Eating the Produce of My Estates

 One of the amusing(?) things about all my work preserving the Produce of My Estates is that I'm not always good about remembering to *eat* the things I preserve. I joke that I should work out a spreadsheet of what I have in stock and then set myself a minimum quota per week to ensure I go through it all roughly before the next crop comes in. And, of course, I should work harder at giving away the things like jelly and marmelade that I simply don't eat that much of. There are reasons why the majority of the apples and plums simply get frozen (or dried). No need to add sugar (but also: faster processing time). So many of the traditional preservation methods involve a lot of added sugar and I simply don't have that kind of sweet tooth.

But this weekend I cracked into the most recent batches of plum jelly and the Gervase Markham-style orange marmelade, respectively on crescent rolls and toast. And they are, of course, delicious. Sometimes I use jams or jellies as a meat glaze, which is also fun. But even though I'm not as strict about a food regimen as I was a decade ago, I've still cut way back on baked goods and sugar-based foods. So jam on toast is a treat rather than a staple.

I generally consume that frozen plums and apples as breakfast at work, mixed with unflavored yogurt (which I've currently gotten back into making myself). And sometimes I'll substitute a spoonful of marmelade in the yogurt instead. I always keep a bag of dried apples at my desk at work for when I get the nibbles. I tried drying some plums last year and they're good for those "my mouth is bored" times, being more pit than plum. And I make pretty good progress through my candied peel for holiday baked goods and sometimes garnish on cheese plates.

But there are things in my fridge or closet that don't get opened much unless I'm going to a "bring food" party: the tomato relish (it turned out too liquid somehow), this year's experimental quince-bacon jam, a batch of kumquat preserves from several years ago (sort of halfway between a very lumpy marmelade, since the kumquats are whole, and a wet sucket). One of the things on my to-do list is to go through the cabinets and inventory my stash. There's an older batch of marmelade that came out a bit caramelized that I think I need to dump, now that I have lots of more successful batches. I'm pretty sure I've got some apple jelly from two years ago that I've never even tried.

And this is one of the reasons I want to do the "share the produce of our estates" theme party this summer.