So, Saturday I loaded up the fam to go fruit picking with me out in Western MD. First , we hit the blueberries. It was the first day of blueberry season, so it was busy, but the picking was really good. I think we got about 12 pounds. Next, Sour cherries, three big bags full, 20 something pounds. Lastly (and I was definitely pushing my luck at this point) red raspberries. I made some raspberry jam later that night, which went off without a hitch. Then, I started tackling the cherries, since they were so ripe they were crushing themselves in the bags in the fridge under their own weight and starting to rot already. So, I got out the pitter and started pitting. It was 10:30 pm. For some insane reason, I thought canning the cherries would be easier than just making jam with them. I realized that the recipe called for 12 pounds of cherries, which equals 2.5-3 cups of pitted cherries per pound. So, basically I needed 30-36 cups of pitted cherries. After I started pitting them one at a time, I realized that this was going to take awhile. 2 hours later, I had them more or less ready to go. The recipe said this would yield 9 pint of cherries, which seemed insane to me, because it seemed like I had so much more than that. I decided instead to use quart jars, which yeilded be about 6 quarts. However, now it was 1:30am and I was falling apart. I read the directions for water bath canning, rather than pressure canning by mistake, so I processed it 10 minutes toolong, and when I opened up the canner, all the liquid had been forced out of the jars. I was so pissed I just put the lid back on it and went to bed. This morning I got up, opened up the jars (which had all sealed anyway) and reheated everything. Only now, the stuff had cooked down so much that 6 quart jars only amounted to 3 quart jars refilled. Which, as I realized, was about 9 pints, so it wasn't really off at all. I processed it again, but it still leaked out a bit. Two jars were fine, the other one I'm just storing in the fridge for now. It kind of turned into bland mush. Needless to say, I will not be doing that ever again. I still have some cherries in the fridge, I think I'm just going to make plain old jam and freeze the rest. I was trying to chalk it up to a learning experience, but I was still pissed. It just seemed like a waste. I wish there was someone I could consult on this; you're not supposed to cram too much in each jar, and it 's supposed to be fully submerged in liquid. But what ends up happening is that the fruit shrinks and you end up with a jar that's 2/3 floating fruit and 1/3 syrup on the bottom. It just doesn't seem right. Anyway, it was giving me an anxiety attack because I am teaching this jam workshop Tuesday night and I was suddenly doubting my skills. I'm being too hard on myself, I know Tuesday will be fine. Que Sera Sera is my motto in life.
Incidentally, today I picked my first tomatoes from the garden! A beautiful Thessaloniki and a handful of tiny yellow grape tomatoes. I ate them with some salt and lemon juice and I can honestly say that I though they tasted great. Maybe I can learn to like them after all. Small victories!
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