Garden Delights

This is the saddest time of the fall -- clearing out the garden for winter. This year for some reason, our garden went absolutely crazy with lots of tomatoes and a seemingly endless bounty of peppers. Even today, the pepper plants are full of produce and still have blossoms for new peppers. With the changing weather, who knows if we'll actually get any more.

Some of our harvest

Wendy told me about a month ago that she was done with canning. The materials were all put away in the basement for another year. Somehow, I convinced her that we should do just a little bit more. I did not want to have all those peppers go to waste.I could only give so many away before people started to avoid me.

We went to Cuba for the Garlic Festival the weekend after I got back from the Lockn Festival. While were there, we sampled many new jellies and garlic-laden foods. I found a peach-jalapeno jam that I thought was absolutely divine. With all the peppers, couldn't we make some of own?

So, this morning, Wendy searched the internet for some recipes that we might like. It took some time, but we did find some things we'd like to try out. As we gathered the ingredients, I was excited about some of the things that she found. Wendy does a lot of canning so she knows what to do to make great food and is pretty good at it.

IdaLena models a couple of the peppers from our garden

Wendy did another batch of regular pepper jelly to add to the cache we already have in the basement. Then we decided to move on to a new recipe. She found one for a hot pepper mustard. The website said it would be great for dipping pretzels. I thought our nephew, Hunter, who made some pretzels awhile ago, should come up to make some pretzels to try with this new concoction. Maybe next weekend we can all get together and have a tasting party.

Anyway, this hot pepper mustard did not look exactly like it was very appetizing. Between the yellow of the mustard and the various greens and oranges of the peppers, what was being stirred in the pan was not very pretty. But the taste? Wonderful. Yes, it will go great with pretzels. Wendy spread some on her veggie burger at dinner tonight. I tried it on my fries, and it was good, even though I think pretzels would be far better.

Next up will be an orange marmalade with some habanero peppers. The plan is to get this started after the kids clean up dinner and save the peach recipe until tomorrow. Don't worry, we'll get it all done. We have just a little bit of space left on the canning shelves in the basement. Seems wrong to leave any open space on it.

It doesn't look pretty, but the taste? Awesome!

I'm happy that we were able to get the most out of our garden this year. We will be eating very well all winter and into spring. Nothing tastes quite as good as food grown right in the backyard and prepared yourself. Once you eat a jar of home canned green beans, you'll never go back to store-bought canned beans. There is no comparison.

Now I just need a bigger yard so we can have a bigger garden.