C is for Caramels

Psalm 119:103  How sweet are Your words to my taste!  Yes, sweeter than honey [caramels] to my mouth!

When I was growing up, my grandmother always made caramels at Christmas time.  Butter, cream and sugar.  Whoever thought, ‘I think I’ll put all this together, boil and make into candies,’ was a genius!!  I think part of the reason Gram made them was because living on the farm, she had plenty of butter and cream.  The other reason, I believe, is because they made great Christmas gifts for friends, neighbors and teachers.

It was better to make them on nice sunny days because of the humidity.  You could make them on cloudy days, however you would have to watch them closely so not to scorch them.

The recipe says, ‘bring to a boil and boil hard on a medium fire for two-hours.’  Although I don’t have a wood fire to cook them, generally speaking, it almost always takes two-hours to bring them up to temperature.

She would let them cool and set.  We could hardly wait to try a ‘Snubber!!’  If no other piece, at least the corner pieces would be off shape to try.

While they cooled, she would cut wax paper into about 3” squares to wrap all the delicious candies.

Then wrap and hide!!!  Yes, hide!!  For some strange reason, she needed to hide them from us!!  I suppose if we grabbed a handful every day after school for a week, she wouldn’t have enough left; and she knew she needed most of them for all the gift boxes she planned to deliver.

Guess what?  We knew ALL the hiding places!!  I imagine she knew that too!!  They need to stay cold so they won’t melt, so they were usually on the porch or in the pantry in tins.

She always boxed up some for my teachers and friends.  Recently several of my classmates got together and after pondering what to take, I decided to make some caramels.  I usually only make them at Christmas time too, so I was a little hesitant because I knew they would melt some when out in the summer heat.

I kept them in the freezer until our get together and put an ice pack in the bottom of my potato basket to keep them cool.  They were a hit, everyone loved them!!

 

COPYRIGHT

© Jeanne Bugbee and The Lord Supplies, The Nose Bump Blog, 2017 to date.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeanne Bugbee, The Lord Supplies and The Nose Bump Blog.  The Nose Bump blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

 

P is for Pickled Eggs

Job 6:6  “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

I don’t always recycle, but when I do, I use my pickled beet juice to make picked eggs!!

Until about two-years ago I had never had a pickled egg.  Then one day a friend on FB posted that they were craving pickled eggs.  For some reason I thought, ‘they might be kind of good.’  I like deviled eggs, seemed like they would be similar.

I googled pickled eggs and got a million recipes in a nanosecond.  Pretty soon I found one I thought would be good and made it.  The recipe said to leave them a couple weeks before eating to get the flavors.  They were delicious!!

My sister-in-law gave me this little egg cooker for my birthday a year or two ago.   Being a creature of habit, I was a little hesitant to think that this cooker could cook perfect hard cooked eggs better than my saucepan and water.  I gave it a fighting chance.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!  The egg cooker cooks hard cooked eggs for deviled eggs, and my new favorite pickled eggs, perfectly!!  I’ve probably used it a dozen times and each time the eggs are easy to peel and thoroughly done!!

Three or four months later I decided to make another batch of pickled eggs and try another recipe.  They were good, but I preferred the first batch.

A couple months ago I decided it was time to make another batch of pickled eggs.  I had just finished a jar of pickled beets and thought, ‘I bet that pickled beet juice would make excellent pickled eggs!!?!!’

I hard cooked, yes, hard cooked, the eggs because that’s the correct term in my Home Economics world, and put them into my pickled beet juice jar.  After letting them marinate a couple weeks, I had one in my salad.  They were the BEST batch of pickled eggs yet!!!  Definitely a favorite!!

And the pickled egg.

 

COPYRIGHT

© Jeanne Bugbee and The Lord Supplies, The Nose Bump Blog, 2017 to date.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeanne Bugbee, The Lord Supplies and The Nose Bump Blog.  The Nose Bump blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.