Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. I think it got up to 70°. Today is a different matter. It is overcast, very breezy and cool. They are predicting down to 20° by Friday! Ouch.

I defrosted and cleaned out the upright freezer on the back porch yesterday. I hate that job, but it has to be done. The freezer door doesn't close tight enough at the top and it frosts up badly. We have had the thing forever and should probably just retire it.

I found several bags of apple peelings and cores. I dumped them into the maslin pan with some apple cider (another thing to get out of the frig!)and cooked all. This morning I strained for the juice and then pressed the rest through the Foley Food Mill. I didn't get much pulp but it makes a delicious apple butter. I just add sugar and spices to taste and cook it down until it thickens a little. Right at the last I added maybe 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar. I ended up with 7 cups of juice (back in the freezer in one container) and 3 and half jars of butter.

From Preserving

From Preserving

Another note on the maslin pan: I wondered how it would work with really thick food and a small amount....no scorching and worked like a charm. I actually used the pouring method to fill the jars.

Nothing is really wasted here; if I decide something is past its prime I give it to the chickens. They come running. I often have a pan full of things when I defrost or clean the frig and freezer.

The Happy Hens



Ilene, I found another use the the Maslin Pan (it deserves capital letters!). I found a 3.5 lb. package of ground hog fat in the freezer so I rendered it this afternoon. It took 15 minutes to cook down the first rendering...I stirred it to keep it from sticking now and then. I ended up with a nice 1.5 quarts, a small jar of seasoning lard and almost 2 cups of cracklings.

Now to the easy chair and a good book!