Saturday, September 12, 2009

Last week I bottled these

lovely Hatch Green Chilis.

Can't wait to get back from

NM the first week of

October with more.

These little buggers

are hot. Nate didn't use

gloves when he helped

peel them and really

paid for it. His hands

burned for a full 36 hours.

His only relief was

HAND SANITIZER

the waterless kind,

like Purell for example.

It saved his little hide.


Also got some peach slices

and peach jam put up as well.

This morning Nate and I

went for a nice drive in

the Scorching AZ Desert

and found these little beauties.

Forgot the camera but we had

a blast picking these prickly

little suckers.

Right off I leaned alittle too close

to one of the Cactus and got a

nice little present left in my

right thigh.

Nate was dying laughing until

I tossed a Pear into the box and

it bounced out and all the little

prickers stuck in his leg.

Then it was my turn to laugh.

Then after careful instruction

on my part to not whip me

with any branches

as we were seaarching for

our treasures

he smacks a mesquite

branch and it whips my

arm leaving a huge welt and

bringing stinging tears to my

eyes. And there we were

laughing as I punched him

in the arm as hard as I

could for whipping me like

I asked him not to.

After 12 years of marriage

mutual pain is very funny

to us for some strange reason.


Tongs are great things.

If not for these little friends

of ours I fear we would have

come home with a few more

little prickers in our skin

than we did.

It's 1130 pm and I'm

still finding the

prickly little suckers

in my hands and arms.


Wash 'em, cut'em in half


This lovely bright fusha pink


juice is all over the kithen.

Luckily it cleans up very easy.



Put 'em in a pot, cover with


water and boil'em like crazy.



Pull 'em out, mash 'em with

a potato masher and strain them.

No blender, it destroys

the natural pectin in fruit.

Look at all that Prickly Pear

Juice.


Strain it again cuz there's debris

and little prickers still in there.

Don't go buy some fancy

little strainer or sieve.

Just use a very strong

paper towel that is white

like Brawny or Bounty

and you have a great

strainer that you can just

throw away as it gets

clogged with seeds and pulp.



Then store the juice

(freeze it, or bottle it) or

add those sweet little

friends that it takes to

make some super yummy

Prickly Pear Cactus Jelly.

Or a little sugar and fizz

to get a great Prickly Pear Drink

or Freeze it for some

nice Prickly Pear Sherbert or Sorbet.

Part 2 on Monday

Prickly Pear Cactus Jelly

from the Prickly Pear

Cactus Juice that is all over my

kitchen, all in my freezers

and all in my fridge.










2 Scraps:

The Johnston Family said...

You are awesome with canning! Looks yummy! :)

Stacie said...

I know I say this all the time, but YUUUMMM!!!!