched my mom and dad make preserves, Now i make my own. One of the things that they have passed down in the process is heat sealing. If your jam or vinegar for pickles is hot enough you turn your jars upside down for five minutes after screwing on the lids.

Here are my figs hanging around upside down. Yes, all of those are filled with figs! Then you turn them right side up. As it cools, it seals the jar. It makes a wonderful popping sound. 98% of the time this works. I still check my jars before storing them. My cabinets are full of figs!! It should be a tasty winter treat. I think that I will have to try my hand at fig newtons sometime too. I will keep you posted on that adventure! Stay tuned....

Tomatoes

The garden is starting to provide it's bounty. The Juliette tomatoes are coming in really fast. They are a yummy tomato kind of like a cross between a Roma and a grape tomato. My mom gave me a bunch to do something with as she was trying to figure out what to do with the large amount that she still had. I didn't want to take the time to blanch and peel them, chop them, cook them and make sauce. So I tried dehydrating them. They were suppose to end up like sun dried tomatoes.

Here is one tray ready to place on the dehydrator. I cut the tomatoes in half, leaving a bit of skin still attached and opened them like a book.

Here are a couple of trays stacked together. I think that the tomatoes look just lovely, but there was no way that I could eat them all at one time. Into the dehydrator you go!

Now we wait............... then rotate the trays. I also started to pick off the ones that were already dried so that they didn't become too crispy.

And here they come.........

Beautiful! And tasty. I plan to use them just as I would sun dried tomatoes. I might put some of these in olive oil with some spices. That makes them quick and easy to use in pasta or on pizza. I might also try putting them just like they are into sauces and stews.

I might even crumble them onto salads like bacon bits. I ended up making them slightly crispy. You don't want them too chewy or they might contain moisture that can cause them to grow mold. I am storing mine in the freezer and refrigerator just to be on the safe side.

I found this way of storing tomatoes very delicious and very easy. If you have a bountiful harvest I highly recommend drying some. You want to make sure that you use a variety of tomato that isn't very juicy, but is meaty. I think that you will enjoy them if you try them. As I start using them in recipes, I will let you know what I think. I want to come up with some creative ways to use them.

For now, I am off to slice up more and load up the dehydrator so that we can enjoy a bit of summer later on in the year.