I know, it's Sunday.

A day of rest. But, as any farmer knows, when the crop is ready, you take care of it. My crop was ready. So, let me tell you about guayaba jelly. If you aren't interested, best leave now because that is all I am going to talk about. It has taken up most of my day.

Let me go thru the steps. First you need guayaba trees. We have several here including right next to my porch. 

Next you need someone to pick them and leave them at your door. Or at least leave the picker around so I can try and find them and pick them myself. Thank heavens I have the former. I mentioned finding a bunch inside the door last night. I went out this morning and picked up all the ones I found and a few more cas. That means I had lots, lots, lots.

I clean them, cut off the ends and cut them in 4. I cut out any questionable areas inside and cut each piece in half. I don't know if I need to cut out the questionable areas but I am not taking any chances. I put them in two stock pots and covered them with water. I cook them for about 30 minutes till they are good and soft. 

I tried something different this time and I think it makes it easier. I used my immersion blender before I put the mixture in the blender. From the blender it goes in the strainer to remove the seeds.

I ended up with 31 cups of fruit pulp. You can only put about 8 cups of pulp and 7 cups of sugar in a stock pot at a time because it is boiling the whole time and tends to boil over if you put more.

Now, I can only do 2 pots at a time on my little stove and it takes 30 to 40 minutes for it to be done so it took a while. I ended up with 23 jars/containers of jelly. The last time I did a marathon jelly making session it was 4 different kinds. This time it is all guayaba.

Me and everything in my house is sticky. I had to go to the Super for more sugar as I used 27 cups. I had one pan stick but I solved the problem by straining it. I need to remember the one stock pot isn't quite as good as the others and watch it closer.

I still have some clean up to do. I have all the pots soaking. I also need to put all the labels on the jars. I stayed cool while I cooked in one of my new dresses and didn't even burn my hands. A good days work. 

The people here are really good about bringing the containers back and Heather claims she has half a basement full of jars for me to bring down. I told her she just needs to visit more often.