Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Grape Juice

All over town established grape vines bulge with unappreciated grapes.  At our place, we didn't inherit much in the way of landscaping, but a lovely white grapevine, probably planted in the 1940's or 50's, survives even the deep drought of this place--its roots surely tap the water table twenty feet down. A purple grapevine grows on our west fence, choked by junk elm trees and Virginia Creeper; but between the two of them we have no shortage of grapes.  Sometimes I like to imagine that Italian immigrants planted them to put wine on their table.  In any case, undoubtedly they were used well.  Here at Whiteplum they mostly go to juice.
Here's my recipe:When stemming the grapes, remember acid-etched fingers last a long time and gloves really make a difference.Cook grapes until the skins pop.  I add about 2 cups of water to every lettuce spinner full (maybe 14 cups) of washed and stemmed grapes.  I strain the resulting product through a few layers of cheesecloth in a strainer, and refrigerate the resulting juice overnight, or longer.  Strain the juice from this product into a pan, heat it to boiling, and process it in a water bath.  In the past squeezing out the most possible from the product makes the juice too cloudy.  I never add sugar because it's sweet enough without it.  The recipe (Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) is for a grape juice "concentrate" which calls for sugar and to which one adds water to serve.  Skip it.  Just drink juice.  If desired, water down when serving.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Greatest Dog of the 21st Century and his Successor

Our beloved dog Blue died a year ago this week, from a hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive cancer we didn't even know he had until the day he left us.  Here he is pictured on a dog breeds website.  He's also pictured on our web profile.  A very handsome guy.  As my friend Paul says, Blue was only the greatest dog of the 21st century.  I got him from Leland, who loved this lab-bullmastiff mix from puppyhood, but found living on the street with a dog was hard on the dog. Eventually Blue came to us and entered our hearts. Leland later got off the street himself, too.  We still miss you, Blue!

In December 2009 we got a new dog, a Great Pyrenees  we named Cobi, after the 1992 Olympics mascot--below-- which was supposedly modeled after a Great Pyr. (Make your own decision).Cobi of WhitePlum Farm looks a little different  than Cobi-the-Olympic-mascot, but very typical of his breed.  We got him from a rescue place who called him Joey, rescuing him at a shelter in Arkansas before he could be euthanized unclaimed .  (Only his closest friends may call him Cobi Joe).  He was great with the ladies (the chickens) until they disappeared, and we liked to imagine that he would protect them from predators, like his breed historically protected the herd from bears and wolves.  The day we lost the girls, we had left him inside the house, as it was a very hot day for a guy in a fur coat, and we weren't gone long.
Sorry Cobi, a lot of people are out of work these days...