Summer Harvest - Raspberry Jelly, Raspberry Wine & Liquor Recipe

This year has been an especially productive raspberry picking year.  Staying at home due to a Pandemic has allowed me to keep an eye on my raspberry bushes, along with the help of my son, get a leg up on the birds and bears.  I gathered berries every other day for a week and procured a total of about 12 quarts of fresh wild raspberries.

 

In previous years I've canned them or made pies, but this year I decided to make one of my favorites, raspberry jelly.  A pint jar of blackberry or raspberry jelly was going for about $7 a jar at my local orchard market.  It was surprisingly easy.  I am not  a fan of raspberry seeds or jam, so I went the jelly route just on personal preference.  Jam is even easier to make.

After picking them I had to remove all the bits of leaves and little stink bugs etc. that were in mixed in the fruit.  I found the easiest way for this is by soaking them in water, then lifting bunches out with my hand letting the water flow through my fingers into another big bowl of water.   Then doing the same into a strainer. This let the water out so I could put them into recycled berry containers.

I kept them in the refrigerator until I was ready to process.

I first used a blender to puree the berries and extract the juice.  I boiled the puree just because I thought I might get more juice out that way.  After bringing the mash to a boil for about 10 minutes I strained through a fine mesh strainer and allowed the mush to drip all the juice out for a few hours.

 

Then, I returned the pan to the heat and boiled the juice until I could not stir it down and my candy thermometer read 225 degrees.  Then, I added fruit pectin and canned the hot jelly into canning jars that were boiling for 15 minutes, then returned the filled jars for 5 minutes.  Then I removed them and allowed them to cool.

I froze about 3 quarts of berries for later liquor and wine making by placing them in one layer on a baking sheet until they were frozen in my chest freezer.  Then I bagged them for long term storage.

Next, my sister and mother kept asking me for raspberry liquor so I looked into it.  Luckily, I had a bottle of vodka and decided to give it a shot.  First, I pureed about 4 cups of the berries again and poured them into a reused 1/2 gallon glass jug cider came in.  I opted to puree though most instructions just said to mash with a spoon or masher.  I thought why not blend and maybe it would extract more juice.

I poured the mush into the bottle followed by the full bottle of vodka, labeled it, and brought it down into my cellar where I shook it up every week for a month.

After a month I strained it through cheese cloth and added 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  After the sugar was dissolved I poured the mixture into canning jars to age.

The final project was to attempt to make raspberry wine.  I read some recipes online and ordered mason jar airlocks and wine yeast.  I decided to just go small batch with quart sized mason jars as I had a bunch of canning supplies and jars.

Ingredients per jar:

About 2-3 cups of raspberries

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons chilled black tea

a squirt of fruit pectin

1/2 a raisin chopped

1/2 packet of wine yeast

My raspberries were frozen for about a week when the airlocks arrived.  I thawed them out by placing them in the jar with the sugar at room temperature.  The sugar began to extract the juice as they thawed. After an hour or so I used the handle of a wooden spoon to crush and muddle the raspberries in the sugar and add the tea (for tannin), lemon juice (for acid), and 1/2 chopped raisin for some extra nutrients. 

Meanwhile I added 1/2 a packet of wine yeast to a small cup and hydrated with water to activate it for 15 minutes or so, swirling every few minutes.

I added the yeast and stirred and then filled the jar to within an inch of the top with tap water.

closed the lid, added and filled the airlock, and dated the jars before moving them to a storage area about 70-76 degrees (my den bookshelf).

In about 5 weeks it was time to filter out both the liquor and the wine as they had stopped bubbling and fermenting.  I used a strainer lined with cheese cloth and re-bottled the liquid in other mason jars to age some more.  I also started another batch with some more berries from the freezer.

After a month or two more of aging again, pour off the liquid into a new bottle and leave the sediment behind.

Age this for another month or so and then re-bottle again by pouring away, or siphoning, the wine from any sediment.

 

 

 

Enjoy a very rewarding taste of the summertime bounty!

Susquehanna Snakehead Fish - How Do They Taste?

This spring the fish elevator had to be prematurely shut down at the Susquehanna dam due to the number of Asian invasive snakehead fish found getting by the dam.  I decided after hearing much talk about them expanding their range, to try and catch one and see for myself if they were really as tasty as I have heard.

My son and I drove an hour and 1/2 to Havre DeGrace, Maryland and met up with my brother Chris who lived near the river and had a boat.  He does much fishing in the river flats below the dam for striped bass and catfish, but has never seen a snakehead before.  He was skeptical I could catch one to say the least.  I told him they like shallow weed beds and tend to prefer buzz baits and top water splashing lures.  I set up my young son with a weedless frog and I put on a buzz bait.  We stopped at the second weed bed he knew about and I hooked and landed our first snakehead!

We fished the rest of the day but only landed a few bass.  I was excited to cook this one up!

I was shocked when I finally got home at 9pm and the fish which had been out of water and sealed in a contractor trash bag in the back on my vehicle for many hours was still alive!  These things are tough and I later learned they can survive up to 4 days outside of water.  That would explain the excessive slime. 

The fish was a bear to fillet.  It was bloody and the scales were like plastic plates.  I soaked the fillets in some salt water overnight and they were a nice pink color and meaty. 

The next day for lunch after rinsing in fresh water, I fried the fillets in butter with just a little lemon pepper seasoning to taste what the true flavor of the fish was. 

The moment of truth came and I am really impressed. 

 

The meat was a little more firm in consistency, but the closest thing I can compare it to was cod.  It was white and mild.  I believe this fish has ranked number 2 in my book just behind fresh caught trout.  My wife refused to try it because of the name, and I didn't push her too hard as there would be more for me.  My son and I both loved it.  I think I will start referring to this fish by its the new name of "Chesapeake Cod". It is definitely one of my favorites.

Trailing a Deer & Reading Sign

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Originally published in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine online 1/2020 (tradbow.com)

https://tradbow.com/the-waiting-is-the-hardest-part/

The sun broke the horizon on this particular crisp early November day, and I sat there peacefully watching the yellow and red leaves periodically fluttering to the ground under the influences of a steady low breeze.

Then, I hear crunching behind my tree and I slowly turn my head over my right shoulder as I see a mature whitetail buck steadily trodding downhill.  Tall bright-white forked antler tines reminded me of a mule deer, and its large frame colored in more of a tan/grey hue gave this particular buck some unique attributes.

I calmed myself by some deep belly breathing as is kept on course that would carry it directly to a trail the stand was placed specifically to cover.  I was careful not to draw prematurely and expose myself to his peripheral vision, but as soon as he turned and stepped slightly downhill away from me I drew to anchor.  Looking at a spot of raised fur above where the front leg met the body, I watched as my orange fletch completely disappeared though the tan body a little back, perhaps about the last rib or two.

The buck instantly exploded away from the impact direction and crashed through multiflora rose and vines in a panicked escape.

I knew the arrow was a little farther back than I would have liked, but convinced myself that his slightly quartering position caught at least one lung and probably the liver.   I glanced at my watch marking the time and sat reliving the action. I took a clementine from my cargo pocket and tried to relax as I passed the time with a snack.  After 45 minutes, I slowly eased out of the tree and crept over to the impact area.  I saw the scuffed hoof prints of his two front feet as he launched into his run.  There was no visible blood until I reached where he landed after his first jump.  There on the leaves, I found large blotches of dark red blood.  My arrow lay there sticking out of the leaf litter and covered in the same blood, broken just in front of where the fletch began.  Picking up the shaft dirt was only present on one side of the Ace Standard broadhead.

Continuing a snails pace, I saw blood sign on both sides as he ran.  A positive that two holes were leaking. However, after  about 45 more yards the faucet turned to a drip.  Then nothing.  Then blood again after about 5 more yards. I texted my friend and he suggested I give it some time. It was getting warm so I backed out and walked slowly and quietly back to my truck.  There I shed a layer, took a drink of cold coffee, and planned my next move.

I decided to still hunt my way back to the last blood in the overgrown hedges by a route through the main woods.  Later I would find this a major mistake as I ended up not far the last bed I found blood in.

Resuming the trail I eventually determined the direction of travel through some very thick hedgerow of multiflora rose.  Blood was specks now 10 yards or more apart.  I ended up having to literally crawl through a tunnel of vines to reach the last blood I found.  I surmised this was his bed, dark red blood stained two spots on either side, and no deer was to be found.  I searched the remainder of the day, the morning after, and a few hours on Monday.  Never finding the deer.

My brother, who has vast experience following wounded arrow struck deer, immediately confirmed upon seeing the photos, "Looks like a liver hit, they can last upwards of 2 hours with that kind of wound".

Initial good blood, but dark red indicating a liver hit.

The last blood and his bed.  In a tunnel of tangle he was watching his back trail.

This may be one of the hardest things to do after an arrow flies from the bow at a buck.  After many years of archery hunting deer, I am still humbled by my inexperience and the toughness of the quarry.  Learning lessons is part of the sport, but perhaps I can help others learn some of this an easier way by writing one of my most recent lessons.

My father taught me early on to wait at least 45 minutes before taking up the trail on a well hit animal.  He said, "an hour is better", but 45 minutes is the absolute minimum.  I still believe that is a good rule of thumb, but the caveat here is we are confident we have heart and/or both lungs hit.

Knowing where the animal is hit can go a long way to giving the hunter that first clue on how to proceed.  I prefer brightly colored  fletching and a fully painted white shaft or crest, others go a more modern route of lighted nocks.  Whichever method you prefer, seeing where a hit might be can help immensely after the shot.  Next look for clues where the impact area is.  Do you see hair?  Is it white or brown?  Look for the arrow or first blood sign.  What color is the blood, dark or bright? Does it have bubbles or foam?  Is it slimy or watery?  Does it have an odor? Are there food particles?  Take your time and examine it like a crime scene detective or scientist.  Look for the evidence and take time to consider it.  When in doubt, back out and wait.  If the evidence points to a gut shot, wait even longer.

Deer are tough customers and can survive and totally recover from a one lung hit, let alone not tip over an hour after being struck.

Table 1: Suggested minimum wait time before starting a trail

Blood	Indication	Minimum Wait Time
Pink and foamy	Lung and/or heart	45 minutes
Thick dark red	Liver	2 hours
Watery or slimy	Paunch or gut	6 hours

 

This buck was one lunged and kicked from its bed over 2 1/2 hours after the hit, where it made a final run before collapsing.  

Speaking of patience and reading sign, I am starting to believe this is one of the most overlooked aspects of the younger bowhunting generation.

One evening I was getting some coffee in a WAWA store when I noticed two obvious hunters clad from head to toe in the latest camouflage pattern.  I asked how they made out this evening.  The one spoke up and told me he shot a nice doe right at 6pm this evening with his compound, but it kept going and they never found it.  Now, it was only 8pm as we were chatting.  I was thinking to myself, how long did you wait after the shot before picking up the trail?  Trailing too soon, especially in the dark is a recipe for kicking the animal up and pushing it out of your range.  He should have just started trailing it at 8pm, and I'm betting chances would be better he would have found it.

Another bowhunter I know texted me he shot one of his biggest bucks to date at around 5pm one evening.  He said he was confident he struck the deer in the neck. By 5:24pm he was telling me the first blood was foamy.  Right away this told me windpipe, but did he strike the carotid or jugular? It has been my experience that with a neck shot deer it will either be down within 50 yards and a lot of blood on the ground, or it will be a long time if it ever succumbs.  At around 5:45pm he said the blood was now almost completely shut down and the animal was heading uphill.  I suggested he come back in the morning, but he continued to trail to no avail. When he finally gave up, he told me he found the buck bedded twice within 150 yards.  He just kept pushing it.

 This buck was given lots of time due to a neck shot, but he was found within 45 yards of the stand and didn't go far.

I should have learned the lesson several years ago on Maryland's Eastern shore hunting Sika deer.  I was fortunate to make a decent shot on a world class Sika stag at dusk on the last day of a grueling 3 day hunt.  I was way out into the marsh in the fading light as a monster Stag emerged from the brush and my first impression was that he has two Christmas trees growing at angles from his head!  I had already missed a few opportunities at smaller stags that weekend, and I doubled down on my focus as he walked 20 yards in front and broadside.  I saw the arrow strike at about the last, or second to last rib, but confident I got al least one lung.  The arrow was buried in the marsh on the other side.  Now, it was getting dark, a mile back in the marsh, I didn't have a good light or GPS.  I was impatient and wanted to use some of the last available light, so after 20 minutes I shimmied down out of the tree and took up the copious trail.  Just after where I last heard him splash there was a little hummock of dry ground and in it was a big pool of bubbly bright pink blood.  I got one lung, but obviously pushed it.  I was confident it would be lying just ahead, but an hour later and 1/4 mile into the marsh the trail crossed a ditch that had water over my waders.  I was forced to retreat in defeat. 

I still regret my impatience and feel confident that if I waited longer, I would have found him in that first bed. Next time I’ll be prepared!

When bowhunting I have come to realize the importance of waiting if the signs do not point you toward a quick recovery. As Tom Petty put it in song, “The waiting is the hardest part,” and so true in our modern fast-paced and immediate gratification society. Older and wiser, it may have finally sunk in.