One of the best things about summer is fresh fruit, right off the tree, vine or bush whenever possible. Have you ever picked a tomato out of the garden on a sunny day? It's like eating a mouthful of warm sunshine. I also like peas in the pod. You pry open the pod and dig your tongue in to lick out the line of peas. They are so green and luscious. Then you get into strawberries, peaches and watermelons - all the juicy fruits that dribble down your chin, onto your clothes and leave your fingers a sticky mess.

Right from when I was a baby my Mom would be canning, making jam and pickles. Everything that was food preservation. Some things didn't work out very well. Most famous might be those pearl onions that were a royal pain to peel and then all spoiled in their jars. I never saw the dumping of the onions but we laugh about it when it comes up in our conversation. I do remember peeling all those onions, that was a lot of work. Strawberries are much easier though the stems start to dig under my fingernails sometimes. I could use a knife to cut them off but that seems to waste a lot of berry and take more time.

I think my favourite fruit to preserve are peaches. They don't take a lot of work to peel at all. When you let them sit in boiled water for a bit the skins almost slip right off on their own. From there you just need to cut them up and pull out the pits. They do make a lot of juice over the table, clothes and fingers but that's not so bad when you can eat the peaches and lick all that juice from your fingers when you're done.

Summer without fruit would be sadly lacking. I hope you all, at least once in your life, attempt some kind of food preservation. It's messy, the results are never guaranteed but it really does bring summer to your home and most especially your mouth.