This is not this year’s jams, but pretty typical, though I did not get to the rhubarb (second from right) or salal (left) this year. I missed the raspberries entirely. Still, I love these colors, and will post a new photo after the pepper jams are done. Maybe I should label them.

Today the rain has come hard and steady, just as Gary said, and we might have a mostly pajama day, though I need to make two batches of pepper jam.

We had a number of errands yesterday during our typically swift trip to Portland. There was this list, but I did not try on new shoes and we did not get to Cargo’s semi-annual sale. We did get to the watch store to see about cleaning and repairing Gary’s gold watch. (Sticker shock so no progress on that front.) We bought two clay pots and some bulbs at Portland Nursery. Gary found his favorite beer. At the Portland’s Farmer’s Market in the Portland State green space we found many things, but the key purpose of the day was buying peppers for the freezer.

In September, Westwind Gardens in Forest Grove shows up and fire-roasts their organic peppers on site. They bring bins of many varieties of chilis and have two huge rolling gas-fired cage roasters. Imagine a Bingo or lottery number cage, hand-cranked from one side. Now make the cage over two feet across and three feet wide in a stand about six feet high. The roaster puts in several pounds of the fresh chilis and turns the cage over the huge gas flame, cranking them over the fire to char the skins. That end of the market is thick with the smell. Luscious! I’ve been buying their peppers for years and freezing several pounds for use over the coming year. I never get enough. Ten pounds is not enough, but that’s all I bought yesterday. I chose three varieties of the dozens they grow: a mild red, a moderately hot red, and a medium poblano. The hot and some of the poblano are destined for jam. And I will hope for another trip to the Portland Farmers’ Market to pick up more for the freezer.

While at the Market, we had our favorite cotilla cheese and artichoke tamales for breakfast at Salvadore Molly’s (they recognize us!). I did not buy the yummy caramel corn or apricot brandy or a bag of vegetables as I usually do. This trip was all about the peppers, but we did manage two whole grain loaves from Pearl Bakery (one for the freezer and a cookie for Gary to eat right away), two chocolate bars made only with coconut and cocoa, fresh masa from Three Sisters, Italian plums and hard-stem garlic, and a pound and a half of wild black huckleberries.

Gary did all the driving, but when we got home, my work began. Usually, I put them straight into the freezer in the plastic bags they are packed in. But this year I determined to save myself having the clean them as I need them but doing it all up front. A fine sieve inside a colander in the sink are designed the catch what might otherwise go down the drain. I put on gloves and worked on the two pounds of hot red chilis under a running stream of cold water. The charred skin rubbed off easily, then I split the peppers, removed stem and seeds and any tough membrane, and rinsed, drained and packed them into the fridge. Then after a break (my eyes burned a little) and without gloves I cleaned the other eight pounds. Most of these went into the freezer in glass containers and with each half-pound separated by parchment paper.

I repacked the huckleberries into one-cup portions and froze five packets for use through the winter. With the sixth cup, I made James Beard’s Huckleberry Cake (no, blueberries are not an adequate substitute). We will have some of that today with whipped cream.

Today I must make the red and green pepper jams, and I have the last of the strawberry shrub to use with the hot red peppers. The green peppers will get some lime, I think. Organic sugar and cider vinegar. Mixing red and green peppers does taste great, but the color becomes brown and I like my jams to be pretty colors. So there will be red hot and milder green jams. I should like to pack all these into half-pint jars, but I have used nearly all of them this summer. Just four jars left, and I could use a dozen more. (The quart jars will never see peaches or tomato sauce again—anyone want them?) I have pint jars, too, but a pint of pepper jam is a lot to open. Gary surprised me by not having a fit when I suggested buying more half-pint jars. We didn’t want to go anyplace today, but we will go out for jars. Maybe he likes the jam?

I am already forgetting what flavors of jam I put up earlier in the summer. There is strawberry with a bit of huckleberry, strawberry with something else; apricot with lemon and ginger (specifically for making rugelach); peach with some of last fall’s poblano, I think; and nectarine with . . . ? Oh dear, I can’t recall.

The remaining peppers will later make black bean chili verde, vegetable stew, enchiladas, and butternut soup. Maybe I will make white-cheddar-and-mild-red-pepper yeasted rolls. It’s been a long time since I made them. A slow rise overnight in the fridge, and then breakfast!

Flavor and color. A promise of future delights.