Last Friday I decided that it was time for Pepper Relish Making Weekend.
So on Friday I drove out to the Farm Stand at Berger's Farm to see if the Red Bell Peppers were harvested yet.
The prices this year were way higher than usual at the farm, probably due to the lack of rain we've experienced here in the second half of Summer. The late Summer crops have been lackluster at best.
They weren't selling the 'colored' peppers in bulk like in previous years but at .75¢ per pepper. Ouch.
Only the green peppers were being sold at cheaper bulk prices. While some of the green peppers in that bin were partially turning red there weren't enough of those to entice me to buy those peppers in bulk.
They did have a basket of "seconds" however. These were molted red/green peppers who were "long in the tooth" and/or misshapen. Still flavorful but just wrinkled and if served in a dish wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing but if I was going to chop them up anyway for relish it really didn't matter.
That large basket of seconds was only $4 so I bought that along with 5 "pretty" peppers for $3.75 for all 5. Add in a peck of onions for $8 and I spent $16.25 on produce at Berger's farm.(I also bought 2 jalapenos for .25¢ each but not for using in the relish.)
Driving home, about 2 miles down from the Farm Stand I saw a white water barrel with a pepper and an arrow pointing up a house's driveway along the road, so I turned in. Back behind this old house was a field of crops and a "Pick Your Own" business.
They had many varieties of peppers(from bell to jalapeno to cubanelle to banana to some Italian type I can't remember what it's called), as well as eggplant.
So on the hottest day in some time in these parts, and wearing a dress and not-so appropriate footwear for this sort of thing, I ended up lugging a large produce sack out into the fields to pick my own peppers at .50¢ a lb!
I lasted about half an hour at this and ended up with 14 lbs. of peppers in lovely colors of deep red, to orange to pale yellow.
The 14 lbs. for $7 total is in the red bag, the onions are in the middle, the $4 in seconds to the onions right in the photo and the pretty red/orange peppers are on the right. 2 jalapenos in the front.
Total spent on peppers and onions for relish making was $22.75.
I had enough peppers and tomatoes in the garden once I picked those for a double batch of relish.
Go me.
Cost of green tomatoes?
Free.
I spent some time Friday evening after dinner prepping peppers(coring, deseeding and slicing).
On Saturday morning bright and early the earnest work began after I set up the food processor.
Back in the old days, before I had a processor I use to hand chop all the veggies for this relish.
It took forever to do a batch that way, most of an entire day just to chop it all for a regular batch.
A double batch would have taken at least 1.5 days alone.
Now I get the chopping done in a fraction of the time, but I also do hand chop a portion of the veggies still since it makes the relish look so much nicer in the jar.
Here is the big bucket the veggies all go into with salt to soak for an hour before draining.
The rest of the supplies-vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds ready to boil down into the 'sauce'.....
I had to utilize both of my large 8 quart stockpots, I had so much relish cooking!
Then the canning pot had to set to boil as I washed out canning jars, lids and rings.
Got the jars all ready(thanks to Hubs), filled and ready to go into the canning pot. I had to process in 4 batches I had so many jars because the canner only holds 7 jars at a time.
By the end of the evening I was wiped out, my hand was sore from all that knife work, and the kitchen was a wreck but I had 16 pints and 5 quarts of relish done(plus about another pint it the fridge of "the pot dregs" to use first). I usually make small jars of relish(for gift giving)but I couldn't find many small jars. I suppose I've been giving the last batch I made 2 years ago away as gifts so I don't get the jars back, thus no small jars left in my supply. 8-)
And I spent most of the next day, Sunday, with my feet up, doing nothing. I am just too old and worn out anymore to do a marathon of relish making and canning alone.
Plus I have about 8 lbs. of peppers left that I didn't use in the fridge, waiting on me to slice up to put into the freezer to use in meals this Winter.
I find I don't enjoy this sort of work much anymore in my dotage. Maybe if I had help I wouldn't mind it so much.
This may be the last batch I make so it will have to last a good long while.
Sluggy
So on Friday I drove out to the Farm Stand at Berger's Farm to see if the Red Bell Peppers were harvested yet.
The prices this year were way higher than usual at the farm, probably due to the lack of rain we've experienced here in the second half of Summer. The late Summer crops have been lackluster at best.
They weren't selling the 'colored' peppers in bulk like in previous years but at .75¢ per pepper. Ouch.
Only the green peppers were being sold at cheaper bulk prices. While some of the green peppers in that bin were partially turning red there weren't enough of those to entice me to buy those peppers in bulk.
They did have a basket of "seconds" however. These were molted red/green peppers who were "long in the tooth" and/or misshapen. Still flavorful but just wrinkled and if served in a dish wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing but if I was going to chop them up anyway for relish it really didn't matter.
That large basket of seconds was only $4 so I bought that along with 5 "pretty" peppers for $3.75 for all 5. Add in a peck of onions for $8 and I spent $16.25 on produce at Berger's farm.(I also bought 2 jalapenos for .25¢ each but not for using in the relish.)
Driving home, about 2 miles down from the Farm Stand I saw a white water barrel with a pepper and an arrow pointing up a house's driveway along the road, so I turned in. Back behind this old house was a field of crops and a "Pick Your Own" business.
They had many varieties of peppers(from bell to jalapeno to cubanelle to banana to some Italian type I can't remember what it's called), as well as eggplant.
So on the hottest day in some time in these parts, and wearing a dress and not-so appropriate footwear for this sort of thing, I ended up lugging a large produce sack out into the fields to pick my own peppers at .50¢ a lb!
I lasted about half an hour at this and ended up with 14 lbs. of peppers in lovely colors of deep red, to orange to pale yellow.
Total spent on peppers and onions for relish making was $22.75.
I had enough peppers and tomatoes in the garden once I picked those for a double batch of relish.
Go me.
Cost of green tomatoes?
Free.
I spent some time Friday evening after dinner prepping peppers(coring, deseeding and slicing).
On Saturday morning bright and early the earnest work began after I set up the food processor.
Back in the old days, before I had a processor I use to hand chop all the veggies for this relish.
It took forever to do a batch that way, most of an entire day just to chop it all for a regular batch.
A double batch would have taken at least 1.5 days alone.
Now I get the chopping done in a fraction of the time, but I also do hand chop a portion of the veggies still since it makes the relish look so much nicer in the jar.
Here is the big bucket the veggies all go into with salt to soak for an hour before draining.
The rest of the supplies-vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds ready to boil down into the 'sauce'.....
I had to utilize both of my large 8 quart stockpots, I had so much relish cooking!
Then the canning pot had to set to boil as I washed out canning jars, lids and rings.
Got the jars all ready(thanks to Hubs), filled and ready to go into the canning pot. I had to process in 4 batches I had so many jars because the canner only holds 7 jars at a time.
By the end of the evening I was wiped out, my hand was sore from all that knife work, and the kitchen was a wreck but I had 16 pints and 5 quarts of relish done(plus about another pint it the fridge of "the pot dregs" to use first). I usually make small jars of relish(for gift giving)but I couldn't find many small jars. I suppose I've been giving the last batch I made 2 years ago away as gifts so I don't get the jars back, thus no small jars left in my supply. 8-)
And I spent most of the next day, Sunday, with my feet up, doing nothing. I am just too old and worn out anymore to do a marathon of relish making and canning alone.
Plus I have about 8 lbs. of peppers left that I didn't use in the fridge, waiting on me to slice up to put into the freezer to use in meals this Winter.
I find I don't enjoy this sort of work much anymore in my dotage. Maybe if I had help I wouldn't mind it so much.
This may be the last batch I make so it will have to last a good long while.
Sluggy
