pure joy

[gfrancie]

A friend got a hold of her Grandma's recipe book. I love stuff like this. Recipes like "Joan's Pickled Peaches" and clippings from old issues of Parade magazine for some quick dish and little details that some recipe was someone's favorite. She brought the book over so we could try and make pickled peaches since her Grandma has long retired from canning. It was fun to introduce someone to something like that and make it so they can have a piece of their childhood. I love it when people can have a Proustian moment with a bite of food. She said that the scent of the cloves reminded her immediately of those peaches. I may have freaked her out a bit when I dipped my fingers into some boiling liquid but my fingers have been burned so many times over the years that things have kind of toughened. Or I am just crazy.


Yellow and white peaches simmering in syrup.


The glow of the final product.

I sent my friend home with a jar of pickles and some rhubarb jam. I think I may get her hooked on making pickles next.

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Fun stuff, not least because of the whole fingers in boiling water thing. Clearly you're descended from the Romans who used to condition their hands similarly so they wouldn't have to bother with utensils while eating hot foods at Bacchanals and other festivals.

I'm curious enough to try one that I may just havr to dabble in canning. I don't imagine it's much more involved than homebrewing beer.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Start off by burning yourself on a regular basis at a young age and you too can have hardened skin!

The big thing with canning is being safe and processing things for the right times. (botulism is a downer)