IS COOKING REALLY CRAFTING ?

I love to craft more than almost anything else in the world.


I hate to cook more than almost anything else in the world.

So how was it that I just finished making 18 pints of pear
perserves. Not only did that involve cooking, I had to harvest
the pears from a tree older than me. Then I had to wash them,
peel them, slice them up, wash them again, put them in a large
bowl, layer of sliced pears,layer of sugar,etc over and over until
the bowl was almost to the top. Covered the bowl and let it sit over
night. Next day I used the biggest heavest pot and lid that I had.
Put all the pears in pot, turned it on medium.(No water added because
the sugar had pulled a lot of water out of pears and that was all the
liquid that was needed.

After they came to a boil, I turned them down to simmer, left the
pot lid slightly adjar so that steam would excape and to keep pot
from running over. They cooked most of day with me stirring them about
every thirty minutes or so. DO NOT let them scorch ! UGH !

When they had reduced down to about 1/2 half of what was in the pot,
I started taste-testing. Water has turned into pear syrup and it should
be about as thick a pancake syrup, if not add more sugar ,1-2 cups.
Cook somemore. I like for syrup to get a little thicker and sticky.
When syrup and pears got just like I like them, I turned burner off and
let things cool for a bit so that I could touch pot with potholder.

Some of the perserves, I put in BALL MASON CANNING JARS following their
instructions. Some I put in freezer containers (yes you can freeze Pear
preserves) let them cool a bit, then into fridge and from there they will
go into freezer, if we don't eat them first.

I think that really was crafting don't you?