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Monday, September 8, 2008

Are you Jellen?

This last week I've been busy learning from the ladies here in the ward again. That pot full is full of prickly pears. Yes, I've learned to make prickly pear jelly. And I loved doing it. The process was so much easier than I had thought it would be. Maybe because I was learning from someone who experimented for 20 years in different ways to do it and has now for the last 20 years perfected the process. Of the 18 pints I made, I came through the whole thing with only 3 stickers. Not bad I thought for a first timer!

It all came about like this one Sunday...
I was approached and told that we have some beautiful prickly pears growing on our land next to our yard/house. And wanted to know if I was going to be making some jelly. After letting them know I had no knowledge of how to even start, I was invited over the next morning for a lesson in jelly making and then I had no excuse.


Caden was excited to start picking the pears with me. We went out with our tongs and buckets.


Once they were all boiled and strained we had our juice.


Next we were on to the actual process of making the jelly. Boiling, mixing, adding ingredients, and filling the jars.


We all enjoyed hearing the lids seal with a pop here and a pop there. More than anything else though, we all love the flavor of it. Here, Paxton shows the finished product. One morning while making some, I also mixed up some fresh baked bread. Between the two scents, oohhh how my house smelled so good!


Look at the vibrant color out in the sun. And Jana, because you were so kind to let everyone play the guessing game without giving it away, your reward will be a pint the next time I see you.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your page and that pic of Daisy is sooooo adorable... Where do you find the time!!! See you on Thurs Good Luck today and thrs

Janalee said...

that looks really cool - can't wait to try it!

Anonymous said...

Do we get one too for guessing correctly?

Lisa said...

Of coarse Erin and I'll be expecting some honest feedback of how it turned out.

LucyH said...

Hey, I love prickly pear jam! About the green chiles. We only had a couple small ziploc bags left from last year, but I use A LOT in the tamales and that is where they get used up the most. I like to put them in cheese quesadillas, spoon bread, enchiladas,chile rellenos, plain with salt, or added to whatever mexican side dish.Certain Food City stores will roast them and then you can buy them for a dollar a pound and peel them yourself. THey are so good!

Anonymous said...

That looks so good. I've always wanted to learn how to make p. p. jelly. If you come down and teach Jana, i wanna come too!!