Thread: Plinkety

On 8/3/2012 6:51 PM, gloria p wrote:
>
>
> Our apricots are finally ripening (sort of). They have been greatly
> affected by heat, hail (and lack of water when we were away in June)
> but the trees are loaded with very small (walnut-sized) fruit that
> is getting soft now but still hasn't developed the sugar and flavor of
> other years. These little fruit are pitted with hail spots, but we
> managed to pit and cut out the spots enough for two batches, 21
> half-pints, and it is quite tasty.
>
> I plan to make apricot butter with the next harvest. Husband said he
> though we have enough, but since we get a crop so rarely (and friends
> and neighbors crave the jam) I want to make enough to last a few years.
>
> I re-used jars that have been around for years and had no problems with
> the jar breakage that has been mentioned online this year.
>
> gloria p
I can't remember the last time I had a jar break on me. Only if I drop
them do they break and that's because we have a tile floor in the
kitchen. Luckily the ceramic tile didn't chip.

Of course I mostly use Golden Harvest jars, they must be tougher than
the other Jardin (Ball, Bernadin, Kerr, Golden Harvest) that come out of
the factory where they're made.

I do wish we could grow apricots this far south, I remember visiting
family members in Idaho when I was about twelve years old. They had
cherry, apricot, apple, etc. All kinds of fruit trees, I almost killed
myself with the belly ache climbing trees and picking my own fruit.

Back then, in Texas, we only got citrus fruit in the winter, from the
Rio Grande Valley. Apples at Christmas along with walnuts, Brazil nuts,
etc. Other than that we had pears and pecans, both of which grew well
there. Bananas were available when a banana boat came into the Port of
Beaumont. Dad would go buy an entire stalk, hang them in a closet to
ripen and we would eat bananas until we were sick of them. That or make
banana pudding, still a favorite of mine. No supermarkets in those days,
just little neighborhood grocery stores, nowadays referred to as "Mom
and Pop," sometimes as Bodegas around here.

Color me envious, even of small apricots Gloria.

George

On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:51:38 -0600, gloria p <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>
>Our apricots are finally ripening (sort of). They have been greatly
>affected by heat, hail (and lack of water when we were away in June)
>but the trees are loaded with very small (walnut-sized) fruit that
>is getting soft now but still hasn't developed the sugar and flavor of
>other years. These little fruit are pitted with hail spots, but we
>managed to pit and cut out the spots enough for two batches, 21
>half-pints, and it is quite tasty.
>
>I plan to make apricot butter with the next harvest. Husband said he
>though we have enough, but since we get a crop so rarely (and friends
>and neighbors crave the jam) I want to make enough to last a few years.
>
>I re-used jars that have been around for years and had no problems with
>the jar breakage that has been mentioned online this year.
>
>gloria p

I am using some jars that are ancient: Atlas and early Ball jars.
There are others but I don't remember the name. None of them have
broken because I think that they are thicker than the newer ones. In
fact, I don't remember the last time I had a jar to break.

Tomorrow I will be digging out quart jars. We picked 55 pounds of
tomatoes yesterday and I need to get them canned before they decide to
rot.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

On 8/4/2012 9:21 AM, The Cook wrote:
> On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:51:38 -0600, gloria p <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Our apricots are finally ripening (sort of). They have been greatly
>> affected by heat, hail (and lack of water when we were away in June)
>> but the trees are loaded with very small (walnut-sized) fruit that
>> is getting soft now but still hasn't developed the sugar and flavor of
>> other years. These little fruit are pitted with hail spots, but we
>> managed to pit and cut out the spots enough for two batches, 21
>> half-pints, and it is quite tasty.
>>
>> I plan to make apricot butter with the next harvest. Husband said he
>> though we have enough, but since we get a crop so rarely (and friends
>> and neighbors crave the jam) I want to make enough to last a few years.
>>
>> I re-used jars that have been around for years and had no problems with
>> the jar breakage that has been mentioned online this year.
>>
>> gloria p
>
> I am using some jars that are ancient: Atlas and early Ball jars.
> There are others but I don't remember the name. None of them have
> broken because I think that they are thicker than the newer ones. In
> fact, I don't remember the last time I had a jar to break.
>
> Tomorrow I will be digging out quart jars. We picked 55 pounds of
> tomatoes yesterday and I need to get them canned before they decide to
> rot.
>
Goodness! Are y'all truck farming? 55 pounds of tomatoes would be a
year-long crop down here, bugs get into them pretty quick as does the
heat. Our daily heat index this past week has run well over 100F, some
days as high as 107 or 108.

Gloria...it seems when we decide to not make as many jars of one
thing..thinking it wil last a couple years....they are used up
faster!......a good idea to make more!...Carol

On 8/4/2012 2:26 PM, Carol S wrote:
> Gloria...it seems when we decide to not make as many jars of one
> thing..thinking it wil last a couple years....they are used up
> faster!......a good idea to make more!...Carol
>



I just added 12 jars of apricot butter to the stash. It usually has more
concentrated flavor than the jam I made yesterday, and people love it,
but it's so much more work!

gloria p

off to buy cucumbers for "Crispy Cukes",
sweet pickle slices