Yosemite and Brandied Pear Butter

Enjoying s'mores at Yosemite

Last week my amazing Okie family (pictured fuzzily to the left) came to California for a visit. Since we had all had quite enough of LA, we headed to Yosemite for some fresh air on Wednesday. My brother and his family stayed in the park (roughing it in the RV) while Mom, Dad, Pookie and I enjoyed the creature comforts of Pine Mountain Lake in Groveland, CA. If you ever have a chance to head up to the area you should be prepared for three intense experiences. First is the mind boggling twisting mountain roads that ensure that all you will see of the scenery is that solid yellow line of the road while you are driving. The second is the nearly constant "no service" message on your cell. Once you stop the car and quit looking at your phone, you will find an amazing landscape that offers breathtaking views every direction you look. I think it was well worth stress inducing driving and irritating lack of communication to take in the area. We had a great visit with the family and we all headed our own ways on Saturday.


Pookie and I decided (well, I decided and was in the drivers seat) to take the long winding CA 49 that passes through many of the historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush. All of the winding roads and dangerous looking passes made me think about those that braved the area looking for wealth before there were paved roads with solid yellow lines, occasional cell service and fast moving automobiles. It reminded me that I am designed for this century.

It was well past time for a break from driving when we came into Madera, CA and we stopped at Sumner Peck Ranch Fruit Stand on CA 41. The place was rather large with a lot of products grown and crafted in the area. I was hoping to get some local apples to transform into apple butter, but the apples all came from Washington so I settled on 7 pounds of giant fresh pears. My hectic work week left the pears sitting on the counter but luckily only one was sacrificed to Pookies fresh fruit whim before I got started on a batch of pear butter.

This morning I listened to my latest audio book (Insurgent by Veronica Roth) while peeling, coring and chopping the pears. Then I put them into a pot with 1 cup of water and the juice and zest of a lemon. After 5 minutes of simmering, I used a potato smasher to break the pears down more quickly then simmered for 15 minutes more. Once the puree was mostly smooth I measured it out and had a little over 7 cups of puree. So I put the puree back into the pot with 3 cups of sugar and simmered over medium head stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking. I grated a little less than half of a nutmeg into the pot and let it simmer until it was thick enough to mound on a spoon then added a cup of brandy. I let it simmer over low heat stirring occasionally until it got back to that mounding in a spoon consistency. Of course I was preparing the jars, lids and water bath while it was cooking down. It filled 6 half pint jars with about a cup left over to refrigerate and enjoy right now. I processed in a water bath for 15 minutes then set about cleaning up the sticky mess. I have to say making butter is a messy and often painful experience. I burned myself on boiling pear butter nearly every time I stirred despite my protective gear. But the result was an incredibly warm and tasty treat.

Did I mention that my neighbor has a peach tree just bursting with fruit? I'll bet you can guess what's next :-)

Making Jam is Quick and Easy

We recently got a batch of plums from our CSA and for some reason hadn't eaten a single one. I noticed yesterday that they were getting a little over ripe so I put them in a dish to measure the weight and see if I had enough to make a simple jam. At just over a pound I decided that it really wasn't enough to mess with and was wondering what to do with them. When Pookie came home and saw them in the large glass measuring bowl he asked if I was making jam from them. He thought I should make it, so I did.

It is possibly the smallest batch of anything anyone ever made but now the mess is cleared away and we have 3 jars of yummy plum jam so I guess everyone is a winner. Since this is the most simple and basic of jam recipes I'll share it in case you need one.

Basic Plum Jam 

6 cups plum pulp

60 g powder pectin (1 packet)

8 cups sugar

Prepare your jars. If this is not your first step you will regret it. Always.

To make the plum pulp simply core the plums, and put them into a sauce pan with 1/2 cup of water. Cook until you have a nice soft pulp which will be about 5 minutes. I like to remove the skins and it is pretty simple to do if they are still dark enough to see in the pulp. Because my plums were so far gone I just cored them and then squished them into a bowl with my hands and pulled out the skins. I ended up with 2 cups of pulp so I cut the recipe to 1/3.

Then heat your pulp to a boil and add the pectin. Dissolve the pectin completely before adding the sugar. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Give it a hard boil for at least one minute stirring constantly.

Pour into prepared jars and process for 15 minutes in a water bath. 

Grapefruit Marmalade

Not long ago I got some lovely grapefruit from our CSA (Farm Fresh To You) and was at a loss what to do with them With a little searching I came across this recipe by Nigella Lawson for Pink Grapefruit Marmalade and realized that I would no longer be afraid of marmalade. 


This was my third batch and it's a bit darker than the first but I prefer this texture and am willing to sacrifice the color for it. I absolutely love this stuff melted over a grilled or pan seared chicken breast.

Grapefruit Marmalade


3 large grapefruit
26 ounces of refined sugar
26 ounces of brown sugar
Juice of two lemons


This is another water bath canning project so check out that link if you need more info. The fun starts with tossing the three grapefruit in a large pan full of boiling water. Boil those suckers for about 2 hours turning every 30 minutes or so for even cooking. You will have to add more water and if you want to keep to the two hour time, you should add boiling water when they get low.


At the end of the time take the grapefruit out and let them cool thoroughly before processing. Now here is where I split from the recipe provided. For a chunky texture and light golden brown color, chop the fruit by hand into a course chop. I like is smoother so I toss it in batches into the blender to make a pretty thick puree. 


Now you put all of the ingredients in a pot over high heat and stir until combined well. Bring it up to a hard boil and boil for 15 minutes or until it jells the way you like it. 


Then put the hot liquid into your hot canning jars and process in the water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and delight in the pop of a properly sealed jar.

Fresh Basil Jelly

I'm in a summer mood and enjoying the new house. On Sunday I'm attending a my first food swap and have whipped up a few things to share. Below is the recipe I used for my basil jelly along with some before and after pictures.


The poor basil had been neglected for two weeks so it had gone to flower and seed so I cut it all down for this batch of jelly.


The recipe is from the Ball complete book of Home canning and is their fresh herb jelly with a few tweaks. 








5 cups fresh basil, stems removed
3 cups crisp white wine
3 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
5 ounces powdered fruit pectin
10  cups granulated sugar


Combine the basil, wine, water and vinegar in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once at a boil turn off the heat, cover and steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain mixture through a cheese cloth and allow to drip through while you prepare your canning materials. I prefer to use the oven method of sterilizing jars and here is a good how to if you've never used the method. 


Once you are ready to rock and your water bath is coming up to temp, press the basil leaves to get any remaining moisture out of the leaves. At this point I decided to make it up in two batches so I cold make corrections if needed. All remaining steps are 1/2 of the ingredients listed. 


Pour half of the basil liquid into a large pan and whisk in half of the pectin while you bring it up to a boil over high heat. You can give it a stir every minute or so after the pectin is dissolved. Once you get to a hard boil, pour in 5 cups of sugar all at once then stir constantly to incorporate it. It should take less than a minute. After the sugar is incorporated allow it to boil hard, stirring constantly for another 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, skim any foam off of the top and pour into your piping hot jars.


Process in the water bath for 15 minutes then remove with your jar lifter. Next sit back and enjoy the pop pop popping of success!


Obviously I have assumed a general knowledge on water bath canning in the writing of this recipe. If you would like more information on water bath canning, here is a pretty straight forward tutorial with images of the supplies you will want to have on hand. 


Finally, as promised a picture of the final product. Some folks like to add food coloring to make it green but to them I say, "tsk tsk".

Organics and Pesticides

I listened to a Mom Stuff pod cast a while back concerning organic food. I've always disliked that term being used for food production. I suppose it's old school but I think organic means a carbon based life form. Of course these days the definition of organic has been expanded, so I'm just wrong about that one. The question becomes what else am I wrong about. (ha ha that is ENDLESS!) Anyway, back on topic. I needed more info to make up my mind about organics, thank goodness for the internet.

I decided to start at the beginning by figuring out what EXACTLY makes organic food, organic. In the US, the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) was passed under title 21 of the 1990 Farm Bill.  In essence, this was the first time organic meant the same thing on every package. So what's it mean?

"Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.  Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation."

Whereever you see this USDA organic seal, it means that the product is at minimum made from 95% organic materials/ingredients. There are other USDA organic seals that indicate a lesser percentage of organic materials/ingredients and the slightly altered seal makes that clear.

Ok, so that makes sense. The US government decides that the consumer is not capable of determining for themselves what organic means to them nor if a producer meets those self proclaimed standards so they funnel off some tax dollars and widen their scope to protect us from our ignorance.

After I stopped channeling Harry Browne I thought, There are a lot of factors there that I want to look into: antibiotics, growth hormones, synthetic fertilizers, sewage (ugh), bioengineering, ionizing radiation and pesticides. I'll start with those problematic pesticides.

Since I seem to be out of the know when it comes to current definitions, I looked up pesticide and was happy to discover that it remains "a chemical preparation for destroying plant, fungal, or animal pests". Fewer pests mean more healthy plants which in turn means a higher yield. Is that a bad thing? After all, we are an agricultural society. The carrying capacity of our planet is greatly increased because of agriculture and (it stands to reason) by the introduction of ANYTHING that allows us to produce more resources for our survival on the finite amount of land we have.

I guess the only draw back I see is that pesticides are created to kill things. In some cases, they kill things that are a lot like us humans in their basic bodily functions. Doesn't that put us into some kind of danger when we consume the food that has been grown in proximity to them?

As far as I can find, our handy dandy federal government has been regulating pesticides since 1910 (California started in 1901). The Federal Insecticide Act was created to protect growers from a substandard pesticide product. After WWII, synthetic pesticides came onto the scene leading the Federal government to expand the Act to include Fungicide, and Rodenticide in 1947. These laws required that all pesticide products be registered with the USDA before their sale in interstate or foreign commerce and required certain information to be included in the label including warning statements to protect users, the public, and nontarget species of plants and animals. Yes it is a little harder to look at this government act with a tsk tsk, but I can manage :-)

What exactly are the effects of exposure to pesticides on the human body? The global healing center tells us that "Pesticides can be toxic to humans and lower animals" then goes on to quote Wikipedia's list of possible effects. The EPA explains that the effect depends on the type and the amount of pesticide. Pesticides can affect the the nervous system, hormones or endocrine system, irritate skin and eyes, and can be carcinogenic. All of the evidence indicates that pesticides are much more harmful to the people who work with them, than they are to consumers. The EPA regulates what pesticides can be used, in what quantities and how much residue to acceptable on the end product.

So where does that leave me? With a lot more research to do. There is an abundance of information about organic food production on the world wide web. For now, I'll not be going out of my way to find organic labels.

Here is a little treat for getting to the end of my ranting ramble. We all love quizzes and propaganda!

The Ultimate Organic Food Quiz

The Dirty Secrets of 6 Scandalous Foods

No Poo Abandoned

I made it about a month I guess. Then I had a couple of grueling hair days in a row and just couldn't take it nay more. I had mentioned before that the no-poo care was not working for my current cut and the longer I went without shampoo the worse it was getting. The wave was all but gone. I caved and shampooed with a "natural" shampoo which just meant less SLS and my hair felt terrible! The following day I went full stop with regular product and the hair felt better, I guess. the fact of the matter is that after my month of no-poo, it seems that I can just feel how dry and damaged it is without it's natural waxy protection.


My plan? To take another stab at this no-poo thing once I have grown some of the strange layers out of my hair and get it a little more length. Failing that I will cut it really short and try again.


I lost that battle to vanity. But the war is still on!

The No Poo Hair Saga Continues

Day 12
Can you believe I've made it 12 days? Wow. It's Sunday and I'm holed up in the house working, so I've got a headband to keep it outta my face not even thinking about it today. Yesterday I did go to the spa for a massage without shampooing. The massage therapist always does this awesome scalp massage with oil, I wonder if the scented oil in my hair is going to be a problem...
Day 13
Today was an amazing hair day. Zero frizz. I washed with the new baking soda water formula and rinsed thoroughly and then applied a rinse of  1 tbs or apple cider vinegar mixed with 2 cups water. gently towel dried and applied no product. I wonder if there is some unknown variable that contributed... I intend to go without a wash tomorrow, so we will see how it works out.
Day 14
For whatever reason today was not a good hair day. I think I'm going to need to explore a dry application (corn starch maybe) for days I don't wash with baking soda. But it was such a bizarre day I don't know if i trust my own judgement.
Day 15
Did the standard baking soda method, with the cider vinegar rinse. I brushed after the shower, but I know that my wavy hair doesn't like that. Never the less there was a good outcome.
Day 16
No shower today and I think I smell. Ok maybe only the same amount that I normally would after a hectic day.
Day 17
Today, for the first time I felt like a no poo'er. I didn't gaze lovingly at the shampoo sitting in the shower. I didn't wonder if I was doing something crazy. When I got home I decided to photograph my no poo hair. Once photographed,  I decide that I need to think about using a little product as well :-).