Someone's in the kitchen with tiger...
Aug. 26th, 2002 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beetigerI spent all of yesterday in the kitchen. It started out by turning some overripe peaches that my in-laws bestowed on me into peach jam. I used low methoxyl-pectin and minimal sugar so the stuff tastes like peaches instead of sugar with peach flavor.
After that, it was time for the Annual August Ritual Salsa Making. This tradition started with me and Bard in 1993, I believe, when we were part of a community sponsored agriculture organic farmshare, which is basically an arrangement in which you buy a portion of what a farm grows at the beginning of the season, so they can focus on farming, not selling. If it's a good season for cucumbers, you eat a lot of cucumbers that summer. If it's a poor season for broccoli, you might not get any. It's a really good way to stay close to the cycle of what the world's doing. I wish there was a convenient one near here.
In a fit of summer boredom, I randomly spent a day working at the farm, and I got an extra case of tomatoes, maybe 30 pounds worth, as my reward. My regular share that week was another 10 pounds or so, and our own garden tomatoes were also doing well. I don't really like raw tomatoes, even good garden-fresh ones. So we canned salsa. Lots of salsa. The next year we did it again. We revived the activity in 1997, with half-bushels of seconds tomatoes which we get from our local farmstand for $10, and we've done it every year since. I can't imagine August anymore without it.
I'm 15 pints of homemade salsa richer now than I was yesterday. I've learned not to make more than one batch a year. If I want to get back in the kitchen and process stuff, I'm going to have to go pick raspberries at a local farm and make jam, since it's an off-year for the apple trees.
I find it confusing when people are amazed that I do this kind of stuff. It's much easier than building up sufficient hand-eye coordination to play video games. And tastier, too!
After that, it was time for the Annual August Ritual Salsa Making. This tradition started with me and Bard in 1993, I believe, when we were part of a community sponsored agriculture organic farmshare, which is basically an arrangement in which you buy a portion of what a farm grows at the beginning of the season, so they can focus on farming, not selling. If it's a good season for cucumbers, you eat a lot of cucumbers that summer. If it's a poor season for broccoli, you might not get any. It's a really good way to stay close to the cycle of what the world's doing. I wish there was a convenient one near here.
In a fit of summer boredom, I randomly spent a day working at the farm, and I got an extra case of tomatoes, maybe 30 pounds worth, as my reward. My regular share that week was another 10 pounds or so, and our own garden tomatoes were also doing well. I don't really like raw tomatoes, even good garden-fresh ones. So we canned salsa. Lots of salsa. The next year we did it again. We revived the activity in 1997, with half-bushels of seconds tomatoes which we get from our local farmstand for $10, and we've done it every year since. I can't imagine August anymore without it.
I'm 15 pints of homemade salsa richer now than I was yesterday. I've learned not to make more than one batch a year. If I want to get back in the kitchen and process stuff, I'm going to have to go pick raspberries at a local farm and make jam, since it's an off-year for the apple trees.
I find it confusing when people are amazed that I do this kind of stuff. It's much easier than building up sufficient hand-eye coordination to play video games. And tastier, too!
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Re: mmm... salsa...
Date: 2002-08-26 08:44 am (UTC)Have I mentioned lately that I miss Ithaca?
Re: mmm... salsa...
Date: 2002-08-26 05:34 pm (UTC)That does it. Next time you're here, hon... I'm taking you to Harvest. :)