It was a marathon cooking evening, with three batches of jelly and one flat of farmers' market tomatoes steam juiced. They don't have as strong or acid a flavor as my home grown organic tomatoes, but since my tomatoes have shut down, I have to buy a few. I've made about a gallon of juice and a quart of sauce this time. The jelly is cooling all over the kitchen, and though the juice was cloudy, the jelly is a beautiful clear purplish-ruby color, sweet-tart and wonderful.

I'm up so late getting up early tomorrow will be difficult, but I'll take a nap later. We walk the dogs at 7am and then (after she takes the dogs back home - her daughter's dog is here this week) Susie will come down and I'll show her how the setup works with the juicer and the food mill. I also have a flat of peaches to can - they looked so good and the whole flat was only $8. They're so inexpensive this year; I remember paying $15 or a bit more for this many last year.

The fridge was cleaned out to put the extra fruits in overnight, and I'll clear the shelves in the pantry for the new jars, not to mix them up with the older jars that need using first. I've spent $16 on two flats of peaches so far, and for the number of jars I'll have it is a savings over buying cans at the store. The sugar adds up, but not too bad (in the syrup). I could probably buy more canned tomato sauce for $9 than I'll get out of the ones I processed tonight, but the juice is nice and nothing will go to waste.

SRS