The Bath Bomb Rainbow

I went into bath bomb production again, with the goal of making six batches because I love the idea of a rainbow of bath bombs. I repeated some popular scents and tried some new. The latest lineup:

Fuschia – Island Vacation
Orange – Mandarin Myrrh
Yellow – Sore Muscle Blend
Green – Wake Up Rosemary
Blue – Celestial Waters
Purple – Lavender Herb

I’m pleased with the fuschia, blue, and yellow in particular, which produced vivid colors. The purple is so pale as to be nearly nonexistent, so I think I’ll play with mixing my own using pink and blue. The process continues to be more intuitive for me, so that I don’t have as many difficulties with bombs that won’t leave the molds, or overly crumbly specimens. Each batch makes six bombs. In general, my ingredients are baking soda, citric acid, witch hazel, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, fragrance, and color. For the Island Vacation bombs, I decided to experiment with extra virgin coconut oil in place of the sweet almond oil, and everything turned out well. In the past, I’ve added powdered goat’s milk to some of my scents, but it’s really expensive for something that doesn’t make much of a difference in the final product. I also had more trouble with clumping when I added it, and it’s nice to have a vegan product as well.

Summer Canning Season!

I’ve put up 16 jars of Blackberries With Zinfandel and 10 of Blackberries With Peaches. The peach-blackberry combination is new to me, and I quite like it. The Blackberries With Zinfandel was dubbed “Joy Juice” by a friend, and it’s a favorite of mine. Over the weekend, we went pickin’ again and collected a gallon each of blackberries and blueberries, and a whole lotta peaches (technical term of measurement). My first batch of Peaches With Pecans and Amaretto produced 17 jars, a huge batch. I have about 1/3 of my peaches left, and expect I’ll make a second batch rather than play with something new – the peachpecanamaretto goodness is my personal favorite, and I think I ran out of last year’s supply sometime in January. A very sad state of affairs.

I struck out on finding a local place to pick raspberries. I need to visit the Georgia Farmer’s Market to see if they can be found there. As an alternative, I bought organic, non-local raspberries and combined them with our blueberries and blackberries and a splash of Kirschwasser for Mixed Berries With Kirsch. The raspberries are crazy expensive in contrast to the local pick-your-own berries, but the idea seized me. Perhaps I’ll try a blackberry-blueberry combination on its own. This batch made 21 jars, another huge one. Really pushing the bounds of my kitchen equipment, actually.

With plenty of blueberries left, I’ve prepped a batch for Blueberries in Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, it’s Sunday, and I live in the Bible belt, so I can’t buy Pinot until tomorrow (sigh). It’s just as well, really – after two batches and 38 total jars, I’m pretty exhausted and everything in the kitchen is sticky. I don’t have the slightest idea how I got berry jam on my forehead, and I think I’ll enjoy Blueberries in Pinot Noir more tomorrow. The Disaronno bottle is still out, so it’s time to pour a slug and call it a day.

Photos tomorrow-ish!

Coming Soon – Blackberries in Zinfandel

Today is the canning of Blackberries in Zinfandel. Saturday’s outing to Southern Belle Farms yielded two gallons of blackberries. Someone remind me not to go picking on the first weekend unless I get there first thing in the morning. We arrived at noon when it was already hot and most of the bushes had been picked out by early risers. It took an hour to fill two buckets, and most of those berries were found tucked into the middle of the bushes or underneath. Still, it certainly seems like more of an accomplishment to return home with enough berries for a couple batches of preserves!

Sunday, I simmered five pounds of the blackberries with sugar and lemon juice, then tucked them into the fridge. Today, I will add a bottle of Zinfandel, simmer, and transfer to sterile jars to seal.

I have more blackberries, and have yet to decide what to do with them. If I can find somewhere to pick raspberries, Blackberries and Raspberries would be nice. If I can find decent peaches this early, Blackberries and Peaches is an option.

The Aha! Moment

Bath bombs are happily packaged. I got bored with using one color of ribbon, so I dug into my ribbon stash (What? You don’t have a ribbon stash?) and mixed it up a bit. This used up most of my narrow ribbon, and I thought, I’ll have to restock. Then it hit me. Yarn. I always have yards left over when I finish a knitting project. I have every possible color. Better still, it’s reusing instead of buying something JUST for packaging! I like the compostable bags despite their crinkly nature. I printed labels and hand-wrote the scent on each. I’m delighted with these.

They are coming with me to Pine Lake’s Clubhouse tomorrow, along with preserves (and mini cheesecakes for sampling). I’ll be there all afternoon.

Meanwhile, join me on Facebook by clicking right here. Once fifty people have “liked” my page, I’ll start a monthly giveaway of a special treat to one lucky person.

In which I post a bath bomb photo and promise more later

I’ve gotten into a nice bath bomb groove. I can tell when I’ve reached the right consistency, and I have a master recipe that’s consistent. Above, I’ve added some of the dried rose buds left from making Strawberries With Champagne and Rose Petals for a pretty accent on the pink-tinted English Rose bombs. I tried adding more petals in the middle, but they interfered with the compaction. The scent is one-note, but it’s pleasant.

I also made green-tinted Rosemary Wake Up blend bombs today. The scent is more minty than I would have hoped, but it’s still lovely and stimulating.

I’m about to make more Lavender Herb bath bombs. My plan is to take some in-progress photos and post them later.

I have packaged quite a few jars of preserves for sale on Sunday at the Mini Vendor Fair during Pine Lake’s Tour of Homes. I have no idea how many people to expect, but I’ll have my knitting with me in case it’s thin.

A sign that I’m starting to internalize this “attractive presentation” thing: I splurged on the pretty jars (bottom of the photo) for Strawberries With Champagne and Rose Petals. I chose a simpler wide-mouth jar for Strawberries With Mint and Black Pepper, and the basic regular-mouth jars with Strawberries With Vanilla Bean. I like the visual distinction among the three (all jars are the same size, half-pint, so it’s a purely cosmetic detail).

The Shawl Photo Shoot

The Autumnal Fire Shawl: 100% silk ($75)

The Spring Green Haze Shawl: 100% bamboo ($40)

The Storm Cloud Mini-Shawl: silk/mohair ($40)

The Rainbow Mini-Shawl: wool/nylon ($30)

The Vera Mini-Shawl: wool/nylon ($30)

At last! Strawberry season!

April is one of my favorite months. I check the websites of the pick-your-own strawberry farms every day waiting for the message, “Strawberries are ripe!” Nothing tastes better than strawberries ripened in the sun. I got a bit carried away…and picked four gallons. And that was only the first trip this spring. My daughter is already asking when we can go back. “After Mommy cans what we picked this time, sweetie. Here, have another bowl of strawberries.”

I have three batches going. All are inspired by Christine Ferber’s methods, which don’t use commercial pectin. Instead, they take three days, and some use a premade green apple jelly (that I made back in February). I am just crazy enough to prefer this. There’s nothing wrong with pectin, but I like the softer set without it, and I feel as though the fruit somehow sparkles more with just lemon juice and sugar. My first batches are Strawberries With Vanilla Bean and Strawberries With Mint and Black Pepper. These I’ve made in the past (and loved). Within a couple of hours of picking, I had all three batches macerating with sugar and lemon juice in the refrigerator. Yes, I should have pictures of this step. In fact, I need to pluck up my courage and set up a tripod so I can post a video tutorial. My photography/documentation is still a work in progress. The new batch, just because I had so many strawberries and needed a third batch this time, will be Strawberries With Pink Champagne and Rose Petals. I’ve preserved with wine before, and I don’t expect the bubbles will actually add anything, but it adds a decadent cachet, I think. On Day Two, each batch is brought to a simmer, returned to the bowl, and stays in the refrigerator for the night. On Day Three, the canning begins. One at a time, the liquid component of each batch is strained into a preserving pan and brought to a healthy boil, long enough to reach 221 degrees. The partially cooked strawberries and re-added to this syrup, brought to a simmer, then ladled into the jars. I use a hot water bath method for sealing the jars. On Day Three is when the flavorings are added (with the exception of the champagne, which is added to that batch on Day One). The rose petals will be added to the champagne batch, two vanilla beans to the Vanilla Bean batch, and freshly ground pepper and chopped mint from my garden to the Mint and Black Pepper batch.

Are you as excited about strawberry season as I am?