On Wednesday morning, still not doing well, I got up and got started at 5AM. I got the squeeze out and set up, found the jars I needed, got the bowls and colanders out and when the carpenter arrived, took the truck to the mechanics at 7AM. My 2 helpers were due at 8AM.
When I got back I picked all the ripe tomatoes and weighed them. I had 40¼ lbs. That told me how many peppers and onions I needed so I went out and picked those. I didn’t have enough red peppers and didn’t want to use green as it makes the red color of the sauce muddy looking. So I dug through my dehydrated stuff and found red Kapija peppers and set those out to make up the difference. They would have to be ground up.
My helpers arrived and I started measuring out the herbs for the sauce. I was short on 4 of them, so one of the helpers headed to the store and then to pick up her food processor. My intern arrived at 9AM and get ready to send the tomatoes I’d cut up through the Squeezo. My helper had not gotten to use it on the first batch, so she asked to do it. So my intern cut up peppers instead.
My intern and the 2nd helper running the waste through the Squeezo
Some ingredients
We finally got all the ingredients ready and divided between the stockpots. The sauce started at 12:30. The helpers had left after cleaning up and my intern and I were having lunch. The mechanic called, the transmission job was too complicated for him and so we left to bring the truck home. It would have to go to a local transmission place he recommended. My intern headed home after that.
I stirred the pots every hour all afternoon and by 5:30 it was ready to can.
I had to blend up the sauce before canning. I also had to take the pots off the stove because I had to start the canners and the pots with the lids to sterilize. I finally got the processing started at 7PM and it finished just before 8PM.
My supervisor laid in the middle of the floor throughout this process. That makes life interesting as she can’t see or hear well, being 20 years old.
The end result was 23 more pints for a grand total of 59 pints for the year. My intern’s family comes over during the winter and we use the bake oven for pizza, so I have plenty for those events now.
I was too tired to do the cleanup, which will have to be done on Thursday. I’ve nothing planned for Thursday, except maybe working on the budget.