Pyracantha Jelly
Bastard Plant's Good For Something, Anyway...
I griped about the vicious Pyracantha plant in the backyard a while ago. It heard me, apparently, and overnight shot out branches every which way that I'll need to go prune. I've already alerted the local blood bank to have a couple of pints warmed up.
For those unfamiliar with Pyracantha, it's a shrub composed solely of thorns. No roots, just subterranean thorns. No leaves, just wide green thorns. Every so often it produces red berries in abundance, but when the little birdies swoop in for a meal, you can hear 'em going "Ow! Damn! Ouch! Bastard Plant!!" as they get their little birdy feet perforated.
You can be all the way on the other side of the yard, and somehow you'll turn around and bump into the thing and whatever dye was used on your clothing is now tattooed into your flesh. I'd burn the thing out, but it's marvelous at keeping the rampaging hordes that dwell in the apartment complex behind the house on their side of the fence.
As it happens, the berries are edible, sort of. I ran across several recipes for making jelly out of the Pyracantha berries. Naturally, I had to blog about it!
This one seems easiest, but it still involves canning, so boil up them Ball jars, kiddies. I'd love to get into canning. I can plow through a jar of pickled carrots or brussels sprouts in no time at all, but at $3.49 a pop, it gets spendy. Now, if you could just get pre-sterilized jars and lids, kinda like they sell Band-Aids, I'd be good to go!
Here's the recipe -
PYRACANTHA JELLY
7 cups pyracantha berries
5 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1 bottle liquid pectin
Melted paraffin
Place 7 cups washed pyracantha berries in a very large pan with 5 cups of water. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Strain through a cloth. Measure 3 cups berry juice, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 7 cups sugar into a very large pan. Over high heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Immediately stir in one bottle liquid pectin, bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off foam and pour into sterilized glasses. Cover with 1/8 inch melted paraffin. Prepared berry juice may be refrigerated or frozen prior to making jelly.
UPDATE: To the Recipe Carnivalites - I submitted this to the COR *before* I read that this was the April Fool's Edition. More fool me! As it happens, this recipe is NOT one aimed at pulling your collective legs! It's the real deal!
I griped about the vicious Pyracantha plant in the backyard a while ago. It heard me, apparently, and overnight shot out branches every which way that I'll need to go prune. I've already alerted the local blood bank to have a couple of pints warmed up.
For those unfamiliar with Pyracantha, it's a shrub composed solely of thorns. No roots, just subterranean thorns. No leaves, just wide green thorns. Every so often it produces red berries in abundance, but when the little birdies swoop in for a meal, you can hear 'em going "Ow! Damn! Ouch! Bastard Plant!!" as they get their little birdy feet perforated.
You can be all the way on the other side of the yard, and somehow you'll turn around and bump into the thing and whatever dye was used on your clothing is now tattooed into your flesh. I'd burn the thing out, but it's marvelous at keeping the rampaging hordes that dwell in the apartment complex behind the house on their side of the fence.
As it happens, the berries are edible, sort of. I ran across several recipes for making jelly out of the Pyracantha berries. Naturally, I had to blog about it!
This one seems easiest, but it still involves canning, so boil up them Ball jars, kiddies. I'd love to get into canning. I can plow through a jar of pickled carrots or brussels sprouts in no time at all, but at $3.49 a pop, it gets spendy. Now, if you could just get pre-sterilized jars and lids, kinda like they sell Band-Aids, I'd be good to go!
Here's the recipe -
PYRACANTHA JELLY
7 cups pyracantha berries
5 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1 bottle liquid pectin
Melted paraffin
Place 7 cups washed pyracantha berries in a very large pan with 5 cups of water. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Strain through a cloth. Measure 3 cups berry juice, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 7 cups sugar into a very large pan. Over high heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Immediately stir in one bottle liquid pectin, bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off foam and pour into sterilized glasses. Cover with 1/8 inch melted paraffin. Prepared berry juice may be refrigerated or frozen prior to making jelly.
UPDATE: To the Recipe Carnivalites - I submitted this to the COR *before* I read that this was the April Fool's Edition. More fool me! As it happens, this recipe is NOT one aimed at pulling your collective legs! It's the real deal!
posted by El Capitan | 4:29 PM
<< Home