Peach Adventure: Part 1

So we ran out of my mother's famous peach jelly earlier this year. For those not blood-related to me, it is important to note that this peach jelly has been entered in the Texas State Fair. Why it didn't win is mind-boggling to me. It's like gold in a little sparkly jelly jar.

At our house, it is called "Ritter's Jam". And everyone wants it. Every time we have toast. Or biscuits. Or crepes. Or anything else that could possibly require jelly or jam. As a matter of course, I put other jams and jellies on the table, and leave Ritter's Jam in the fridge, hoping my jelly-gluttonous munchkins will not notice its absence. We pray. Lily will then sigh discontentedly with whatever other perfectly good jam options are on the table, and ask (maybe even whine?) for Ritter's Jam. Depending on the mood, either she or I will return to the fridge for the golden jar. Then I pull a Minerva* and spread a microscopic film of jelly on her toast, and anyone else's - provided they remember to ask nicely. No giving this stuff away for free. This is our last jar, girls.

In related news, most people are aware that I love to stockpile food. Especially in my freezer(s). When I went to a perinatal mood disorders clinic 2 years ago (in an attempt to prevent PPD) this habit was described as "obsessive compulsive tendencies". I thought this was hilarious. Not every mama of 2, being 6 months pregnant, had a freezer full of 50+ entrees and hundreds of muffins, breakfast cookies, and burritos? Anyway. I planned a garden this year for hours, only to be stopped in my tracks by the idea of protecting my produce from the prolific deer that live in the verysmallforest behind our house. So my grand ideas of canning hundreds of jars of tomato sauce were thwarted. So I decided to make peach jelly.

Determined to at least have enough jelly for my own family, I decided to make a double recipe, which would (according to my mother) make about 16 half-pints (8 cups) of jelly. I got the recipe. I called mom to clarify amounts. I called again from the store. She said 12 lbs for 1 batch. REALLY? 12 POUNDS of fruit for only 4 CUPS of jelly?!! No wonder she only gives me one jar a year!

I bought a 24lb box of peaches.

 I counted and weighed them. I called again. This sure is a lot of peaches!

Then I started chopping. I did not peel. But I chopped.

And chopped.

And chopped. 

This is my canner (aka REALLY HUGE POT) filled with chopped peaches.

Then I started cooking. All these peaches got cooked. Then with Superman's help I put them all into a clean pillowcase to drain out the juice. "Hey Mom? What do you do with all the leftover fruit after you squeeze out the juice? Surely you don't just throw it away?! This is a lot of fruit!"

Typical of my genetic inability to completely read directions prior to following them, I started to drain the peaches by hand. My sweet hubby came by to see how it was going, and noticed my statuesque behavior - it was SO HEAVY with just half the peaches I could hardly hold it up! Then I read the instructions to "tie it up and let the juice drain out, pressing lightly". So while I held the pillowcase against the microwave for support, Archer rigged up a juicer for me with a broom between two chairs:

The contraption was then covered with a king-size sheet, because I was NOT about to share my golden liquid with any annoying, disgusting flies.

Then I went to bed. When I woke up in the morning, I had 2.5 GALLONS of juice. 

Did I mention it only takes 3.5 cups of juice to make one batch - 4 cups of jelly? 

I hope I have conveyed that really, I was not trying to stockpile jelly until 2025 (when Lily will graduate from high school. yikes!). However, everyone who is related-enough to value it, will receive peach jelly from me for Christmas.

That is, if it comes out. Overwhelmed even by the math of trying to figure out half-pints from gallons of juice, I must admit that I have not yet made the jelly. I had company coming, Archer was by then out of town, and as soon as he was back and our sweet friends were gone, I was heading out of town for a FANTABULOUS wedding in which I had much responsibility. Not a great time to deal with gallons of juice.

So. The first part of the Peach Jelly Adventure ended with:

Several bags of juiced chopped peaches frozen for smoothies.

A triple batch of acceptable, but not phenomenal peach muffins. (Now frozen.)

And the juice (isn't it pretty?) in these containers, also frozen, awaiting the day when I had enough child-free time to both do the math required for this massive jelly-making-scheme, and then actually make it. In preparation I have already bought more jars, lids, and gelatin, but I'm still not sure I have enough sugar - since for every 3.5 cups of juice, I need 7 cups of sugar.... 

That's why it's golden sweet stuff!

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* My mother has always complained that her mother, Minerva, for whom my Lily M. is named, would never put enough jelly on her toast. And whenever any of her offspring do something characteristic of our matriarch, we call each other Minerva. And even though only my aunt and my daughter actually bear the name, somehow we all have retained some of those odd behaviors - like tearing off minuscule bits of paper towels, wrapping bite-sized bits of leftovers with saran-wrap and rubber-bands, etc. I did this last one just yesterday at with someone else's leftovers! HA!