Jam Yesterday and Jam Today, Too!

Yesterday's Jam: Peach and Ginger

There was a discussion about jam, recently, on Angela's blog, Tracing Rainbows, where she quotes the White Queen in Through the Looking Glass, who says, "The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but, never jam today" to Alice.  Well, in my world, it's "jam yesterday and jam today, too!"

Yesterday, I made peach and ginger jam with peeled peaches and just a little ground ginger to give it a hint of warmth.  These jars of jam are meant for gift giving.  Since I was already feeling tired after running around looking for a door handle to fit my patio door and since I was salvaging the bruised and smashed fruit, I put the peelings and unusable portions of the fruit into the compost heap.  

Today, I cut up several more of the peaches until I had 8 cups of peach slices, which I froze in 2-cup portions for later.  I might use them for a pie filling or in smoothies, etc.  The majority of these were good peaches, with only a few bruised spots.  Then, I took most of the peelings, 2 1/2 lbs. of them, and a couple of unripe fruit that had also been picked, and made my famous "No Waste Jam":

Today's Jam: "No Waste" Peach Jam

The deep red color comes from the peach skins.  I made six half pint (8 oz.) jars and there is a little bit leftover which I poured into an old jam jar.  The six half pint jars were canned in a water bath.  These jars are for domestic consumption, due to the peach skins!  I tried to mash some of them down with the potato masher, but, they didn't get mashed up that much.  Maybe, I should have blended them in the blender, first.  The jars are recycled from previous years when I had chutney in them.

In addition to jam, I made a pot of soup, too, using the turkey carcass I had in the freezer (I took out the turkey carcass to make room for the cut up peaches that I froze).  I added some onions, carrots, and broccoli stems to the soup and had a bowl in the evening, after I finished making the jam.  Then, I ate a slice of bread with butter and the last bit of jam that was left in the pot, before I put the pot to soak.  As that was my only meal for the day, I might have another bowl of soup before I go to sleep!  The soup was a very frugal meal to make, and there's leftover soup for future meals, too.  

Then, since I was feeling a bit sticky from all that jam making, I took a nice, hot shower and then, did a load of laundry, including all the sticky kitchen towels, and hung everything to dry overnight.

Aunt C called in the late evening and cousin N.  It was nice to talk with cousin N because she rarely calls, preferring to text, instead. 

The vet clinic called, too, to confirm tomorrow's appointment. 

Today, I am grateful for:

- The peach harvest!  
- The knife sharpener that was a gift from my daughter a few years ago
- Phone calls from family
- Working appliances
- My hands have not cramped (always a concern when I am cutting and stirring things)

Today's joyful activity was making "no waste" jam!  

Plans for tomorrow include Dancer's vet appointment in the afternoon, tending to the garden with M in the evening, and, if the door handle arrives in time, fixing the new door handle.  If not, it can wait until the weekend.  

I still have more peaches in the fridge and more on the tree waiting to be processed.  I need to get another bag of sugar from the cupboard!  The batch of chutney and the two batches of jam used up one 10 lb. bag of sugar!  Not sure if I'll do any more peach processing tomorrow.  Might wait until the weekend.

How was your Thursday?   What are your plans for Friday?