Cannery Row

When I agreed to split a half bushel of peaches with a neighbor this weekend, I had forgotten that I ordered a half bushel of tomatoes to be delivered today. I got my peaches on Sunday, and with the freshness clock ticking, I have been preserving the ones we haven't eaten ever since. Monday, I dehydrated a half-dozen as an experiment, and then yesterday, I added them and some toasted pecans to a buckwheat sourdough bread dough.

This morning I finished baking the loaves just as the tomatoes were delivered. After I prepped another half dozen peaches for dehydration, I decided to make peach jelly, which is more technical than jam, as it requires the extra step of making juice and straining it several times. That part was kind of fun (and it used up a lot of peaches), although as the process dragged on, the box of tomatoes on the table did weigh on me a bit. The end result was eight half-pint jars filled with beautiful red-gold jelly.

Once the jelly was jarred, I turned my attention to the tomatoes, boiling water to skin them, then chopping and salting the chunks. I filled thirteen quart jars with the diced tomatoes and proceeded to the hot water processing. Unfortunately, by then, it was apparent that my jelly, as pretty as it was, was not setting, and a minute later, an acidic smell alerted me to the sad fact that one of the jars had broken in the water bath. 

I confess, I was a little dismayed by these setbacks, but what can I do? Shit happens, and I still have 12 quarts of tomatoes, along with the prospect of re-cooking the jelly with more pectin tomorrow.