"Oh those weeks of harvesting and peeling and preparing apples, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, plums and beans. All day the kitchen smelled like heaven and was filled with steam. The stove was covered with kettles and vats, and upside down on the windowsill stood processions of mason jars full of bright color..."
--Elizabeth Enright, Thimble Summer
It's that time of year again. time to turn Gala apples into sweet applesauce; time to bottle peaches and pears; make fresh pear cake, peach jam, and yummy fruit cobbler; and time to bottle pickles, relish, and homemade spaghetti sauce. It's a lot of work (and a lot of clean up when you're done!), but this annual ritual of bottling fruit is like bottling a little piece of summer to enjoy all winter long.
I used to do all of this with my Nan when I was younger :)
ReplyDeleteMy grandma started us off, too.
DeleteI love that you found a quote for canning season! It is a lot of work, but there is something satisfying about seeing all of those beautiful jars full of ripe fruit lining the shelves in anticipation of winter.
ReplyDeleteThimble Summer is a fun middle-grade fiction novel that epitomizes summer; you should totally read it.
DeleteI'm completely impressed (says the woman who's bottled nothing, ever).
ReplyDeleteIt all started with my Grandma, who taught my mom, who taught me. I can't imagine life without bottled peaches, applesauce and pears. :)
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