Cherry Eyeballs and Frozen Peaches

1950  Grandma Isabella

                                                                                                               Grandad Robert and Dad Davy

In the house on Fairfield , there was a root cellar in the basement. When I was growing up I used to believe I heard noises coming from it. I  would walk by and feel the air move through the darkness.

My Grandmother  loved that root cellar, when she and Grand dad lived with my parents in the '50s. She saw it as a  lovely place to keep her preserves. Hundreds of processed jars, full of floating fruit.

My father, Davy, used to drive everyone in the old Dodge, to the Okanagon in the summer. They'd buy big flats of fruit, and then drive  back home. Then they would can cherries and peaches in heavy glass mason jars, and stack them up on the shelves in the root cellar.  

It was earthy, wormy, musty, in there. Spiders dangled in profusion from webs strung  from the jars.No light except the one from the  basement light bulb. And it didn't reach that far.  After Grandmother died, those jars and jars of peaches and cherries seemed to settle in , like  mummies.... 

No one ever opened them after she died.  No one touched them. Till one day, years later (some 20 years later), I was sent down to get a jar of cherries and a jar of peaches. My mother wanted to see if they were still any good.....I had to put on  gumboots in order to walk into the root cellar. 

I stood on the threshold, the light swinging back and forth. There was something in there. I was sure of it. Something crunched underfoot.  The cherries loomed. They looked like eyeballs. Gooey, gelatinous things. The peaches resembled  fuzzy fingers drowning in amber liquid. Softly sluffing white dandruff from their edges. 

Something scuttled  into the corner.  I couldn't tell if it was the resident garter snake , or the bony hand of a long dead Egyptian mummy come to life.......Grabbing a jar of cherries and a jar of peaches, I escaped to the light above, where it was safe. Where it didn't smell old.  

Unfortunately, I don't believe my grandmother's cherries and peaches  survived the test of time. They smelled ...bad...real bad.... I kind of wondered why my mother did not just get rid of the lot.  

1955 Grandmother Isabelle  and mum Nessie

I watched her as she poured the  old fruit into a bowl, and she talked about her mother and the farm, and the old days. She talked a lot about those days.  I think she missed them.

Many years later when  I sold the the house , those same jars of peaches and cherries were still in the root cellar. I just left them there, cause that's where they belonged. It was their home. I couldn't get rid of them either. 

And truth be told , I was just a little leery about  those cherry eyeballs and peach fingers floating about in their glass tombs. Watching me.  (And I always wondered about that garter snake...........I  was sure it was still alive down there. Slithering in the dirt. ............)

FREEZER PEACH PRESERVES

Chop up 6 cups of peaches. I don't peel them. Gives more texture.

Add 6 1/2 cups of sugar to the chopped peaches.

Stir till combined ..................

let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Squish till your heart's content.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice

Add 2 pouches of liquid Certo. You can do it without if you wish. Just doesn't set as well. 

Ladle into plastic containers. I use Ziploc ones. easy to stack

Photographs 2020

 

Keeps for six months in freezer or one month in fridge......A dark  root cellar is not necessary.

Yippee-Ki-O-Ki Ay Cookies

"All day I've faced a barren waste,without the taste of water, cool water..." -"Sons of the Pioneers" ( Cool water)

In 1934, August 8th, Decca records signed  some of the most famous  singers, like Roy Rogers, to a group called "Sons of the Pioneers". Songs like "Cool Water". "Tumbling tumbleweed", "Country Blues", "Train"......heard them the other day, made me think of these Yippee Ki Oh Ki Yay Cookies....

RECIPE:

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup butter, melted and cooled         1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar      2 eggs             

Combine these first ingredients.

350 oven preheated. Cookie sheets with silpat liners or parchment paper

      

1 ½ cups flour         1 tsp baking powder       Pinch salt  

2 ½ cups rolled oats

2 cups choc chips      1 ½ cups rice cereal      1 cup raisins

Combine the dry ingredients. 

"Deep in my heart is a song, drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds..." - "Sons of the Pioneers ( Tumbleweeds)

Combine both with wooden spoon or with clean hands.

Drop by ¼ cup measure on silpat or parchment lined baking sheets.

2 inches apart.

Bake in preheated oven for 14-16 minutes

Perfectly crisp with soft texture, and incredible raisin and chocolate. Yum

Long time ago, my uncle would visit from Saskatchewan,  many moons ago, and stay thru the winter. He would eat  tons of these cookies. My mother would churn these out like crazy.  He loved hot scones dripping with butter and honey in the morning, along with bacon and eggs and coffee.I would practise violin . He would listen. .......

 But he loved that "Sons of the Pioneers" record. And I would be the one to put  it on for him.I still have the original record. Still with the scratches and the skips.

He'd eat cookies and  cloves of garlic. Raw garlic. He'd read  James Bonds books in the corner of the living room, with a mug of strong tea by his hand. And on the stereo would be playing  "Sons of the Pioneers" over and over. I had those songs learned by heart.

I can still see him eating those cookies, and chomping on the raw garlic, humming away  to himself  along with "Sons of the Pioneers..."

"I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande, Never roped a steer cause I don't know how. Ain't gonna start now. Yippee-I-O-Ki-Ay..."

 - "Sons of the Pioneers ( "Old Cowhand")

Photographs 2020

PEACH JAM

"Hot crumpets with butter and jam. what could be more ambrosial..." -William Boyd

Probably the best  thing about the end of the summer. Peaches enveloped in gold. Smothered on hot crumpets with butter  to be devoured as soon as possible.

3 pounds of fresh peaches

1 package liquid pectin

2 tablespoons lemon juice

5 cups sugar

You can add a hint of cinnamon if you wish. I like it without.

Clean your jars and lids and so forth and boil in a large pot. Be sure to leave in the hot water till you need them.

Crush peaches after cutting into small pieces. I don’t skin them. Iike the texture this way much better.

"Sunrise paints the skies with pinks and paints with peaches.."

- Vera Nazarian

Toss peaches into large pot. Try not to miss the pot.

Add pectin and lemon juice. Stir well.

Place on  hot stove and stir to a full rolling boil.

There should be bubbles all over the top

ADD SUGAR now, and cinnamon, if using. Some people add a hint of hot spice or chipotle. Not my thing, but you can do so if you want.

"I turned my attention back to the copper of peach jam, releasing its autumnal scent.." -Joanne Harris

Heat up to a bubbling rolling boil once more.

Boil hard for 1 minute.

REMOVE from heat. Skim foam off the top

Take your clean HOT jars and fill to a ¼ inch from the top. Seal and process them back in the hot canning pot for about 5 mins in the bath. 

Tighten lids and let stand.

If you can , wait till cool and then slather away on toast, or eat by the spoonful from the jar,or on ice cream!

Photographs 2020