DAY 2 OF WET AND WILD IN THE DESERT

 I am remembering some stretches of wet and cold days in Austin when David would grumble about getting away. I asked him this morning how he was feeling about day 2 of wet and cold in the desert. He surprised me by not seeming to be bothered at all. The fact is that these days don't come along too often in winter and when they do our thoughts are filled with the increasing chances of having a bumper wildflower season in the desert.

Of course I stood at the front window this morning looking out on a dreary, wintry scene and when I stepped outside to fill the bird feeder I noted the bird bath was full. It really is time I bought myself a rain gauge as well as a rain barrel. This is where I regret not bringing at least one barrel from my old garden. 

 

 

 There are cold day things to do in the kitchen. I brought a bag of lemons home from my son's house with a plan to make some lemon marmalade and maybe some limoncello. Last year I made calamondin and sour orange marmalade but I have not been able to get hold of those two fruits this year. Once that is all used we will have lemon marmalade on our toast. Not having ever made lemon marmalade before I dug out my very old Jams and Jellies book from England and found the page for lemon marmalade. 

 

Having been a science major I really like to work with definite quantities. 3lbs lemons, and 6 pints is fine but then to have reduced to 4½lbs of liquid! Or did they mean pints. Confusing. Right from the start I am gambling on getting this right as I am working with cups. I should have looked elsewhere for a recipe. The electric lemon squeezer made light work of getting out the juice and scraping the pith from the peels is very easy with Meyer lemons.  Pips and pith went in to a cotton bag to ensure plenty of pectin. The peel was shredded quickly using these herb scissors. Thanks to my garden friend Barbara Segall for this suggestion. I measured the juice and peels and added water per the recipe and boiled down for 1½hrs until the peels were soft. Left overnight to make the following morning.

I added sugar at one cup for each cup of juice/peels and boiled until the setting point was reached.

 That setting point always seems to be a gamble. There are several methods to use and I find it best to use a combination. A jelly thermometer, the cold plate and the spoon drop. The suggested temperature is 220° but what do you do when your two thermometers read differently? Then you use the cold plate test. And if you can't get a good fix from that then drop some from a spoon and see if it forms a flake. The ultimate test is when a few hours later you dip a spoon into the small test pot and are delighted to find it has set to the perfect consistency and tastes pretty good.

 

The rain is due to end soon but there is bad news on the horizon. They are forecasting some night time temperatures in the 20s next week. In will come the plants and out come all the blankets again.