Category Archives: Pomegranate Jelly

Fresh goodies and a BBQ in December…

A quick note to mention Joanne’s recent birthday / December BBQ (my usual ribs, mom’s potato salad and bbq / regular Bush’s beans). It was nice having our closest friends join in for a get together in Joanne’s honor… lots of yakking and catching up going on.

Also wanted to mention that Joanne made 3 1/2 cases of pomegranate jelly (last of the pom juice) yesterday and as I write she’s making a case of spiced peach jam / preserves / um, fruitney? These are the last of Mr. Carrier’s peaches, “doctored up” with cranberries, raisins, walnuts and cinnamon… it’s pretty impressive stuff (guess who gets to lick the spoon? yup – the house-dude 🙂

I should have a set of pics to post tomorrow of my “old guy ride” – I’ve completed the restoration / refurbishment, tuned the fenders and now am just waiting for the right light to take a few photos.

Film at 11… or so.

Pomegranates all squeezed and put to bed now…

Sounds a bit like a bodice-ripper, doesn’t it? 😉

Incline Mike was down for a few days, so he stopped by this morning and pressed the remaining pomegranates for us, as Springfield Al and I did last week with the first batches.

Today’s press yielded 2 gallons of juice, so I’m thinkin’ there’s another 5 cases of Pomegranate Jelly that needs to be made before holidays.

As you might imagine, while we were working, Mike and I got to yakkin’ and it occurred to me he hadn’t taken any of TwoBigCats Fruit Liqueurs home with him in an awful long time, so I tightened him up with Pomegranate, Cherry, Limoncello, Tangerine-cello (don’t know if there’s actually such a liqueur outside of our house) and, dare I say it? (Dare, dare…) The holy grail of our private works – Pear Liqueur. (I was unsure of the Coconut / Vanilla bean and the Vanilla / Blackberry, so I’ll test those before releasing… yeah, that’s the ticket, I’ll test them for everyone’s safety before releasing them. Unlike a few of the previous releases, these are all made from 80 – versus 100 – proof I’ve used in the past… better sipping and not so much like rocketfuel.

Party on, Wayne.

Thanks to Hector & Elsa, Springfield Al and Incline Mike

I stopped by Hector and Elsa’s to confirm it’s ok to filch, er, harvest, their pomegranates this year and managed to catch them just as they were backing out of their driveway.

What’s the first thing Hector says to me? “Hold on, I have something for you.”

He pulled back in his driveway, walked up to the front of his garage and brought me 3 cases of brand new jars he’d gotten on sale from BigLots. When I offered to pay for them, he said, “If you pay me for them, I can’t accept any jelly or goodies.”

Since that’s a line I’ve used, myself, over the years, what could I say, except, “Thanks very much.”

And after posting my request for assistance last week, Springfield Al and Incline Mike both offered to help with harvesting and pressing of the pomegranates… something we’ll begin doing later this week.

And speaking of pomegranates, Joanne and I harvested our tree this weekend… not nearly as many in years past, but enough to make a case or two. Hector and Elsa’s tree is full, though not as full as years past, either. We (all) attribute the lower production to the heavy storms that blew through in the Spring when the blossoms were in full bloom. But, it is what it is so we’ll make whatever we can and distribute accordingly.

And speaking of making goodies, this past week Joanne made ~5 cases of fig and 2 (or 3?) of pear / apple fruitney… it’s uh-mazingly decadent and will go very well on toast, waffles, as “chutney” with pork / other select meats and even over vanilla cream… 1 spoonful is like eating an apple / pear pie – raisins (2 kinds), apples, pears, cinamon, almonds, walnuts, a touch of brown sugar and… voila, die, Jenny Craig diet!

(sugar / diet watchers note: Joanne began to experiment with low sugar pectin last year and the results were so good that she only makes low sugar goodies these days… much, much better flavor and for sugar watchers.)

Until next time, thanks for visiting, be well and don’t forget to write when you get work.

hal