2009's First!

Seems like when one cans and preserves one's own food, it becomes addicting. I don't know about you, but I'm always itching for canning season to begin! I won't have to wait much longer-- around here, the strawberries are just about to come into season, the rhubarb has already begun to offer more stalks than I can use up in a pie or bar and next month, the mulberry tree branches should start to hang low from the weight of thousands of ripe berries.


I cleaned out the pantry the other day and came across a big bag of walnuts I meant to turn into walnut syrup for Christmas giving. I was down to my last jar of walnut syrup, so it was the perfect time to get an early start on my 2009 canning and preserving!

First, make the syrup. I've been making my own maple syrup lately-- from brown sugar, corn starch and maple flavoring and I've just about perfected the ratio of ingredients for thick, yummy syrup. No where near as good as real maple syrup, but it'll do. At the rate we go through syrup, the real maple stuff would put us into debt! I decided to change up my walnut syrup recipe and use the maple syrup as the base.

Oh my! I couldn't keep myself from sneaking a walnut every 2 seconds! Quality control, you know? The kids kept asking for a sample, too, and I knew I had better hurry and can it or there'd be none left to can!


I ended up with the equivalent of 9 pints of walnut syrup. Might have been 10 or 11 if not for the quality control. I was happy to sample some on ice cream that night and just about every night since! I think I'll try it with pecans next time.