Here is my basil crop ready to make pesto.

I never thought of making pear sauce. I have lots O pears. May try that next. Do you do anything different with the pears than you would with apples.

Any good ideas for what to do with quinces. I have a ton of them coming on.

Wife made quince jelly for the first time last fall. I'm keeping her around because she promised to make more of it this year. Our favorite way to use quince jelly is to place a slice of manchego cheese, or spread cream cheese, on a snack cracker. Then, spread quince jelly over that and put a pickled jalapeno slice on the top. 'Course you got to wash this appetizer down with a cold beer, or your favorite white wine. Biggest problem is you never make enough of these the first time, so you have to interrupt the eating and drinking to make more...

JAPANESE QUINCE JELLY

1 basket of Japanese quince
sugar (roughly 1 cup of sugar per cup of juice)

1. Cut the tops and tails off of the quince and cut in half or in quarters for larger fruit. Cut any flaws out of the fruit and discard. Place in a large pot and put in enough water to just cover the fruit. Cook at low boil until the fruit is very soft, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Mash the cooked fruit down with a potato masher.

2. Line a colander with cheese cloth and spoon the mixture into the cloth. Allow it to drip for at least six hours, or overnight. Don't squeeze the liquid out of the bundles or the jelly will be cloudy.

3. Sterilize jars and lids in boiling water for 10 minutes. Be sure the jars are still hot when you are ready to fill them. Put snap lids in a bowl with hot water to allow the rubber ring to soften.

4. Measure the juice into a large pot. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar for each cup of juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring constantly. If you have a thermometer cook to 217-221 degrees F. Skim off as much foam as you can and discard. Test to see if the gel has set (see below).

5. Fill hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headroom at the top. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth to ensure that there is no jelly there to prevent a tight seal. Place lids on and turn to fingertip tightness, when it resists turning. If the lid is too tight the air won't be released and a tight seal won't be achieved.

6. Process jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove from the water and allow to sit undisturbed for 24 hours. Sealed jars will have a dip in the center of the lid. If the jar doesn't seal, keep it in the refrigerator. Otherwise, sealed jars should be stored in a cool, dark place and will last for a year.

Gel Stage Test:

Remove jelly from heat while doing test
Chill two or three small plates in freezer
Place 1 tsp hot jelly on plate and freeze for 1 minute
Remove from freezer. Surface should wrinkle when edge is pushed with finger.
If surface doesn't wrinkle, continue cooking and repeat test every few minutes.


I watched the jelly making process last year, and it didn't look to be any more difficult than designing and building a balsawood model airplane from scratch. Good luck.

Aunty----That looks great. Cinnamon candy in the spiced Pears? Sounds like a great idea.

First year growing my own hops. These pictures were about a month before harvesting but they are in the freezer to ready to make some tasty brew.



Bret

Starting to harvest the squash and pumpkins. It was a banner year! This is less than 1/2 the crop.

Banner year for sugar pumpkins processed a bunch the last two weeks and have a freezer full. Best pumpkin pie ever. Having pumpkin stew tonight cooked in a whole pumpkin.

that sounds cool. How the hell do you cook it in a pumpkin?

I agree how about a recipe/cooking instructions?

Bake it. 2 to 2.5 hours for a 4lbr. Just google stuffed pumpkin look for one with gruyere cheese and bacon

Minimal harvest here. The deer ate all the blueberries, except the two I sampled and thought they needed another day or two. Finally got a reasonable number of grape and Early Girl tomatoes. Had to put the pots up on my front porch to keep them from the deer. I guess I could harvest a deer?

Hope to get some landscaping work around the yard over the fall and winter. If so, that should include a deer fence around the area where I want to put in some raised beds for a little gardening next year.

Scratch the pumpkin stew its dog food. The cheese clashed with the pumpkin in a nasty way.

too bad. hopefully something else works out. sounds cool though.

I'm thinking cook the soup the present in pumpkin bowls.....?

We do pumpkin soup that way that's why we thought the stew would be good. The next one will be the soup with ground turkey and chunks of cooked pumpkin to gift it more heart.

I'm just guessin'.. but I think 2MANY may have a few photos of some medicinal herbs grown in Thurston County. I hear it's all legal like up there.