We made a side trip to the Brentwood area of Contra Costa County tor Blenheim apricots. For those who don't know Blenheims, they are what apricots are supposed to but seldom taste like. Last year we bought a whole 20 lb box and made both jam and canned fruit. This year we cut it to 10 pounds since we simply don't eat jam and still have some of last year's even after giving away about half the production.
We continued to the country for several days and left the cots in a back room where our housemouse found them and had two nights of bliss. Fortunately, he/she only nibbled one cot at a time rather than sample many, as birds tend to do, Upshot was that we now know what to use for mouse bait since walnuts, peanut butter and hot dogs have been ineffective. 1/4 apricot and job done. Back to preserving...
I put up half a dozen pints this morning, extra heavy syrup for DH, waterbath method. Cots are easy to prep since they are regular and halve easily. Canning apricots is a job that is always bigger in anticipation than the actual doing. The only reason i bother is that we have not been able to find a commercial or artisan product that compares to these simple jars. $12 a pint at our farmer's market for tasteless fruit and light syrup. Don't know why it's hard for a larger scale producer to put up an excellent product.
Now I have to tackle the 20 lbs of tomatoes I bought on the way home...
