Here We Are Currant Again

This morning on my way down the ramp from the WHS track, I was thinking about the currants I found through the fence last year.  I was looking carefully and walking slowly to see where that bush was and then, there it was, loaded with beautiful black currants.  I picked a handful, but I have to admit to carrying them all the way home to wash and inspect them this year.  Jim's comment on last year's post seen here: 2010 Currant Blog Post made me think twice about just popping them all into my mouth.

To illustrate what a strange year it is, those currants were perfectly ripe today (September 21) and last year it was August 9 when I found them black, sweet & ready to pick.  Everything is late this year.  Usually our peaches are all picked, bottled and stored away by this time of year.  In the past eight years the latest I've ever picked peaches was Labor Day, but as of today in 2011 they are all still hanging on the tree, green and hard.

I have been working with raspberries, I've made several batches of jam, frozen trays of them, made multiple pies and given buckets of them away. (Would you like some?!)  I've bottled tomato salsa, zucchini relish, whole tomatoes and yesterday I used a bucket of tomatillos and made salsa verde.  When/if the peaches ever ripen I will get those in jars and I would like to make and bottle applesauce this fall before I call the canning season complete.  How about you?  What have you preserved and how have you done it?  Just wondering...

Well, I guess that brings us 'currant'.