The Plan

I don’t remember anyone in my immediate family liking my pepper jelly, but many friends love the stuff.  I’m told it’s very good on pork, but I enjoy it on some toast with cream cheese for breakfast. A good kick to my morning.

As I indicated in my last post, this first batch of the season may not turn out to be the best. Two problems worry me: 1. I’m not sure if it ever thickened enough, and 2. there was a white power residue left behind from the boiling water bath. I’m guessing I had too much pepper in the mix and the white powder is minerals in the water.  Minerals are good for you, right?

Here is the recipe just in case I lose the little paper I have it written on:

3.5 cups of diced peppers (I had about 4 this time)
1.5 cups of apple cider vinegar
6 cups of sugar
6oz package of pectin.

I used nothing but hot red peppers this time, but any combination should work. I didn’t bother seeding them all, it just takes too long. In a blender I puree the peppers and vinegar. I boiled the jars for about 10 minutes, and was left with some murky cloudy jars. The puree is mixed with the sugar in a large pot and boiled for 5 minutes, add the pectin and boil for another minute. This is when it should thicken, but I don’t think mine thickened much. So I cooked it longer, maybe not long enough.

We planted about 50 some raspberry plants, some suckers and some bare root. Both have done rather well. But the suckers were free from a plant exchange, so they somehow seem better. They are planted in a double row next to a fence. There wasn’t a whole lot we did to prepare the soil — we were kind of pressed for time. We hardly even weeded. We just dug about 50 holes, plopped in a bit of manuer, placed the plant and firmed up the soil. We didn’t really expect any berries this year, but have been picking random fruits every week. Anne’s done more work weeding and mulching them recently. They are very (note I did not go for the pun) delicious.

Here’s another photo that didn’t get posted – Al’s beautiful front walk with limestone stepping stones, walls and raised bed. I helped lay landscaping fabric and shovel gravel, but the rest is all Al’s vision and handiwork. Yellow aka Buddy loves to lay in that raised bed on top of the daylilies. May need to plant brambles there next year.

Jake and Buddy look like best friends laying there next to one another on the deck. Jake, however, in fits of jealous rage tries to attack Buddy daily. Al reprimanded Jake so well today (Jake doesn’t listen to me). He smacked him and gave him a timeout on the deck. I’ve never seen Jake look so remorseful. My mom, who likes to spoil Jake, wonders if as a dog Jake is really capable of connecting the punishment and the wrongful act. I’d like to think so.