Summer Tastes
One day a week, usually on the weekend, I take a big chunk of time to do some project. Since it’s mid July and there was no late freeze, there was but one thing I could do last weekend. Drive to Stonewall, Texas, and get freestone peaches and fresh tomatoes. Day trip! So my project started this way:
There were 40 peaches.40 tomatoes. 8 jalapenos. 10 onions (none of which made me cry – I have epic powers of resisting onion). Some other stuff. All in all, I canned 11 quarts of peach salsa (and Jeff and I have already eaten one). I used the recipe I used last time. It was the only type of peach stuff I canned this time. I didn’t really think my tiny kitchen could handle more than one recipe – although it’s amazing what I can fit in there. Besides, the peach salsa was inarguably the best stuff I made two years ago.
I nearly ran out of jars. I think I only have three left, and they’re quart jars. I think I might make pickled okra in those, since I just got a heaping large bunch of okra from my mother-in-law’s garden. Honestly, after getting over the initial fear of OMG CANNING NO ONE DOES THAT I discovered I really kind of like preserving food. It’s not that hard (unless you go the pressure canning route), and it’s sorta fun to make a huge batch of something. Still, though. When I tell people I actually make jam and can stuff, I often get a remarkably shocked response. Not many people do this, it seems.
Yeah. Me. In a kitchen. In my Slow Food apron my aunt Miriam gave me. With sterile equipment. And a gallon+ of hot salsa. And a hot stove. In July. In Texas. In a kitchen without air conditioning. That’s why my whole face is red. It’s not why I need a haircut, however. That’s because my hairdressers keep disappearing or quitting the profession, and I really can’t stand finding new ones.
You like how I made my sink into a counter with a baking sheet and a towel. Necessity IS the mother of invention!
Food is wonderful. And one of the best things about peach salsa – it’s really pretty when it’s done! The taste of summer.
5 Comments
feel free to leave a few words of your own...Jennifer — Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 9:06 am (link)Since I had the pleasure of tasting your peach salsa this weekend, I can testify that it is really good. i purchased a jar of peach salsa from the store a year ago and I couldn’t eat it. When I first tried it, I thought the salsa had gone bad. I finally realized that the salsa was good, the peachy taste was not. I was afraid to taste your salsa because of the bad experience I had with the store bought brand. Suffice it to say I was pleasantly surprised. Your peach salsa does not have the overwhelming taste of peach and is quite tasty.
Anna — Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 11:22 am (link)The dude made peach salsa this weekend too! It is easier than people think but it is hot and sweaty work at exactly the time of year you don’t want to do hot, sweaty work. Maybe *that’s* why they think it’s nuts? If you think people look at you crazy because you make preserves, try being a dude. His kitchen is a bit bigger and has central air so he also made blackberry sorbet and blackberry swirl ice cream. But he does have plans for spaghetti sauce next. (Last year he made ketchup!)
Johanna — Tue Jul 20, 2010 at 12:29 pm (link)Great to see your pictures canning, you spur me on. I thought young gals didn’t can anymore!!! Have a great rest of the summer.
Abby — Sat Jul 31, 2010 at 6:24 pm (link)I often wish we were co-workers again but this is just another cruel reminder of why.
You make canning look cool!
Miriam — Mon Aug 2, 2010 at 12:32 pm (link)Abby – It’s definitely not cool, not exactly, in the summer with boiling pots of water! Oh, was that not what you meant?
Johanna – Young people often do not can. I don’t know anyone personally who does! But I rather think it’s fun, and I’d do more of it if I had more space!
Anna – the Dude is truly a marvel and a wonder. And everyone mostly thinks I’m nuts. Maybe it has something to do with that, too.
