A Bumbleberry Post
Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 8:44PM 
Cranberries
Last evening the dog and I went on a cranberry scouting expedition. What did we find? The berries aren’t quite ripe yet, but there is a bumper crop this year—big berries and plentiful—like I haven’t seen since 1987.
And yes, I remember the exact year, because several years later I still had bags of cranberries in the freezer labeled, “Cranberries, September 1987.” Oldest daughter and her friend were ten years old, and for a couple of weeks in early September they’d disappear into the bush together whenever it could be arranged, and waddle home a couple of hours later, side by side, carrying a 5-gallon bucket of berries between them. (That was back in the days when reasonable parents still let their kiddies wander the bush unsupervised all afternoon as long as they were home for supper.)
Watermelon
All the watermelon I bought this year was disappointingly bland and flavourless and not very juicy. Even the big watermelon fans in the fam didn’t like it much, and I ended up throwing some away. Do they even grow the slurpy, full-of-flavour, seeded melons like I grew up with anymore?
Peaches
I have been shamelessly admiring all the jars of canned peaches (and strawberry-rhubarb jam, too) lined up on a little table in the kitchen. What’s the point of slaving over the canner if you can’t admire your handiwork for a while before you store it away on a cool dark shelf in the basement?
I still plan to do a post on canning peaches, but it is taking longer than I expected to get it together. In case you are waiting for my instructions before canning peaches and your peaches are in danger of spoiling while you wait, let me recommend the book Putting Food By by Janet Greene. It is the very best resource there is on canning, preserving, freezing, drying, curing, smoking or cold storing food of all kinds—fruit, vegetable, or meat. If this book doesn’t have instructions for it, you don’t want to do it.
Reader Comments (6)
Ah, you're bringing back memories for me. My summers on my uncle's farm were filled with canning and jam-making!
We used to make a concoction called Rubarb Chutney. I don't think there was actually any rubarb in it, so I couldn't understand the name. It had cucumbers in it, though. And onions; lots of onions.
Amazing. I love cranberries, but they aren't common here. I can tell you that watermelon at the other end of the world is hit and miss - some are marvellous and some are watery or dry. I don't know why that is - I think perhas they over irrigate them so they grow fast but they are mostly water as a result.
And Rebecca - if I managed to can anything I'd look at them shamelessly for about a week! I admire you.
Well, mine have been out there for almost a week, and I think I'll leave them there a while longer. :)
We used to make a concoction called Rubarb Chutney.
I've never heard of rhubarb chutney. What was it served with?
Well, my aunt called Rhubarb Chutney "meat muck." It was somthing aking to relish and it was served with pork or beef.
Okay...rebecca..please post the Saturday old photo or the Sunday hymn early...because your canned peaches are making me hungry! They look lovely!
:)
wish I could send you 20 degrees - even 25!