Mixed up World of Mixed Fruit Jelly

Most people have no idea what Mixed Fruit Jelly is made from. All they know is it tastes good.

You have to read the ingredients
to know for sure what kind of jelly you have

You get it at a drive thru or they bring it to you with your meal at the Waffle House. If you don't live in the South, the Waffle House is a place that we all know and visit frequently. They serve mostly breakfast type meals. They also have other things, according to the signs on the wall they a sell more T-Bone steaks than any other restaurant. They are on just about every corner around Atlanta. Not a big place, usually 4 to 6 booths and maybe 8 - 10 seats at the counter. They have some of the best food around. I guess the two biggest things in the South are Waffle Houses and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. That is a slanted opinion.

When I go to the Waffle House and get my eggs, grits and toast they always bring little packages of jelly. I always look for mixed fruit. Away from home it is my favorite. When I visit other places for a biscuit or mcmuffin I also get jelly, usually mixed fruit. I read the ingredients on both packages and they are not the same. One has mixed fruit made from apple and grape juice and the other has apple and plum juice. The only thing they have in common is apple juice (and all the other things they put in it). I have no idea when this started or who started it. I guess someone who makes way too much money said one day to use apple grape and someone else making just as much money decided that it should be apple plum. I often wondered why someone else at another factory didn't decided on plum-grape jelly. It would be mixed fruit. Oh well things like that only happen in my kitchen.

 The taste out of the little package is just about the same, so I guess that the main juice is apple. The grape or plum are there to give a color and a hint of flavor.

I will give you a recipe so that you can go to the grocers and buy the things you need to make either or both. Might be fun to make both and let your family decide which one they really like best. We are going to use equal parts of the juices so our jellies will taste better than the packages.
Your shopping list should include enough to make what ever combination you like. Maybe buy another juice to really mix things up.
All the juice that we are going to use should be with no added water. That would be the ones that are not made from concentrate. If you look you can find it. Your list should include:

Apple Juice - a couple of quarts will do.

Grape Juice - a quart will work. You can use purple grapes or white grapes. So many things to pick.

Plum Juice - again a quart. This may be a little harder to find. It is usually in the specialty foods section of your grocery store. This will also cost more than apple or grape. Again, buy enough to make one batch or a couple of mixed up batches. You are the boss.

Cane Sugar - maybe two or three 5 pound bags, just in case. I really mean Cane sugar.

Look and make sure. The other sugar will work, but your jelly may not set firm. We call it weepy jelly.

Powdered Pectin - buy 4 or 5 boxes. You never know when you might want to make the next combination. You want to be ready.

Canning jars - maybe a couple of cases. That will give you more jars to work with.

At home remove the jars from the box.Wash & rinse completely. We ran our jars thru the dish washer on a rinse and sanitize cycle. This is what I mean when I say prepared jars. They have been washed, rinsed and dried completely. The domes need to be boiled in water before use. We use a small plastic stick with a magnet on the end to remove the domes for use on jars.

Lemons - While you are at the store look around in the frozen foods section. In most stores you will find packages of frozen Lemon Juice. This is the way we buy it. It is real juice with no additives, just squeezed and frozen.

Once you thaw it, keep it in the refrigerator. If you don't want this then get a bag of lemons. You can squeeze and strain the seeds out. Each batch of jelly will use a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice.
Over in the Specialty Foods section take a look at all the different juices available. The list has grown and grown the more people want something other than orange or apple. Another place to look for fruit juice is the baby food section. They have some of the best pear juice I have ever tested. You might ask how I know, well when we took care of our grandkids we always bought different juices to give them. They all liked the pear juice best, so I tasted (not from the baby bottle, I tasted it from the bottle I bought at the store) and I really liked it.
Now I hope you are ready to cook. You have picked exactly the combination you want first. While we are getting ready, why don't you have the next pick ready. It really doesn't take that much longer to make two batches.

Apple/Plum Mixed Fruit Jelly
3 1/2 cups apple juice
3 1/2 cups plum juice
9 cups sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 box pectin

This is the instructions for cooking all the different type of Mixed Fruit jellies.
Combine all juices with pectin in a cooking pot. Bring to a boil, boil for 1 minute. Add sugar. Continue stirring and bring back to boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Let set for a couple of minutes. Skim the foam off the top. Carefully ladle into prepared jars. Clean the rims with a wet paper towel. Place sterile domes then rings on top. Finger tighten (not too tight, but tight enough so they don't leak in the water bath). Put all jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and let sit over night. Next morning check for unsealed jars. They have to be reprocessed with a new dome. The other jars are ready to eat, display or give as gifts.

Use your other juices and make what ever type of mixed fruit jelly you want. The choice is yours. Make White Grape/Apple or Purple Grape/Apple. Why not something else like Peach/Mango Mixed Fruit jelly? Mary Lynn made Strawberry/Apple jelly and it was a huge favorite. Everybody likes Strawberry Jam and who doesn't like Apple Jelly.

To get strawberry juice bring to a boil 2 cups water and 6 cups crushed fruit. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Let cool then strain thru muslin. You now have strawberry juice to make jelly with.
While we have brought up strawberry juice, why not mix strawberry/ mango as a mixed fruit.

You see all the different ways to go. You can do anything you want or your family wants. The first thing I want you to do is taste your jelly and then taste one of the little packages that you got from the Waffle House or the drive thru at your mcfavorite restaurant.
The tastes are nothing alike. That is why you should make the jelly that you and your family want to eat.

There are so many things to pick from to make your favorite.

In response to so many requests, Mary Lynn and I are starting back with our production and sales of a limited number of our most popular items. We are going to be selling thru a website that is in production now. Hopefully we will have everything ready to open for business in a couple of weeks. I will keep you posted on our progress. I already have my site name set and the coding goes on. If you have ever done that, you know how time-consuming it is. I tried and was lost, but thankfully I was saved by a very special person. So I will keep you posted, it should not be long. The name of the web site will be austinhouse.biz .

 

This will give you the chance to compare our products with the things you are making at home. Keep watching and reading.

Please subscribe to my blogs. I enjoy getting ideas for future blogs from you. Also be sure and check out my other blogs, you might have missed one. If you have an idea or a suggestion, contact me at jellymanga@gmail.com .

Don’t keep my blogs a secret. Pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it.
Say Yes I Can Can It!

Thinking about giving Thanks.

It is that time of year when everybody starts thinking about holidays.

If you live in the United States, Thanksgiving followed by Christmas or Hanukkah then New Years celebrations are in the immediate future. I know that I have plenty of things to be thankful for. This blog is one of them. It has allowed me to visit with each reader and tell them about what my family has taught me thru the years. I learned a lot from my Grandmother Austin. She started me on the trail of home canning that has brought me to this point. I wonder how many of you readers have a similar story, someone in your past that got you interested in canning. I would love to do a survey and find out just what the numbers would look like. I don't have a way to do that, but I would really be interested in reading your story or just what brought you to my page. If you don't mind, take a minute and send me a note and tell me your story. My e-mail is jellyman@gmail.com . Just click on the link and this will let you send me a message.

Well getting back to my subjects for this blog, holidays. I don't know about your house but in my house all the holidays coming up mean eating, big time. With eating I want my products to play a big part in the good times. Mary Lynn and I made several special items this time of the year and I want to share them with you.

First off we will start with a couple of Butters especially for fall season. Pumpkin Butter is the number one butter followed closely by Sweet Potato Butter. What you never heard of these? Maybe one but not the other? Both are best this time of year because of the pumpkins coming into season and the best sweet potatoes in the market. Mary Lynn would go to the State Farmers Market and look at all the pumpkins for sale. She looked for a certain type of pumpkin, not the ones you might think. She looked for cooking pumpkins. This is best for baking. Why this type? This pumpkin is usually smaller, more meatier than the type that you carve faces in. You take this pumpkin and cut from stem end to blossom end around, dividing it into two halves. Take a cookie sheet and spray it with not stick non-flavored spray then place the inside of the pumpkin face down on the sheet. The outside of the pumpkin facing up. Bake at 325 ° for about 25 to 35 minutes, depending on the pumpkin size. After this, let cool, then carefully flip over to expose the cooked insides. Remove the seeds and other parts leaving only the walls of the fruit. Take a large spoon and scrape to remove the meat. Do this carefully so as not to get the outside skin of the roasted pumpkin. Place all the cooked meat in a food processor and blend til it is smooth. This is what we will use to make our butter. If this is too much, purchase canned pumpkin in the grocery. The canned will taste OK, but fresh is by far the best.

12 cups pumpkin, 4 1/2 cups apple juice, 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar, 7 1/2 cups sugar, 3 cups brown sugar, 3 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. Mix all ingredients completely and put into crock pots, or cook on top of the stove in a large heavy cooking pot. Cook around 2 hours, mixing while cooking. Carefully ladle into 8 ounce prepared canning jars (washed and rinsed). Leave at least 1/4 inch room from the rim. Take a damp paper towel and clean rim. Place sterilized domes (rinse in boiling water) on top and screw rings on. Screw on finger tight, not loose or too tight. Place inside a pressure cooker to process the jars. Process in a boiling water bath with at least two inches water over the tops of the jars for 10 minutes.

This is one of the best tasting things you could ever eat on a toasted muffin or even toast. Mary Lynn had a thought while making pumpkin butter; what if you served it after dinner as a snack. Serve it with whipped cream cheese and ginger snap cookies, vanilla wafers and graham crackers. This might also work with sweet potato butter as well, but especially with pumpkin butter. Just take your snap or cracker or wafer and spread the soft cream cheese then add a dollop of pumpkin butter. If you don't know what a dollop is, well it is less than a whole bunch and more than not enough.... do you get the idea? It has to be great. So there are always other methods of enjoying seasonal favorites.


Next we will make Sweet Potato Butter, another holiday treat for late breakfast or even desert, or as a snack. We use canned yams, half solid pack and half packed in syrup.

12 1/2 cups yams in syrup, 12 1/2 cups solid pack, 4 cups apple juice, 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 14 cups sugar, 1 cup lite corn syrup. (You can cut the recipe in half to make less, but keep proportions same all the way thru.). Mix all ingredients, place in blender or food processor to completely mix (do small batches at a time). Use the syrup and apple juice to cut the thickness. Place in crock pots and cook 8 hours, mixing occasionally. Ladle into 8 ounces jars using the same instructions as above. Let cool and set over night. Open jar should always be refridgerated.

Now we will move on to some more familiar holiday treats.

Holiday relishes are different from ordinary relish; they don't have to be jarred. They can be put into large bowls and refriderated til served. You can put them into jars if you plan on making enough to share or eat at another time. Remember carefully ladle the relish into 8 ounce canning jars that have been washed and rinsed then dried. Fill to within 1/4 inch from the top. Place a sterile dome (boiled in water) on and finger-tighten the ring. Process your jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and let sit overnight. Check for unsealed jars, they must have new domes and be boiled again for 10 minutes.

How about different variations of a holiday standard Cranberries?

Whole Cranberry Relish

1 pound cranberries, 1 1/2 cups water, 2 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup seedless chopped raisins, 1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped (Granny Smith really works nice here), rind from a orange and lemon, finely grated, and 1 cup walnuts - chopped.

Cook cranberries in water till all skins pop open. Add the sugar, raisins, apple and orange and lemon peel. Boil fifteen minutes. Remove from heat and add walnut meats. Place in a bowl that will go in your refrigerator. Let cool to set . Serve like you would cranberry sauce, but the taste is better. Another thought, why not use it in place of mayonaise on turkey of ham sandwiches. It is great!!!!!!!

Cranberry-Orange Relish

1 pound cranberries, 1 1/2 cups water, 2 1/2 cups sugar, 1 orange rind grated, 1 cup orange juice. You can add walnuts to this, or almonds or pecans. A true Southern version of this would have to have pecans.

Cook cranberries in water till all skins pop open. Add the sugar and orange peel and juice. If you want to add nuts, add them now. Place in a bowl and chill over night to set up. Serve on a nice dish with Mandarin Orange segments scattered over the top. Really nice to look at as well as delicious to eat.

What Southern holiday feast would be served without Ambrosia? I know that when you read the recipe, many will say that their grandmothers didn't have this or it had something else added. That is the fun of being the chef, you can make it any way you want. As long as it looks good and tastes better that it looks, the recipe will work. I have even had Ambrosia with peach slices.

Austin House Ambrosia:

5 cups drained, crushed pineapple, 1 1/2 cups orange juice, 1/3 cup orange peel, grated, 1 orange, peeled with membrane removed, chopped (be sure to remove seeds), 3 cups shredded coconut, 1 cup maraschino cherries, drained, chopped and blotted til no juice, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup chopped apple with peel (mix a red and green apple for best effects and taste).

Combine juice, pineapple and orange, simmer for 15 minutes. Add sugar, cook til almost jelly stage. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and blotted cherries. (Cherries that are not completely blotted will turn the mixture red, so blot as many times as needed to get dry cherries), add chopped apple and nuts. Remove from heat and let cool over night.

This will not setup so it has to be served in small bowls. In my grandmother's house we always put it over the top of a slice of home-made coconut cake with 7 minute frosting. I think the only holiday we didn't eat coconut cake was 4th of July. I guess that is why my favorite cake has always been coconut. Try it on some of your favorite holiday treats and let me know which one you like best. Or better still, just eat it with nothing else. Hard to beat the flavor of this Southern Holiday tradition.

In response to so many requests, Mary Lynn and I are starting back with our production and sales of a limited number of our most popular items. We are going to be selling thru a website that is in production now. Hopefully we will have everything ready to open for business in a couple of weeks. I will keep you posted on our progress. I already have my site name set and the coding goes on. If you have ever done that, you know how time-consuming it is. I tried and was lost, but thankfully I was saved by a very special person. So I will keep you posted, it should not be long. The name of the web site will be www.austinhouse.biz .

This will give you the chance to compare our products with the things you are making at home. Keep watching and reading.

Please subscribe to my blogs. I enjoy getting ideas for future blogs from you. Also be sure and check out my other blogs, you might have missed one. If you have an idea or a suggestion, contact me at jellymanga@gmail.com .

Don’t keep my blogs a secret. Pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.
Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it. Say Yes I Can Can It!

It's Salsa Time in the Kitchen - - - Fruit Salsa that is.

Many people have the wrong idea about salsa. They think that if it has peppers and a Spanish name, it has to be hot. Boy, are they wrong. I love the taste of all the different kinds we are going to make. I also can think of at least 10 different ways to use each one of them, other than chips & salsa.

I have already published my recipe for Strawberry Salsa. Judging from the number of people looking at that recipe every day, it is time to do more Salsa recipes. When I did the blogs about Peaches, I did not include Peach Salsa because I wanted to include it in this blog. If you missed the Strawberry Salsa blog, here is the link to it http://canucanit.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/strawberry-salsa-and-recipe/ now if you go there you have to promise to come back.

While you are looking at the Strawberry Salsa recipe think of the same recipe, just using Raspberries. Making Raspberry Salsa is very much like strawberry. The only difference is use 1/2 whole raspberries and 1/2 pureed.Salsas is canned in 16 oz. canning jars, unless stated differently. After cleaning the rims of the jars and placing a sterile dome and ring on, you have to put in a boiling water bath. The time will vary. I will let you know on each recipe.

Let's get cooking with Peach Salsa. Peaches used in this recipe are going to have to be cut into bite size pieces or smaller. That goes for Mango Salsa as well. You never want someone to get a big chunk of Peach when they are dipping into the salsa bowl. Peach pulp (any left over peach pieces ) ground up in the blender or Cuisinart and added to the salsa gives it more of a "peach flavor" in every bite. You need 8 cups of peaches (7 cups pieces + 1 cup puree'). You can use canned peaches, but fresh or frozen peaches work so much better. Here is the rest of the recipe.

8 cups peaches, 2 cups diced tomatoes, 1 cup tomato puree', 1/2 cup diced red bell peppers no seeds or membrane, 1/2 cup diced green bell peppers, no seeds or membrane, add 1 cup light corn syrup, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or 2 tablespoons dried, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons cummin powder, 1/2 tablespoons chili powder, 1/2 tablespoon salt (canning, kosher or sea), and 3/4 cup vinegar or lemon juice or lime juice. The choice is yours, but I like lime juice.

Combine all ingredients in a large heavy-duty cooking pot. Mix well, stirring completely. Bring just to a good boil for 1 minute. Make sure you stir while cooking. Salsa sticks very easily. Scorched salsa tastes bad. Also by stirring deeply you will allow everything to "marry". That means the flavors blend together. Ladle into prepared canning jars. After cleaning the rim on the jar place sterile domes then rings. Finger tighten and process jars in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove from water and let cool on racks or towels overnight. Check for unsealed jars. Do not reprocess these jars, this will make your salsa soggy. Get out the chips or put into the refrigerator and use first. Cooking such a short time will let your salsa keep a crisp taste.

Mango Salsa is very much like Peach Salsa, So much alike that you can use the same recipe for both. Just put in mangoes every time I wrote peach. If you take a spoon and scrape the pit you will get more mango. Just add this to the mango that is going to be pureed. Process the same way.

Pineapple Salsa You don't have to use fresh pineapple (but it does taste better). A good brand of canned pineapple will work just fine. Drain the juice and save for the next time you are making punch. You will need 6 cups diced pineapple and 2 cups crushed (canned is fine also).

Pineapple Salsa is great to eat with chips, but better to cook with.

8 cups pineapple (6 +2), 2 cups diced tomatoes, 1 cup diced and seeded bell peppers (mix red and green), 1/2 cup seeded and diced jalapeno' peppers, 1 cup corn syrup (or use the drained juice and boil with 1 cup sugar), 1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/2 cup diced red onions
Combine all ingredients in a large cooking pot. Mix ingredients well. Bring to a good boil for 1 minute. Make sure you stir all the salsa not just the top part. Salsa sticks very easy and scorched salsa tastes bad. Ladle into prepared canning jars (16 oz. works best). After cleaning the rim on the jar place sterile domes then rings. Finger tighten and process jars in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove from water and let cool on racks or towels overnight. Check for unsealed jars. Don't recook the unsealed jars.

Next is one that I bet you have never heard of. Cranberry/Orange Salsa. You need all fresh fruit for this one, no canned or bottled. Fresh is needed to make this the best possible. You will be glad you did not substitute when you taste the flavor.

2 pounds fresh cranberries, wash well, 2 apples cut into pieces with no seeds, 2 oranges, (cut whole oranges into pieces, yes you use the rind and peel),, 4 cups sugar and 4 jalapeno' peppers seeded and minced. Using a food processor or cuisinart chop together the cranberries, apples and oranges. Combine your chopped mix with the peppers in a large cooking pot. Bring to a boil, then cut the heat and simmer for 5 minutes more. Stirring all the time. Put into canning jars (8 ounce or 16 ounce) clean rims and put on sterile domes and rings. Process 10 minutes. Check for unsealed jars. This salsa may be reprocessed.

When you are ready to eat this, it goes great as a side dish for ham, chicken or turkey. Mixed with sour cream it becomes a killer dip. Use on crackers with small bites of chicken, ham or turkey. I am sure that you will love this one. Our customers went crazy when we sampled it.


Mixed Fruit Salsa is our last recipe but not the least. Mix 1/2 cup mild peppers, Serrano or canned green chilies or any other mild pepper you might like, 1 cup chopped orange segments (no seeds, peel or membrane), add 1/2 cup lime juice, 1 1/2 cups pineapple chopped into small bits (fresh or canned, no juice), 1 cup diced cantaloupe, 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or 1 tablespoon dried cilantro, add 1 tablespoon fresh ginger (chopped real fine), and finally 1 cup corn syrup. Mix all ingredients in large cooking pot. Bring to a boil for about 1 minute.Then ladle into prepared canning jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool over night. Check for unsealed jars, they can be reprocessed. This salsa is great on many foods and great on pound cake as a dessert.

I have run out of space for this blog, but still have more recipes. If you are interested in recipes for: Lemon Garlic Salsa, Lemon Salsa (killer on fish), Lime Salsa, Watermelon Salsa or Wine/Mint Salsa (for lamb) just e-mail me for a copy.

A note about Salsa. Just this weekend I had another person's Pineapple Salsa at a party. It was all blended smooth, with no chunks of tomato or pineapple, no pieces of pepper. It was a good tasting salsa, but I missed the taste this recipe gives you. If you prefer a smooth salsa, puree or blend til smooth before cooking. The difference is huge. But you decide according to your families' tastes. You should try to make a different type of salsa occasionally. There are so many things to pick from and so many ways to cook them.

My blog about traditional tomato types of salsa will be following soon.

Please subscribe to my blogs. I enjoy getting ideas for future blogs from you. Also be sure and check out my other blogs, you might have missed one.

Don’t keep my blogs a secret. Pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.
Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it. Say Yes I Can Can It!

Blackberry Time, at last

Blackberry Jam, Jelly and Preserves maybe the number one jelly or jam flavor that we sold in our business. So let’s head over to the nearest blackberry patch and pick as many as we can carry. We will also eat about the same amount while picking. Be careful of the briars, they hurt. Don't be afraid of anything you think you might see while picking. The story about snakes being there is just a story, maybe just a story.....maybe.

Something of a personal note. I won the Best of Show and a Gold Medal for Excellence at the Georgia National Fair with my Blackberry Jam. I was quite proud of myself. It is something not many people win.

Everywhere we went people would always ask if we had Blackberry products. Most wanted jam, jelly and preserves. I have never figured out the lure of this fruit. It is great tasting, but I have trouble with the seeds. I bet I am not the only one that has seed problems with both blackberries and raspberries. There is a solution for this, either stick to jelly or make seedless jam. Seedless jam from blackberries or raspberries takes plenty of berries and plenty of time, along with a couple of kitchen gadgets to remove the seeds. I will cover the process for you later in this blog. I will also cover freezer jam; that is jam you make and store in your freezer. This jam doesn't have to be processed, but does need time to thaw.

Let's get started with Blackberry Jam made without pectin

You need 9 cups berries that have been washed and crushed. 6 cups cane sugar (make sure you use cane sugar, look on the bag it will say cane sugar).

Bring the mixture slowly to a boil stirring constantly til it reaches a jelling point. Dip a metal spoon into the boiling mixture. When the liquid breaks from the spoon in a sheet instead of drops, you have reached the jelling point. If you use a candy thermometer the temperature will be 8º above the boiling point of water, 212° at sea level. It will be higher in higher elevations. I have seen that even the barometric pressure has an effect on the boiling point of water. Low pressure makes water boil at a lower temperature and vice versa.

Check out the foam from cooking

That is why we say 8º above your boiling point; it varies with all the above reasons. To find out your water temperature before cooking your blackberries, put your thermometer in boiling water and write down the temperature. That is the point you start from with your blackberries. I had to look all this up to make sure you had the correct information. Mary Lynn wrote it down for me in a note. she knew all this about altitude and pressure making a difference in cooking. Someday I will do a blog and introduce Mary Lynn to you. She is a special person, and I am glad I married her. She always seems to have a surprise up her sleeve, even when she doesn't have sleeves. After all that is done, skim and ladle into clean jars. Clean the rims, place sterile domes and rings on. Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes.

If you want Seedless Blackberry Jam, you will need to heat your berries in a microwave for 90 seconds until they are soft. Press the fruit thru a food mill or sieve. This seems like extra work, but as far as I know there is no other way to get the seeds out.

Push thru a sieve to get out seeds.

I never really thought about removing seeds from a berry when making jam. The first time I tasted the seedless and then the regular jam I knew why the extra work was needed for me to really enjoy blackberry jam. It will take at least 10 cups of berries because you will end up with at least 1 cup of seeds. Cook and process in the same way as above.

Blackberry Jam, using pectin

5 cups washed and crushed berries, 7 cups cane sugar, and 1 package of pectin.

Bring your berries and pectin to a boil, add your sugar and bring back to a boil for 1 minute. All this while stirring constantly. Skim and ladle into jars, add sterile domes and rings. Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes.

Blackberry Jelly takes a little longer to get ready to cook, but I think it is time well spent. I do love jelly on so many things. One of the places I like blackberry jelly is a good toasted English muffin. I think the jelly made from blackberries has a stronger fruit taste than all the other fruits we make jelly from.

To make the juice for your jelly start with washing and draining your fruit. Crush the berries and measure your volume. For each quart (4 cups) of berries add 1/2 cup water. Add your mixture to a pot and heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until your berries have gotten real soft.
Strain thru damp muslin or a damp jelly bag to extract the juice. Do not push the mixture thru the strainer. Just leave it until there are no more drops failing. This can take a while, probably at least 2 hours depending on how much you are working with. If you have a large amount, consider splitting it into more than one strainer. When you have you juice it is now time to start cooking jelly.

3 1/2 cups blackberry juice, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 5 cups cane sugar, 1 package of powdered pectin. (I say powdered because someone asks me if it was OK to use the liquid kind). We never had good results with liquid pectin.

Combine juice, lemon juice and pectin in a large heavy-duty cooking pot. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, add your sugar and continue cooking til it comes back to a rolling boil (a boil the you can't stop by stirring). All the time stirring your jelly mixture. Boil the sugar liquid mixture for 1 minute then remove from heat or turn off the gas. Skim any foam and ladle into processed jars, clean the rim and add domes and rings. Then in a boiling bath for 5 minutes. This makes five 8 ounce jars. That is why you really need to consider doing large batches of fruit to get enough liquid. You can double your batch and make 10 jars at a time with no problem.

Blackberry Jelly without pectin

Use 4 cups juice (as above) and 3 cups cane sugar. Boil the mixture until a metal spoon "sheets", just like it did if you made the jam.

Don't forget to make corrections based on altitude where you live and the weather. (All explained above also) After the sheeting appears skim and ladle into prepared jars, process 5 minutes.

Next on the menu Freezer Blackberry Jam

For this you have to use special jars or containers made for your
freezer. Do not use your regular canning jars!!!!!

Combine 3 cups crushed berries with 5 1/4 cups cane sugar. Mix and let stand for at least 15 minutes, a little longer might be better. Meanwhile bring 3/4 cup water and 1 package of pectin to a boil. Boil for 1 minute stirring constantly. Add the water/pectin to the fruit/sugar mixture. Stir for at least 3 minutes.

Ladle into freezer jars or freezer containers leaving 1/2 inch head space. Apply domes and rings on cleaned rims of jars. Let the jam set in the fridge until it sets up (6 to 24 hours). Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or freezer for up to 1 year. Many people like this method as opposed to the other more traditional method. I have never had any type of freezer jam, so I can't tell you which one is better. I suppose that the traditional people will tell you their method tastes best and the freezer people will say the same. I will leave it up to you to decide. Let me know which one you pick as best.

Not many things better on a hot bisquit

Blackberry Preserves this is the godfather of all the blackberry recipes. When you ask someone about their favorite blackberry memory, I'll bet it was at their grandmother's house. They will say that they were eating fresh hot biscuits with real butter and blackberry preserves that their grandmother had made. Well I don't know about the biscuit part but you can make preserves that will taste very similar to yourgrandmother's. I say similar because no one can cook like your grandmother. The love that she always added is the big difference in the flavor.

 

 

Take 2 pounds blackberries and add 4 cups sugar then let stand for 1 hour or covered overnight in your fridge. It is OK to double this recipe and make double the number of jars at the same time. After the mixture has set for the needed time pour into a cooking pot and bring the mixture slowly to a boil; stirring gently.After it comes to a boil watch the mixture carefully, stirring often. When the liquid reaches jelling stage (check with metal spoon), remove from heat, skim and ladle into jars. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Bringing our cook fest to a close will be Blackberry Syrup.

Blackberry Syrup pretty to look at, better to taste!

Great on pancakes or waffles. Even better on ice cream with a slice of pound cake under the ice cream. This soaks up the melting ice cream and the syrup,making  his the most fun way of eating cooked blackberries.                                                                                                                                                                                       

In a large saucepan add 2 quarts crushed blackberries and add 2 cups water; bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Do not forget to stir all the time. When the liquid has cooled strain thru a jelly sack or damp muslin. This will take at least 2 hours or more. Do not try to hurry the process you want the best. Best is not fast. Now you are ready to make syrup from the liquid. Combine 3 cups sugar and 4 cups water; boil for 5 minutes, until the simple syrup (that is what you call sugar and water mixture) starts to thicken. You can use 2 cups corn syrup and 2 cups sugar instead of all cane sugar. Add the blackberry juice to the sugar syrup and boil for 1 minute.

Skim, ladle into jars or use syrup bottles that have been sterilized. If you use jars process 5 minutes in boiling water bath. If you don't want to process, store in your refrigerator til needed.This recipe makes about 3 pints of beautiful blackberry syrup.

This wraps up our trip to the briar patch to pick blackberries. Take them home and make all different types of goodies. I hope you try to make something we covered. If you can't get fresh berries, you can always use frozen ones. The frozen ones doesn’t work well for preserves, but will work for all other recipes. Just remember always use fresh any time you can. The flavor is worth it!

Something I thought about while working on the above recipes. I have never heard of Blackberry Ice Cream. If any of you have a recipe, please let me know. I will give you full credit for the recipe in a future blog.

Please subscribe to my blogs. I enjoy getting ideas for future blogs from you. Also be sure and check out my other blogs, you might have missed one.

Don’t keep my blogs a secret. Pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it. 

Say Yes I Can Can It!

Don't Delay. Get Your Kids into the Kitchen

It is never to early to get your kids involved in the kitchen.
Start them off on a journey that can last them a life time. I give thanks for a grandmother that took the time to teach me how to cook and do canning. I learned things that have played out pretty well in my life. Mary Lynn's mother and grandmother taught her all about putting veggies up so that her family would have good food during the winter. It wasn't that long ago when people did not have the things available to us today. They could not run down and pick up dinner from a deli or a drive thru. They had to cook what was available in their home. If someone had hunted and came home with a turkey, or a deer, or even fished and brought home a big stringer full. That was what you ate, they did not make special things just because you didn't like something.
I remember watching and asking all kinds of questions. I always got answers, no matter what I ask.
Don't you think it is time for you to start cooking with your family. You don't have to teach everything you do, just pick something they like and make it with them then next time. Let them watch you make it. maybe start with simple things and work your way up. Mary Lynn and I used to let our grandsons set on a counter while we cooked something. We talked about what we were doing and explained what was happening. We let them smell spices and taste things so that they would get kitchen experience. After a couple of times, we let them help out with recipe. They would hold the recipe card and tell us what was next. Then they did small jobs, such as stirring a pot. Don't get excited if a little mess is made. It will always clean up. More than one time we had a spill or something poured out on the counter. Don't make a them feel bad because of what happened. Remember, you spill things also. The only people who don't spill and make a mess are the people who don't cook. I laugh at those kind of people the only thing they make is reservations. Don't let you kids grow up to be one of those kind of people.
I remember when Christopher made apple butter all by his self for the first time. He started coring and cleaning the apples.
Then he cooked them down to a pulp that he put thru a food mill.Next he measured out the right amount to make the batch.

He measured and added the spices and sugar to the pulp. Stirring to make sure that everything mixes before the crock pots.
After pouring into jars, our next step is making labels for the jars.
Our labels had to pass the Department of Agriculture specifications. We had to have everything used in cooking on the labels and they had to be a certain size. Chris did not make a special label for his apple butter, he just used our label. It was easier, and did not have to sent off for approval. This job looks easy, but that was not the case. Anybody that has printed labels of any type on a computer knows what I am talking about.
After printing, the labels have to be carefully centered on the jars. The jars had to look nice to sell. People don't buy jars that look odd or different from the others.
Now the jars are ready for shows. They are ready for customers to buy. It was a great experience for us to see our grandson making and selling something that he had made the hard way. The only thing he did not do was climb the tree and pick the fruit. Luckily we had a big supply of apples to use from our banker. He has been a good friend for many years. Every year he brought over baskets and baskets of apples from his yard. After this type of work Mary Lynn took a box of apple butter that Chris had made and set it aside. She took one of the jars and without Chris knowing, entered it in the canning contest at the Georgia National Fair. We both have won many awards and ribbons at the fair, but we will never forget the first. We went down to Perry, Georgia to the fair and told Chris that we wanted to see how we did. He was excited because of getting a trip to the fair and the fair food that goes with the trip. He was looking forward to Corn dogs and Onion Rings. He had no clue what we made the special trip for. We got to the canning display and started looking at who won awards and what we had won. They do a real nice job of setting things up with a sticker on the jars stating the awards. I found his jar and called him over. I told him to look and help me read the name on the jar that was a prize winner. Chris looked and read his name and saw it was First Place in Junior Canning. I thought he was going to faint. He started to yell for Mary Lynn. At the same time great big tears started to flow. Mary Lynn told him what she had done. He grabbed her in a monster hug. I think we all had tears about this time. The lady that was in charge of the canning division came over and ask if she could take a photo of Chris holding the jar. He was so excited he could hardly stand still. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a large award and told Chris that not only did he get a first place, he also got the Best in The Show Award. We did eat fair food for dinner, but the corn dog and onion rings were not the big thing on the evenings agenda.
You may not ever have something like this. But you will get as much pride from watching your kids or grandkids learning to cook as we did.
Chris is a man now, but I'll bet he would tell you all about that night just like it was last night. I was a special moment for his life as well as ours.
So don't delay. Get in the kitchen and start cooking with your kids or grandkids. You never know when you might be starting a life changing experience. My grandmother started me. Mary Lynn's mother and grandmother started her. We started our grand kids. and Mary Lynn's daughter has start our 4-year-old grandson in the kitchen.
This past Christmas we receive a gift of Banana Bread that our grandson had made. It tasted awesome (how could it not). He wants to be on the Cooking Channel or on the Top Chefs show. He loves watching cooking shows on TV. 4 years old and he has a miniature kitchen than he play cooks on all the time. I just hope I live to see what he does with his goals. I should mention that when he is no cooking, he is playing with Thomas the Train toys. Last night he called and had a train with 41 cars. He counted them for us on the phone.
I guess we are looking at an Engineer that has his own cooking show at the same time. Anything is possible.
Here is the recipe for Apple Butter that Chris used. This is the same recipe that we used for all our apple butters for The Austin House. It is a prize winner many times over.

Shopping and picking list: Approximately 10 lbs. of Apples***, 1 Gal of Apple Cider or Water (to cook apples in), 1/4 Cup Cider Vinegar, 2 Tbls ground Cinnamon, 1 Tsp ground Allspice, 1/2 Tsp ground cloves, 6 Cups Cane Sugar.

***Some of the best varieties we have used: Granny Smith, Detroit Red, Arkansas
Black, and Rome.

Wash apples. Cut off blossom and stem end. Peel if desired (it is better with the peel left on). Bring apples to boil in water or cider to cover. Cook on medium to low heat until apples are soft (30 minutes to an hour depending on apples). Stir often to prevent sticking. Draw off liquid and save. Press apples thru a ricer or food sieve to remove seed and peel that did not cook soft. If you have a food mill, use that in place of ricer or sieve. Measure 8 cups of apple pulp into a crock pot or heavy cooking pot. Add listed spices, sugar and vinegar. Add 1 cup of cooking liquid. Strain the remaining reserved liquid thru a jelly bag or muslin (this will be used to make apple cider jelly or liquid to cook more apples). If you use a crook pot cook on low setting overnight, or cook for 7-8 hours. Check consistency before last two hours. If too watery remove the lid for the last 2 hours. If you are going to cook on stove top, cook on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring very often. When butter has finished cooking carefully pour into cleaned canning jars. Fill to within ¼ inch of top. Using a damp paper towel, clean jar tops. Place a sterile dome on top of jars (place in pan with boiling water, and then carefully remove). With dome in place screw on ring. Tighten finger tight, if you tighten
too much it will not seal. Too loose and water will seep in. Place jars in boiling water bath (use a rack or something else to keep jars from touching the bottom. Boil for 10 minutes for pint jars, 15 minutes for quarts jars with water at least 2 inches of top of jars. Carefully remove and let set undisturbed overnight. Check jars to see if they are sealed. If they are not, replace the dome and reprocess. Now you have wonderful apple butter for your family or for gifts.

In response to so many requests, Mary Lynn and I are starting back with our production and sales of a limited number of our most popular items. We are going to be selling thru a website that is in production now. Hopefully we will have everything ready to open for business in a couple of weeks. I will keep you posted on our progress.

This will give you the chance to compare our products with the things you are making at home. Keep watching and reading.

Please subscribe to my blogs. I enjoy getting ideas for future blogs from you. Also be sure and check out my other blogs, you might have missed one.

Don’t keep my blogs a secret. Pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it. 
Say Yes I Can Can It!

"Wild and Crazy Ideas" Peaches Part 3

In part 1 we covered the main list of peach favorites. Part 2 covered using your peach products and making other things. In this part we will cook some lesser or unknown items.

  

We will will use our famous Georgia Peaches.

First up is Peach Butter

It is like apple butter, but made with peaches. So it's not the same, but as I said at the start, different. Something else about peach butter is that we use the whole peach minus the pit. But we use the peach pit when boiling the peaches. This gives you more natural pectin. We leave the skin on; this gives more flavor than you would expect. It is a simple recipe that can be easily done. Believe me when I tell you that once you make peach butter, you will make it every peach season. Another side benefit when you make peach butter is you get more peach juice for your jellies and syrups. Just wait till you taste it!

Start with 1/2 bushel peaches which is about 24 cups. You can do a smaller batch with 12 cups of peaches. Cut the peaches up with the skin still on, but cut off any bad spots. Do not peel the peaches.



The peel gives the butter a great taste. It is more peachier (if that is a word). Cook peaches in water up to about half the volume of peaches. Put the peach pits in a cooking bag or make your own with a piece of muslin tied. Cook for about 30 minutes on low heat, stirring to keep mixed and not sticking. Cook till the pieces are very soft. Strain to remove as much liquid as possible. Save the liquid for other recipes.Put drained peach pulp through a food mill. If you don't have a food mill you can purée the pulp in small batches in your blender. If you use a blender, wait til the peaches cool off, so you won't get burned.

 Mix 8 cups purée with 4 1/2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons cider vinegar (Yes I said vinegar). Pour mixture into crock-pot and cook 8 to 10 hours or until desired consistency After 6 hours check and if it is too watery, cook the next 2 hours with lid off.

Carefully ladle into 8 ounce prepared canning jars (you can use 16 ounce if you wish). Fill jars to within 1/2 inch of top, clean the rims with a damp paper towel, place sterile drained domes on followed by rings. Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes. A little different from our other recipes. Remove from heat and let set overnight. Check for unsealed jars to be reprocessed.

You now have Peach Butter to use on anything you would use Apple Butter on. Great on an English muffin, awesome on ice cream, or even a spoon. Just let your imagination go wild.

If you want another peach butter idea; substitute 8 ounces of honey in place of sugar and 2 teaspoons lemon juice in place of vinegar. This will be a thinner spread, but the honey and peaches taste just great. This is obviously called Honey Peach Butter. Two ideas for the price of one. Not a bad start.

Now we will use some of the peach juice you got from the strained peaches to make a wild and crazy item called Fuzzy Navel Jelly.

Imagine a jelly that taste like this!

Yes you read right; it is made with rum. This also uses orange juice concentrate.
You need 12 cups peach juice, 1 can OJ concentrate, pectin, rum as well as rum flavoring, and sugar. Mix the juice and concentrate and the pectin. Bring to a boil and add 1/4 cup rum and 1/8 cup rum flavoring and 14 cups sugar. Mary Lynn used the Rum Flavoring because she didn't want to add that much alcohol. The flavoring more than made up for the lower volume of rum.

Stir while mixture comes back to a roiling boil. Remove from heat and let set a couple on minutes. Skim and ladle into prepared jars, then clean tops with damp paper towel. Seal with sterilized, drained domes and rings finger tight. Process in water bath 10 minutes. Remove from heat let set over night. Check for unsealed jars to be reprocessed. You now have Fuzzy Navel Jelly. This can be used anywhere you use jelly, but remember the rum. All of the alcohol may not boil off. You may not want children to have any. You can use 1/2 cup of the rum flavoring in place of the rum if you have any doubts.

Peach Rum Raisin Jam is up next. Mary Lynn made this just for me.

As I was growing up (I have never grown up, no fun). When I went to the ice cream shop I got two scoops. The first scoop would be peach and the second scoop would be rum raisin. When I ate them together I got Peach Rum Raisin. I walked into our shop one day and an awesome aroma just about floored me. I ask what Mary Lynn was cooking and she told me she was making my favorite ice cream. Well I knew right away she was not making ice cream because she was standing at the stove (sometimes my mind works real fast). I questioned her more only to find out she had made a recipe just for me. She was making jam and not ice cream. She used fresh peaches, beautiful raisins and rum. Three things that have always been close to the top of my list of favorites.

Rum Raisin on top and Peach on bottom, equals Peach Rum Raisin.

On that day Peach Rum Raisin Jam was born. When people saw it at shows they always said the stock line that was heard many times in our booth: "I never heard of this. What is it? How do you eat it?" If I had a dollar for every time I heard that phrase or just part of it I would be a rich man today.The recipe she came up with proved to be a winner.

Start with 4 cups crushed peaches and 2 cups (1 cup dark raisins, 1 cup golden raisins), 6 1/2 cups sugar, 1 box pectin, 1/4 cup rum and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Mix all the ingredients except the sugar together, bring to a boil and then add the sugar. Bring back to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit a couple of minutes. Ladle into canning jars up to 1/2 inch of top. Clean tops and place domes and rings on. Water bath 15 minutes, remove from heat, set over night. Check for unsealed jars.

You now have an unusual item for those people who are never satisfied with regular things. Also it is a great gift for the person who has everything. After the jars set for a few days the raisins will swell and it is now as great looking as it is great tasting. We use Captain Morgan Spiced Rum for all our cooking, but you may use which ever brand you like. A darker rum does work better than a light one.

I told you we were going to make some different things.

Next up Peach Melba Jam.

I had to look it up because I did not know what Peach Melba was. I found it is Peaches and Raspberries. Who would know with a name like Melba? That sounds like the little wafers my grandkids ate when they were cutting teeth.

Well anyhow, Peach Melba Jam is simple. 4 cups crushed peaches, 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen), 1/4 cup lemon juice, 6 cups sugar and 1 box pectin.

Peach Melba is a sweet taste that is addicting

Mix peaches, raspberries, lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil and add sugar. While stirring bring back to a full rolling boil. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Ladle into prepared canning jars. Wipe with damp paper towel to clean rims, dome and then ring. Water bath for 15 minutes. Let sit overnight, Shazzam! You have made Peach Melba Jam. Tell your friends what you did and see how impressed they are. I'll bet that some have to look up what it means just like I did. The flavor is unbelievable. Raspberries and peaches together on a toasted buttered English muffin or hot biscuit. They have to eat like this in Heaven. Something else, it is full of Vitamin C.

That makes it healthy and good tasting and pretty. What else do you want? So make some.

OK, so far I have stuck to traditional items mostly. The next item is going to be from the dark side of the moon.

Peach-Basil White Wine Vinegar

I told you, you would not expect this.

We started making vinegars because of a conversation with our friend that owns Fox Winery in Social Circle, Georgia. We made wine jellies from the different wines he produced. (I will tell you how to make wine jelly later on, I promise). We mentioned a herb vinegar we made. He heard the word vinegar and was adamant that he didn't want it anywhere near his shop. I was sort of shocked by this, and asked why. He said that if any vinegar came in contact with his wines while they were fermenting, they would turn to vinegar. I asked if all I had to do was mix a little vinegar with wine would it turn to vinegar? He said yes it would.
On the way home we talked about this fact. We stopped at a package store and bought some wine by the cardboard box. You know the kind I am talking about. Mary Lynn poured a couple of quarts mostly full of wine and to them she added about a 1/4 cup white vinegar. Sealed the jars and mixed them up. It took about 5 days for the mixture to really smell like vinegar. We let several of our customers taste this and they all said it was wine vinegar. Also they said it tasted pretty good. Mary Lynn figured that better wine would give us the results we wanted. The next trip to the package store was for better wine. The result was great.

To make Peach-Basil White Wine Vinegar. First the wine vinegar. This time we made gallons, but kept the same proportion as in the small batch. After a week we were ready to make our vinegar combos.

2 cups fresh peeled peaches cut into thin slices (you can not use canned because of the syrup). 1 quart white wine vinegar, 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh basil (depending on their size). Heat vinegar almost to a boil, carefully pour over the peaches and the basil. When cooled, put in quart jars and let set for about 3 weeks. After 3 weeks we strained the vinegar thru muslin cloth. This gave us a clear Peach-Basil White Wine Vinegar.

For your containers you don't want a mason jar. Look for pretty decorated bottles to use. Clean the bottles well, pour in boiling water, empty and let dry completely. Into each bottle place a sprig of fresh basil and a couple of fresh peach slices. Pour the cooled wine vinegar into the bottles. The fresh basil and peaches are for decoration. You now have a great tasting vinegar to use on your salads or any other way you would like a lite fresh vinegar. Remember to keep your vinegars in a cool dry dark place.

 I thought I was finished, but one more recipe is needed. It is the time of the year when kids are out of school, families plan reunions, families go away for vacations and all sorts of other summer times activities. A popular thing to do in the heat of the summer days is make homemade ice cream. There are several really good ice cream makers on the marker. They all work pretty good. In an earlier blog I talked about making peach ice cream. I now have another ice cream idea: Peach Custard Ice Cream. It is not difficult, in fact I could even make it. So that must tell you something. The ingredients are not expensive, so let's make it tonight. Give me a call and let me know what time, I will be there ready and willing to partake.

Shopping list: 1 quart whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 3 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 6 cups peach jam, 1 tablespoon vanilla.

In a heavy sauce pan heat milk and cream to just below boiling(watch this is a little tricky). In a medium size bowl beat the eggs with the sugar. Add egg mixture, flour and salt to hot milk. Cook until thick. Turn off heat. Add peach jam and vanilla and stir well. Chill before freezing in ice cream maker. This will make 1 gallon of Peach Ice Cream the old fashioned way. I promise it will taste better than anything you can bring home in that funny bad from your grocers. You family will notice the difference. That recipe is enough for me, so you better make 2 times that amount. I told you it is that good.
I tried to keep this short, but there is too much to talk about and cook. Well maybe next time I will talk less.......NOT.

I bet you never expected the variety in this blog. We covered a big range of things to make.

I would put Peach Salsa here, but I am saving it for the Salsa blog. You have to keep watching for it. Salsa will be along in a few blogs. Same goes for all you Chutney fans. I will dedicate a whole blog and maybe 2 to both Salsa and Chutney.

Special note!!!!!!!!!!!! Coming very soon, The Austin House jams & Jellies web site. You will be able to order from some of our biggest selling items. We willnot have our list like before with over 700 items available online. This will be 10 or less of the best.

Please let me know what you would like to make or any ideas you have for the next blog. Just drop me a note at jellymanga@gmail.com

Don’t keep my blogs a secret, and pass the word on to your friends, neighbors and family members. They just might make something and share with you.

Don’t forget, if someone asks you can you can it. Say Yes I Can, Can It!

Peaches Part 2, Using Your Peach Products

Peach ready to be picked

Once you have made the delightful peach products, you might think that you are finished. But you are wrong. There are many things that you can make using the jams, jellies, preserves and syrups you made. I am not going to be able to list all the different ways to use your products. I will give you a few and hopefully your imagination will take hold and you will think of more ways. But if you only use the ones I give you, that is OK.

Lets get started with things to make:

PEACH ICE CREAM
This is a short recipe because there are many ways to make home-made ice cream. Some use 2% milk, others use skim, some use half/half. So I will let you decide whatever base recipe you want to use for your ice cream. After you have your ingredients mixed and just about ready for your freezer or ice cream maker; add 1 jar of peach jam or peach preserves to your ice cream mix. Some people make a custard, like my grandmother did, but if you do add the peaches to the custard while it is cooking. This will make the peach flavor all thru the mix. Mix completely and then add to your container for freezing.

Old Fashioned Hand Crank Ice Cream Maker

I love the old-fashioned way of making ice cream. You have the large container that holds the ice around the container of liquid that will become ice cream. Inside this container is a large paddle that goes around in a circle keeping every thing mixed. You turn the crank on the top to move the paddle. Now they have electric motors that do the job. All you have to do is keep the ice full and add ice cream salt to the ice. I never could figure out how adding salt would make the milk freeze. During the churning process someone had to sit on top of the whole thing to keep everything inside the bucket of ice. We sat on a burlap bag with some newspapers inside. We took turns turning the handle and sitting on the bag. I am not sure we needed to set on the freezer while someone cranked it, or if it was just a way to keep us from saying "Is it done yet?" The ones that turned first had the easiest job; the milk mixture had not started to freeze, so it turned easy. As the milk mixture became colder and froze, turning got harder. When you could hardly turn the handle one of our fathers checked to see if it was done. I will never forget that the last two that sat and turned the handle got to lick off the paddle. It was covered in ice cream. I do remember that it was always hot outside and the paddle dripped a lot. We always wound up with ice cream down the front of our shirts and sometimes down our legs to to our feet. My grandmother would not let us inside till we had been cleaned up. Once inside we had big bowls of awesome peach ice cream. Memories like that are hard to beat. Makes growing up worth while. I feel sad for people who didn't get a chance to experience some of the old family things like I did. My family got together this past weekend and my cousin made peach ice cream and vanilla cheeses cake ice cream using a pudding mix for the cheese cake flavor. It was great, but I still miss turning the crank (his was all electric).

PEACH PRESERVES CAKE
1 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 eggs
3 cups non self-rising flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup sour milk (made by adding 1 tsp vinegar to regular milk)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup peach preserves (a jar is 8 ounces if you use the small jars)

Looks too good to cut.

Cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs. Sift flour with cinnamon and cloves. Dissolve soda in milk; add spice flour mixture to the cream mixture. Stir in pecans and peach preserves. Pour final mixture into greased sheet cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (time may vary for your oven). Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack. Sift powdered sugar over cake after it cools. Photo shows a PPCake with wiped cream icing and sliced peaches with wiped cream topping. Wipped cream is real made from real cream not canned of plastic tube. If you take this much trouble to bake a cake at least top it with real topping.

PEACH FRITTERS
These are the things that your doctor will tell you that they are bad for you. They are deep-fried dough sort of like a doughnut. Bad or not, they are great with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.
1 1/3 cup sifted non self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 jar peach jam or preserves (8 ounces)
2 tablespoons sugar

Don't count cholesterol or anything else but taste!

Sift flour, salt and baking powder and sugar together. Beat egg and milk then add to flour mixture. Add peaches. Stir till completely mixed.Using a small scoop drop batter into hot peanut oil. Keep turning to make sure it is done on all sides. Remove from oil and put on paper towels to drain. When drained and still warm dust on confectioners sugar. They are ready to eat.

 

PBJ COOKIES

Jelly in the middle makes a difference

Everybody likes cookies and these will be a big hit on the desert menu. I don't even have a big recipe for you to follow. I guess I am too lazy to make peanut butter cookies from scratch, so I use the cookies in the frozen foods department for my cookies. After I have cut the tube and placed my cookie dough on the sheet for cooking, I take a spoon and spray it with No-Stick spray. Then I use the spoon and make an small indentation in the middle of the cookies. Place the sheet in the oven, set your timer. I want you to set the time for 4 or 5 minutes less than what it says to cook. When the timer goes off, take your spoon and spray it again. Make the indentation in the cookies again, this time you are going to take another spoon and put jelly in the pocket. Don't over fill, you want just a small pocket of jelly. Return to the oven for the time left on the recipe. The jelly will melt into the cookie. When your timer rings remove the cookies from the sheet and let cool on a rack. You now have Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies.

PEACH BAR-B-QUE SAUCE

This is another easy one. All you have to do is add 2 or 3 tablespoons peach jam or chopped preserves to your favorite sauce. Simmer on the stove, then use the sauce as you would before the peaches. This is great on pork. I am not sure about beef, I never tried it. Fresh pork roast cooked with this BBQ sauce is fantastic. You can cook this in the oven or on the grill. If you are cooking on the grill, be sure the sauce does not burn. It has sugar from the peaches and will burn easier. BBQ Pork served with fresh corn on the cob and any other side you choose makes a great meal. Because you are using Georgia peaches, you should serve Georgia Table Wine. In case you don't know what I am talking about, Georgia Table Wine is nothing but sweet ice tea. Ice tea is the non-alcoholic beverage of choice in my home state. I have noticed on TV that even people in other parts of the country are drinking iced tea. I see bottles of tea on the shelves when I stop at QT for something to drink and/or gas. Even McDonald's is catching up with us Sotherners. They now have Sweet Tea, wonder where they got the idea

PEACH TEAS

Add 1 - 2 tablespoons peach syrup to your unsweetened iced tea, then add your ice. You now have peach iced tea. Use as much as you need to make your tea sweet and great tasting.




HOT TEAS ARE GREAT WITH PEACH SYRUP

It is also good for hot tea. In the winter Mary Lynn and I like to have a cup or two of hot tea while relaxing in the evening. We have several types of tea infusers and many different types of teas to brew. Mary Lynn is partial to the Russian Tea, dark flavor and color. I prefer Earl Grey. Another favorite is Black Currant Tea, because of its fruity flavor without the sweeter. You can use a large tea ball infuser to make you iced tea in place of tea bags. You should try tea that does not come in a tea.Live it up, buy a tea ball or infuser and try something different for a change. Once you make tea without a bag, you will be hooked. I like to use our tea and infuser when we travel. We just ask for a pot of hot water and make our tea. It is nice not have something the restaurant has had sitting in the back for a couple of years.

A little secret I saw in a book; they said keep your tea and tea bags in a sealed air tight container. That way the tea does not absorb any strange taste or aromas from your counter or cabinet.

Well I told you that I was only going to give you a few recipes. I am sure that you will come up with plenty more ways to eat and use your s serving sweet tea. It has only taken 50 or 60 years for the rest of the country to catch up with us Southerners with our love for iced tea.

preach products.

My next blog will have more recipes for mixing peaches and other fruit to make jams and jellies.

Maybe in the future I will do more ideas for peaches. Please let me know some of your ideas for using peaches. If I use the recipe or idea I will give you credit for your suggestion. Sorry to say this is a free blog, you just get credit.

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Don’t forget, if someone asks you if you can can it. Say Yes I Can Can It!