Desert Jam

Here's what I have spent the last two days doing:

Turning this . . .

(prickly pears)

and this . . .

(jalapeños)

into this . . .

(lots of jelly)

Those prickly pears are nasty little buggars. They're prickly! Who knew? Just kidding.

Actually, we were driving along and came across all these ripe prickly pears. So, of course, we had to stop and pick some. Never mind we were totally unprepared -- no gloves or picking tools of any kind. Anyhow, we picked away. Although most of the picking was us picking the stickers out of our fingers. (I still have a few stuck in there.)

The next day I amassed the supplies. (I did a very poor job as I had to make not 1, but 2 more trips to the store to get enough jars, sugar and pectin to finish the canning.)

Finally, Wednesday morning, I was prepared to make jelly. Danielle came over. We figured two people that had never canned before was better than one. Together we turned those prickly pears into jam. I won't bore you with the details, but it was a long process. Not difficult, just long. As well you might expect when you're trying not to actually touch the fruit you are attempting to turn into jelly. :)

I literally canned all day Wednesday. Thursday, after some cleaning of my kitchen (you'd swear a tornado had come through), I finished the rest of the prickly pear jelly. Then I was on a roll. I love jalapeño jelly with cream cheese and Wheat Thins. And the recipe was simple. So about 10 p.m. that night I started a double batch of jalapeño jelly. Although starting canning at 10 p.m. is not very smart, I was smart enough to wear gloves. If you've never experienced it before, jalapeños can burn your fingers. (You can imagine what happens when you wipe your eye with your hand. Been there, done that.) Finally, at 1 a.m. I finished my canning.

The result:

• 9 quarts (all prickly pear)
• 19 pints (17 prickly pear, 2 jalapeño)
• 48 half pints (36 prickly pear, 12 jalapeño)

Some of these are Danielle's. (If you look at the picture closely you will only see 3 quarts as Danielle had already taken 6 home with her.)

The best part of the whole experience: Danielle and I already have all of our Christmas gifts for friends and neighbors.

The worst part of the whole experience: I'm currently on a very restrictive diet and can't enjoy any of the fruits of my labors. (pun intended) That, and my lack of sleep Thursday night.

Now I'm contemplating turning the frozen blackberries and boysenberries wasting away in my freezer into jam. And I might ask the lady down the street if I can have some of her prickly pears. Danielle would like more syrup. Call me crazy.