What's Ready to Eat July 29th?

Motley collection of Oregon Grape jelly

On my daily pilgrimages to the garden, en-route Oregon grape have been calling to me. For weeks I've been denying them, holding out for ripeness. Whelp, today was the day. I started out with every intention of following a recipe, this recipe by Joyce O'Keefe, but you know how it goes. The final is probably different than I'm actually writing because I tend to be an imprecise food-measurer, but still mostly based on Joyce's recipe, doubled.




Preparation:

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)

Go pick yourself some Oregon Grapes! You want the dark, unwrinkled, blue to purple ones. Pick out the leaves and critters. On a side note, I found about a half dozen tan-colored grubs in my bucket. They were about a centimeter long and ruthlessly sabotaging my berries with tiny boreholes. Does anyone know what they are? It would be cool if there's some host-specific symbiotic or parasitic relationship. After you've gotten rid of the big stuff, swirl the berries around to remove the stems. Pluck off the rest by hand.

Oregon Grape Jam-ish Jelly:

5 cups sorted and rinsed Oregon Grape berries
5 cups water
1 package pectin
4 cups sugar

Sterilize your jars and all that jazz. I ended up filling four 8 oz jars, and one and two thirds of some bigger, maybe 12 oz jars. Add the berries to the water in a large pot and boil for 10 minutes. Pour the mixture into a sieve and then mash what you can through with a big spoon, to separate the seeds. I alternated between mashing and letting it sit, trying to get as much liquid out as possible. This is also the point I decided to cut out a bunch of sugar, seeing as how the original five cups of berries was largely made up of big seeds and tough skin.

Seeds and skins...too pretty to toss.

Bring the berry juice to a boil and stir in the package of pectin. Keep stirring and add the sugar. Let it boil for another five minutes or so. Keep stirring! Even after 10 minutes, mine never really thickened like a normal jam (probably the first hint of failure). Quickly pour it into your jars, wipe the rims, put the lids on and set the jars in a big pot of boiling water. Let them tap around for 10 minutes, then remove and set them on a cloth to cool for 24 hours. Cross your fingers that it works. 20 hours to go....

About to attempt her first haircut.

In the meantime, meet the crazy who's going to give me a haircut: My little sister! She's a go-getter nutella fiend with loads of enthusiasm and zero haircutting experience.



Stay tuned for an update on the jelly and the hairdo.

UPDATE: All is well. The jelly jelled, and the haircut is probably the most even trim I've had in years (because I didn't do it myself). Thanks Mantha!