Once again, the blog was down. Each time it has gone down since I started (3 times total so far) has been for a different reason, but each time has sucked about the same. My registrar is namecheap.com which has been pretty good for the most part. Today, their dns servers died so when you typed in my blog address, your internet company didn’t know how to connect to my machine. I was able to finally login to namecheap so I could repoint the dns (basically, I am using a different system to map my blog address to the machine in my office). So, now we are back up, though things are still slow it seems. I think that must be a different issue…we’ll see. When you hit the blog, does it seem terribly slow? Anyhow, I’d like to say something like this won’t happen again, but I am certain it will. Until then, thanks for reading and for your patience!
Trials of hosting our own site
Apple Jelly
There are about 5 apple trees between our place and our neighbors’ place. They pick a few of the apples but leave most for us. A friend pointed us to a recipe for making apple jelly from the peels and cores so we decided to dehydrate a bunch of apples and make apple jelly from what’s left. Apparently back when everyone canned, this was a well known process. The apple itself was used for apple butter or apple sauce while the peels and cores were made into jelly.Â
It turns out that the pectin (the stuff that makes jelly gel) is more concentrated in the peel and core. Anyhow, here is the recipe we use:
Apple peel and core jelly
peelings and core from 15-20 medium tart apples
6 cups water (for cooking cores and peels)
1 (1 3/4 ounce) box dry pectin
9 cups sugar
1. Cook peelings and cores in 6 cups water for 20-30 minutes.
2. Strain through prepared cheesecloth or jelly bag.
3. Add water as needed, to strained juice, to obtain 7 cups liquid.
4. Add pectin (whisk works well) and bring to a rapid boil.
5. Add sugar, boil hard for 1 minute.
6. Pour into sterile jars, leaving 1/8″ headspace; wipe jar rims, adjust lids and rings; water bath 5 minutes.
Besides the jelly, this peeler is a “must-have” if you plan to process a lot of apples. Some folks have trouble with them but if you properly adjust the cutting blade, you’ll peel and core apples all day long with no problem. Abigail, my 5 year old, helped peel a bunch of the apples were used for this run.
Apple jelly is the only type of jelly that Emily will eat. We made enough from 30-40 apples to last her all year!
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