Hard to believe the Summer is just about over. This may be a 3 day weekend for a lot of USA’ers as Monday is Labor Day. All our kids will be back in school on Wednesday. My littlest niece will be starting Kindergarten
It’s also:
National Marshmallow Toasting Day.
Enjoy today or tonight by a campfire or bonfire, toasting a big, soft, sticky and sweet marshmallow, or two, or three, or…… Summer would not be the same without a campfire and this great campfire treat. Summer is short. Summer is good. Let’s enjoy it while it is still here. Toast a marshmallow and forget about everything else.
Three days off from a stressful new job. I’m most definitely ready for a three-day break. I’ll spend at least one of those days on a freelance assignment, but that’s totally fine.
3 days off!
And I mean off! For once, in a long time, I don’t have a steaming pile waiting for me when I get back on Tuesday (that I know of anyway.)
It’s kinda nice.
It’s harvesting weekend. Lots of stuff coming on in the garden. Probably because I said something here about not liking the taste, there are 6 of those charentais melons out on the vines - one of them looking a lot like breakfast. Was just testing some new grapes this morning too. They are definitely strictly wine grapes. Not a lot there for flavor (we’ll call it subtle) but very sweet. And all ripe at once. Just need 16 lbs for a small batch…
Probably will can up some spiced crabapples this weekend too.
I use a recipe in the Ball canning book.
Mostly vinegar, brown sugar, water, cinammon and cloves. Wash em, cut off the blossom end, stab em, boil em in the pot of vinegar and spices until just barely soft, put in jars, cover with the vinegar/spice liquid and process. Yep, they’re whole. Go great with anything you’d eat with spiced applesauce; pork, ribs, other BBQ.
Mine are a little large, so the cores are a little tough. Eat amongst friends that won’t mind your table manners.
I don’t think I ever knew crab apples were edible, but then I’ve never tried a cooked one. The raw ones I’ve bitten into were hard, dry and sour. I suspect there are different varieties.
Oh, they’re hard, dry and sour. But boil em for a bit in vinegar/water and sugar and that fixes that though (stab em with a fork first or they’ll pop and you will have applesauce.) Even better after a week or so.
It’s sort of a niche New England thing, I guess. My grandma and her sisters used to make them and it’s always been a fall meal sort of thing. You’re really supposed to use the little 1"d ones, with tiny seeds and cores, these here I have are cider mixing crabs - for the tannins, plus they have a red flesh which is kind of fun (Dolgo crab.) The tree’s just not big enough to use for cider yet. No sense in wasting them.