Mmmm.....Garden Goodies and Tomato Jam

Out to the garden.    We have a thistle bush that we're cutting down, but first, I had to take a picture of one of the thistles.  I don't know what it is about thistles, but for some reason, I love how they look!

The garden harvest is slowing down, but I've still managed to get a nice basked of goodies!  It even included a small cucumber and two tiny Jalepenos!   Wahoo!!!!

When I took the canning class in August, I discovered Tomato Jam.  Wow!   Is it delicious!   I decided that I needed to try a batch myself!  


Step 1 - Gather and wash the tomatoes.   (I used small tomatoes - the teacher has used grape tomatoes, I used a variety of small salad tomatoes - I didn't have enough in my garden to do this, so I bought them at the Purcellville Farmer's Market.)

Step 2 - cut all the tomatoes into halves or quarters.  (Thankfully, there's no need to peel!   When I get done, I'll blend it with the emmersion blender.)

 

 

Step 3 - Add the spices - mmmm.....cloves, cinnamon, sugar.....lots of goodies!

Step 4 - Stir it all together and then cook it down.  Once cooked down, I blended it with the immersion blender and then and poured it into sterilized jars.

 Step 5 -  Hot water bath all the jars for 15  minutes......and you're done!  

And finally, a sunset picture.   Not your typical one though - in this case, the sunset was reflecting on the clouds to the east...creating a beautiful backdrop of pinks and purples.   (I liked this much better the the orange and yellow that the sun was displaying to the west.)