What we've been up to

Pickles

Tomatoes

Strawberry jam

Strawberry jam up front, tomato sauce in the background

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Yeah!  I finally learned how to can food!!  All of this came from my CSA farmer, except for the first picture of tomatoes.  That lot of tomatoes came from a friend who wanted to share.

The jam is made with Pomona's pectin.  One batch (last picture) contains xylitol as a sweetener.  That batch did not firm up like it should have.  The second batch has honey and it appears to have firmed up but we haven't opened one to see yet. My small taste testers assured me that although the first batch didn't jell, it still tastes delicious!  :D

Because I am new to this, I wanted to do it without kids.  I know it sounds selfish but they distract me and I loose track of what I'm doing!  lol  But Daddyman stayed in there with me.  He has fond memories of his mom, aunt and grandma doing this sort of thing while he was growing up and he jumped right in and helped.  That was probably the most fun I've had in my kitchen EVER!

We weren't completely kid-free.  Grace just had to see what was going on and b/c Daddyman was there to keep me on track, we did let her in to stir the berries while they were heating up.  Tony had a serious lego build going on so he didn't come unless he heard someone getting to taste test.  LOL  Kate came in and out but mostly thought we were being boring.  So all in all, it was great... kids underfoot and running around, both adults in the kitchen laughing and talking.  THAT was fun.  :)