After Dinner Jelly Making

We enjoyed a nice grilled dinner under the patio last night.  The first course was a grilled pizza.  Throwing the pizza stone onto the grill has yielded some great results so far.  The dinner featured fresh cut herbs from the garden.  We went all out this year and planted basil, thyme, lemon thyme, lemon basil, rosemary, lavender, sage and oregano.  

We have also had our usual bumper crop of raspberries.  Last week I had enough to make raspberry jam.  I used the same recipe that I used last year and really like it.  The only down-side to the jam is that the raspberry seeds can be a bit much.  This week I formulated a new recipe that is seedless and uses some rhubarb from the local farmer's market.  It came out great as well.

Raspberry Rhubarb Jelly

1 1/2 c Raspberry Syrup (raspberries cooked down with seeds strained)

3 c Diced Rhubarb

1 1/2 c Sugar

1 pkg Pectin

Cook first three ingredients for about 10 minutes and then add pectin and cook for about 20 seconds more.  Place in jars and process jars according to directions.  This recipe yields 4 small jars.

You want the fruit?... ...You can't handle the fruit!!!

We've got raspberries, tons of them. Usually we are picking a couple pints a day for a week or so, This year, it is insane. We are picking over two quarts a day since last Monday.

I've been eating as many as I can, we've been giving them away, and we've been freezing a few but still, they keep piling up.I decided to try my hand at making some preserves. How tough could that be? The salsa and pickles from last year came out just fine. Well, it can be very tough. My preserves/jam/jelly sucks. My first attempt, a recipe of equal parts sugar and raspberries, yielded two and a half jars of a thick syrup.It wasn't good for bread or sandwiches but tasted just fine over pancakes yesterday. I bet they will be a fine base for raspberry margaritas as well.Since I have plenty of berries and plenty more are ripening each day, I decided to spend a little more time on the internet searching out recipes. My second round went much better. It jelled up properly and isn't too sweet. This recipe combined about 6 cups of fruit, 4 cups of sugar, and a packet of sure-jell. I brought the raspberries to a boil for a few minutes.Added sugar and sure jell and boiled again for about five more minutes.Put the mixture in jars.Processed in boiling water for five more minutes.And voila, I have a ton of preserves. I wonder how much I can fetch for these at the local farmer's market?

If I didn't want to take on another project, I'd say I had to create Tiny Bungalow Jam labels.

What the hell have you been up to?

It is the eve of bungalow weekend here in the OP. We have a great program of events lined up for the weekend if you want to come and “get inspired” – as stated by the folks over at House in Progress.

Tomorrow morning is the Restoration Forum at Pleasant Home FREE and open to the public. Many building professionals, government officials, architects, homeowners, and other dignitaries will be there to share their knowledge. It runs from 9 until noon.

While at the Forum, sign up for the evening benefit for Pleasant Home: a lecture and reception (complete with food and booze) at a fantastic George Maher home in the OP. You can also sign up for our annual Bungalow Tour on Sunday. Inside tours of 6 awesome homes will be featured on Sunday.

Since I have been working hard on these events, I haven’t been doing much to the Tiny Bungalow. I should report that the warm weather has fostered the arrival of our second batch of raspberries. Last year, I watched an Indiana farming show on PBS where they said you should mow your raspberry bushes to the ground each season to guarantee two batches of raspberries: one smaller batch in July, and a larger one in mid September. Well, we did what they said and had a not so great crop in July. I think this was due to our late frost in May. Now it is the first week of October and we have been picking huge sweet raspberries, about a pint an evening, for the past 5 or 6 days. Awesome. I am glad it has stayed warm enough for these things to ripen.
It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend so if you have the time and love old homes, come on out to the OP.