I don’t know the
name of this bush and its several sisters in our yard, but when their yellow
blossoms open and we start sneezing, I know our time in Tucson is drawing to a
close for this season.
Between sneezes,
we got busy this week using the last of the sour oranges a neighbor gave us to
make one more batch of orange marmalade. Making marmalade is laborious. We
spent four hours peeling 14 oranges, extracting some of their juice, cooking
the seeds and pulp, slicing the peels into tiny strips, cooking the juice and
strips of peel with the extracted pectin from the pulp and seeds, and, finally,
cooking the marmalade and pouring it into sterilized jars.
We think the
product is worth all the labor. We ended up with six pints and part of another.
Last year was our
first marmalade-making experience. I started with a recipe I found on line, but
soon devised my own method, which yields more marmalade of perfect consistency.
As soon as I finish writing the recipe, I’ll post it on this blog.
Very soon the
native palo verde and mesquite trees, which grow in abundance in Tucson, will
be covered with tiny yellow blooms, we will be sneezing even more, and it will
be time to skedaddle for our home in Kansas. This year we aren’t looking
forward to returning because Kansas hasn’t had measurable precipitation for
months. The soil there is desert-dry and fire danger is high. But we must
return, at least for one more year, carrying enough orange marmalade to last
seven months.
Copyright
2017 by Shirley Domer
No comments:
Post a Comment