Fall and Food Preservation

Fall is my favorite season, especially here on the high desert where it lingers through most of three months.  Part of that experience is preserving the harvest from my garden.  Here's a bit of this year's production.  The small jars are the best pear butter I've ever made or tasted.  The larger jars are a marvelous cream of zucchini soup I've concocted.  Unseen are the "muffcakes" I made from a zucchini bread recipe, baked in muffin pans and topped with a lemon glaze (kinda like muffins, kinda like cupcakes).

An extra step this year was to fire up the woodstove and use it in the process, like our grandmothers used to do.  It was really fun as the weather has been quite cool.  I use the electric stove for the pressure canning so I can maintain a consistent temperature, but the woodstove was great for warming the jar lids, keeping extra water hot and lending historical accuracy and atmosphere.