I'm glad I got to do my annual bit of canning with my friend Lauren. It's her (and her husbands) farm that I get the cherries from each year.
They have a few apricot trees scattered in the cherry trees and in a few rows, all grown under plastic as these trees do not like having rain on their leaves very much apparently!
The apricots are a mix of super tasty and sweet to lip smackingly unripe and very little in between. They do make incredible preserves as well.
It was a few years back that I gave Laruen some lessons on preserving and since then she's been doing loads, I love that she walked in with a jar of apricot jam she had made. Preserving is so much more fun when it's done together, we had a great morning chatting away while still being productive.
We got quite a few batches done, three in the water bath canner and then two lots in the Instant Pot - although one of those went completely wrong when I pressed the rapid venting button! There was suddenly a lot of apricot in the canner!
Feels great to stock up the pantry even more and to spend the morning with my friend (and my wife was there as well). My Middlest joked that she had a playdate that day and that I did as well!
I remember as a kid, my dad loved canned apricots. I didn't realize you could can in an instapot. (Nor that it has a rapid vent feature - oops!
ReplyDeleteThis is a newer instant pot, with a canning feature! Its the reason I bought it to be honest.
DeleteI should plant a few apricot trees. I haven't had one in years. I canned about 20 jars of peaches not long ago and we've been eating heavily on the fresh ones we saved for our countertop. I love those brief moments of the season when the food is so plentiful that it fills your belly while you are canning it for later on too.
ReplyDeleteI have two here but they've never cropped and I don't think they will. Just a bit too cold and damp for them. I need to try harder with peaches I think. I keep thinking my front garden is a bit of a sun trap and probably ideal for them.
DeleteYeah I love when there's more than you can eat, and more than you can preserve. A true abundance of summer.