Monday, December 29, 2008

Jammy buggers

I'm an idiot. I thought spending a day making jam might be "fun".The first laundry tub full of apricots were an adventure. I somehow (deludedly) thought we'd all be done and dusted in no time at all. I was excited that my brand-new-whiz-bang-sexy-as-hell postage scales arrived this morning, just in time to be pressed into service for the task. There was a system. Life was good. I cut up my first 2 kilo bowl-full of apricots from the laundry tub. I even think I hummed along to The Jam on the stereo (what else would one play while jam making?*)The first batch of apricots went into the ginormous pot Taph had brought along. Water and sugar were added.Jam was boiled. I learnt about scumming. We got adventurous and started a batch of apricot and passionfruit jam in the other pot.Jam jammed. And was poured into jars (sorry Lynwood your jars are too good not to reuse)Other apricots were cut, stewed and decanted for the freezer..And then we repeated. And repeated with variations (Apricot and ginger jam. Apricot and vanilla jam. More plain apricot jam. Stewed apricots by themselves. Stewed apricots and peaches and nectarines. More stewed apricots)

We had too many cups of coffee to try and keep us going.Tested too many batches of jam. Had jammy sugar induced tantrums. Got overwhelmed with dishes. And madness set in...But the freezer's looking goodand the tasting platter we arranged went down a treat (more sugar! Yeeeehaaar!)The only problem is, after a day's worth of hard graft, we still have at least 8 kilos worth of apricots to deal with... (* OK, maybe Technotronic's Pump up the jam. Jam & Spoon's Right in the night. Justified Ancients of Mumu's Whitney joins the JAMs. Michelle Shocked's Strawberry Jam... Feel free to add suggestions. Although I suspect chutney might be on the menu for Wednesday)

8 comments:

  1. You and Taph crack me up! Apricot jam is the best. How about I make some pumpkin scones and we all get together and make some room in your kitchen?!

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  2. Alas I have to work tomorrow. But you've reminded me that the girls at the local Post Office demanded jam. And scones. They said they could provide their own cream (they made sure to mention it would be King Island.)

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  3. Oh yeah: you still have pumpkins?!

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  4. thought it looked like rather a LOT of apricots. what about dried apricots? our homemade ones didn't last that long but they were yummy.

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  5. And I knocked off work to carry bricks. The Old Flame and I have just done cartons of stewed fruit and we're up to our second batch of jam. Good thing I like apricots.

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  6. Oh bloody hell: thought you were supposed to be having a break. And you left all the spare jars here so what on earth are you decanting the jam into?!

    (PS: Word verification is Tucka. How apt is that?!)

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  7. You can't make a good jam with out a bit of help from the Edmonds ;)

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