no peaches this year, this goes half of my stone fruits. Critters are awful this year.
I took a standard superior plum pictures of my tree.
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I picked my Brooks prune plum tree today, earlier than I’d prefer, but the squirrels were into them bad. They’ll finish off the tree.
Gonna dry a lot of prunes.
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Peaches are just about done. One more picking and they should be gone.
Ragweed has been horrible the last 2 days. Time for some rain.
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Can’t believe that you’re north of me, you got peaches this year.very envious.
I started sneezing a week ago. I knew my allergy season has started 
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I feel like my pears shouldn’t be ready to be picked, yet they are falling off the tree like crazy. Think i’ll just pick them and be done. Give them away to whoever wants them. I’m going to give that tree a serious haircut. I already trimmed some branches back. Squirrels destroyed some cuttings i took. I think they are looking for places to bury seeds and the ground is rock hard again from lack of rain. I hate squirrels.
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I picked the rest of my Zestars today, probably half a bushel or so. I froze a bunch after making some room in the freezer. I put the best looking of them in the crisper after I washed them off. One crisper drawer is now full of them.
I was doing some work in the woods near one of my orchards and picked a few wild apples. They need another week or two to hit peak sweetness, but they’re pretty good right now. My wife and I agreed that they taste just like apple cider. There’s a hint of pink/red in the flesh just under the skin.
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I was a little disappointed in zestar a few years ago when I tried it for the first time at an orchard near by. I kinda regretted planting one a few years earlier, but i got to have a few off my own tree the other day and it completely changed my mind. They were really good. Wish i had a bucket of them. 7 year old standard rootstock tree. Hopefully next year itll really produce.
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I haven’t had a better summer apple than Zestar. If it were a bit more dense, it would be as good or better than many fall apples IMO
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I was doing some work in my main orchard today. The wind was crazy and I found some Hayford Sweet windfalls. They shouldn’t be ripe for another few weeks or so. I washed them off and put them in the crisper.
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A couple severe storms Monday evening and Tuesday early morning knocked about three bushels of apples off my trees, but thankfully did not damage the trees. Many were Zestars, which were ready to pick anyway, but I also have a lot of green apples. My mom used to make jelly with those mixed with other fruits rather than buy pectin. I have toyed with the idea if I can figure out how to do it. She used to hang the cooked mash, seeds and all, in a towel overnight so it would drip clear. I don’t care if it contains pulp. I wonder if a juicer would be fast just using raw apples? I’ve lots of cherries and various berries I could add. What are others’ experiences using green apples for pectin?
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My mom did a similar thing. She included a few unripe fruits for higher pectin. She was not alone , all the women in their 80s i ever met know these tricks! You could break that out into.an entire topic. I doubt many would respond because many things now are just lost arts. People dont skim foam off the jelly anymore or kbow to watch for how the jelly runs off the spoon. My mother is one of the last of those kinds of people around. I treasure her and her knowledge. She is the type of person who made jelly like most people microwave dinner now. Was not her first rodeo.
Pectin from unripe apples – Elisabeth C. Miller Library
" * Pectin from unripe apples
Pectin from unripe apples
I make jam from my soft fruit, and usually have to buy out-of-season apples to grate and add for their pectin. I’d rather make totally local jam, that is, use my own apples, but I only have unripe ones at this point in the summer. Will unripe apples have enough pectin?
As it turns out, the amount of pectin is higher in underripe or unripe fruit. This guide to making jams and jellies from University of Georgia Cooperative Extension says the following:
“The amount of pectin found naturally in fruits depends upon the kind of fruit and degree of ripeness. Underripe fruits have more pectin; as fruit ripens, the pectin changes to a non-gelling form. Usually using 1⁄4 underripe fruit to 3⁄4 fully-ripe fruit makes the best product. Cooking brings out the pectin, but cooking too long destroys it.”
Here are additional resources on pectin for jam-making, from Wildflowers and Weeds. Here is an excerpt from the latter, taken from The Forager, Volume 1, Issue 3, August-September 2001, by Sam Thayer:
“To prepare liquid apple pectin, it is best to use under-ripe apples that are still a bit green, hard, and sour. Ripe apples contain less pectin, but the level varies greatly from one tree to the next; some varieties are suitable when ripe, while some have virtually no pectin by that time. Over-ripe apples are the worst. You can use your damaged or misshapen apples for making pectin. Chop them in halves or quarters, fill a large pot, and then add just enough water to almost cover the apple chunks. Cover the pot and place it on low heat for a long time, until the apples are fully cooked and you have something that looks like runny applesauce with skins and seeds in it. Stir the apples every twenty minutes or so while they are cooking.
I arrange a strainer for this ‘sauce’ by placing a cheese cloth (actually a white T-shirt) over the top of a five-gallon pail, secured by a cord tied around the rim. (A piece of cheese cloth in a colander works fine for smaller amounts.) The hot applesauce is then poured into the strainer; what drips out the bottom should be a clear, thick liquid that’s a little bit slimy to the touch. That’s your liquid apple pectin. I usually let mine strain overnight, because it drips slowly. You can get more pectin by pressing it, but then it comes out a little cloudy and carries more of the under-ripe apple flavor. I like to make a few gallons of this pectin at a time and then save it by canning or freezing – it’s not hard to get a year’s supply with one batch.”
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I use a spiral apple peeler to core and slice culled apples because I want to take off the external bad spots. I cover the bottom of the pressure cooker with water up to the trivet and throw the sliced apples in on top up to the capacity of the pot. I cook for 10 min at 5 lb and wait for the pressure to go down.
This really cooks the pomace. There isn’t much at all to compost. The pomace and juice goes through a colander. Before I start working the colander with the pestle, I collect the juice that drains by itself and set that aside. I work the pomace through the colander and collect it in a stainless steel pot. That goes back on the stove where I stir it constantly until it simmers. I add back a little of the juice, and I correct the sweetness with cane sugar, and, sometimes, I add a little ground cinnamon to mask any unripe taste.
The hot pomace goes into pint and quart canning jars with about 1/2 inch of headspace. Lids and rings go on, and the jars go back onto the trivet in the pressure cooker. I fill with HOT water to cover the tops by about an inch, add a little vinegar to the water to minimize lime spots, and bring to the boil. I reduce the heat, put on the cover, and watch it boil at atmospheric pressure for about ten minutes. Then I bring it to the recommended pressure for the recommended time for apple sauce in pints or in quarts. While the pressure is coming back down, I turn my attention to the jelly.
I measure the reserved juice into the stainless steel pot.
I put 1 T of the juice in a wide glass with 3 T of 70% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and stir it with a fork. Don’t let any of this mixture touch the food. Then things come to a halt for a minute while the alcohol “cooks.”
I lift the glass and look through it, stirring the alcohol with the fork to see how much pectin has curdled. If there’s a lump, I put in the same measure of cane sugar as the measure of the juice in the pot. If there is some pectin but not a lump, I use less sugar because I’m going to have to cook it down a litte. If there is no pectin, I give up making jelly and refrigerate the juice for other uses.
I bring the sugar solution to a boil and immediately start watching for it to “jell.” If I have to cook it down, I’m not anxious, but, if I added equal parts sugar and juice, then usually it’s ready right away. I stir lightly with a large metal spoon. I lift the spoon upside down and hold it above the pot for a few seconds before turning it to look at the back. The jelly ought to run to the lower edge and not drip but ooze off it. You really can tell once you’ve seen it when it’s ready. Get the juice off the fire at once.
The juice goes into 8-oz jelly jars to the rim. Lids and rings go on. The jars go into the pressure cooker on the trivet covered with water to boil at atmospheric pressure with the pot lid on for the recommended time for preserves. Boiling the filled jars is necessary to sterilize the tops regardless of how your grandma did it.
Them there are my secrets.
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Clark’s description is exactly how we did it when I was young. I like the additional information on how to test with alcohol. We never knew just how ours would turn out, whether pancake syrup, jelly, or jelly beans. Thanks to both of you for the detailed information.
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I bought new lettuce seed and it sprouted. The stuff i had was all garbage. Have no idea if i have time to get a harvest by late fall but i’m trying.
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Planning on getting my lettuce, spinach, and cilantro in tomorrow as well. Maybe some radishes too. Should be alright—I planted seed around this time last year and it did well.
Good to know. I always forget cilantro and end up buying it at the store. We love that stuff in our house. Cilantro lime rice is so good.
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planted egg turnip and danvers carrot a week ago. they are both about a inch tall. hopefully i can get a usable crop but the cool snap now is saying we may get a normal fall so not optimistic. oh well . the chics will like them.
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No!!! Ah, I completely forgot to protect the trunk of my new pixie crunch… it’s only through half the trunk, I hope he can recover
It’ll be fine, as long as you prevent further damage
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