…And Now I Have a First World Problem…..

I am filled with gratitude.  My cupboards are filled to overflowing with sauces and fruits – most of which have been grown by me, all of which was canned by me. I now, though, have a first world problem – I am running out of space to store my canning. 

Kitchen cupboard full to the brim

Peaches are in a storage cupboard

Some dear friends of the family had a kitchen that was remodelled (I'm not certain if it was done by them or by their home’s previous owners) to build shelving in between the studs of their walls… and I have the perfect wall in mind… The wall has no electrical or plumbing connected, but appears to have some wiring running through it (I am thinking it was wired like that in order to provide light and an electrical socket to my “mud porch” with is really more of a catch-all junk area – that will also need renovation… just not now.

The idea is to pull off the drywall, build “insert” shelving units and install them right into the space between the studs - here is a blog link to where someone has done exactly what I am thinking about doing... complete with pictures!!

I have this coming week off work – vacation time.  My plans for this week include potentially getting a jump on making and canning apple sauce (this is no rush – the apples could still use ripening time,) making and canning more roasted tomato sauce, building some shelving in my bathroom, and generally working on some of the finishing projects for the bathroom. 

What I may do, time and energy permitting, is pull some drywall off and see what I have to work with.

Oh – and I am already “getting ideas” about other spaces where this kind of shelving would be great – including behind bedroom doors and in the living room by the front door…

With love across the waters…

…And Pear Butter…..

When I finished canning my “first choice” pears I had a basket full of smaller ones left over – not perfectly shaped, not really eating quality, and too small for me to be bothered with peeling, coring, slicing and canning, I looked for other options about what I could do with them.

 

last batch of pears canned - left-over pears to the right

My newly former boss, I found out, has horses – and would LOVE to have small ones for feeding the horses as treats – I will most definitely bear that in mind for next year’s harvest, but for this year, I wanted to see if there was something I could to with them that wouldn't be overly labour-intensive, but would provide some yummy winter-consumption results.

One of the websites I use when canning, Simply Canning, had a recipe for something called Crock Pot Pear Butter and I thought I might give that a try. I didn't like the ingredient list they had, so I went looking for other pear butter recipes and found one that I did like the look of on the Gimme Some Oven website.  I like all of the spices added and decided to try this one.

On night three of canning my peaches, when the peaches were in the canner and cooking, I chopped up my pears and popped them into the crock pot with some lemon juice and honey – the lemon juice to keep the colour lighter (turns out that was a bust) and the honey as part of the recipe.

 

Pears cooking down in the crock pot

Pears cooked overnight in the crock pot, I woke up to a spicy fruity smell – yum!  Since Jasmine was going to Doggie Daycare that day, I had a little extra time that morning and processed the pear butter (meaning I took it out of the crock pot and ran it through the food mill to extract the fruit flesh and discard the skins and seeds.  I put the milled pears into a pot and let it sit in the fridge that day.  When I got home, I got my canning supplies started again – water bath canner etc etc etc… and started cooking down the pears to a really thick consistency – and added the spices.

Cooking down the Pear Butter

So what is the verdict? Well, I think it tastes like really fancy applesauce – just made with pears instead… so I will probably not make that again.  I guess next year some horses will get a treat!

With love across the waters…