Harvest and Preservation

Adam with a bowl full of tomatoes he picked from our back yard garden.

This week we have seen a change in weather. It started out fairly sunny and warm and then we have gotten some rain, wind and cooler temperatures in the past few days. It starting to really look like fall around here. However, with the late gardening season we are still working on harvesting and preserving some things from the garden as they ripen and mature.

Although I am happy that we finally got a nice, warm summer I am glad that fall is here. I love the cozy feeling that comes with harvesting and enjoying the summer's bounty. This past week we have had many adventures here in the suburbs, in the country and out on the Oregon coast. We have been enjoying the best this area has to offer and we are so lucky to live here!

Suburban Garden:

Since I have been very busy this week canning pears the only thing that we did in the garden was to pick tomatoes. One day when I came to pick up Adam from preschool he asked me about the tomatoes in the school garden. He asked "Are they ready yet?" I said that some of them were ready but they were not ours. I did say that we had some tomato plants in our garden and we could pick those. So, later on that afternoon we took our bowls out and picked tomatoes. It was great fun! Adam even said "This is so much fun!" He really enjoyed picking lots of tomatoes and seeing which ones were ripe. He loves to take a big bite out of the tomatoes too! Yum! I was so happy that we already had such a great harvest from only 5 plants! I was amazed that everything did so well despite the fact that I had almost completely ignored most of the garden and yard in the past few weeks because of being so busy with canning.

A big bowl full of tomatoes from our garden.

Adam with a tomato he just picked out of the garden.

Country Garden:

Last Friday we visited the country garden again and many vegetables and fruits are getting ready to harvest. Because of the rain we had the previous weekend many of the cornstalks had fallen down because they got so tall and had a hard time in all of the rain and wind. However, there are still so many great things to harvest and with any luck we will be able to harvest some corn in the next few days. As you can see from the photos below many of the vegetables in the garden have small yields but many more like the tomatoes and grapes will give us a lot to harvest and preserve. My mom has been doing a lot of canning and drying lately. She has canned and dried over 50 pounds of tomatoes so far as well as dried large quart bags full of pears. Later on in the season I will post the totals of all of the canned/frozen vegetables and fruits we have preserved. It is a lot of work to do but well worth it when we think of how well we will be eating this winter!

Also on this lovely Friday Adam got a chance to "drive" the tractor by himself by steering the wheel. Luckily the tractor goes very slowly so Grandpa Dale walked alongside Adam and corrected his steering along the way. Adam was so thrilled to be able to drive the tractor almost by himself! He also got to take a very short ride on Grandpa Dale's motorcycle down the driveway and back slowly- what a thrill for him! He said that it was "the best ride ever" just like the tractor ride!

Adam walking through the "corn forest" in the country garden.

A small cauliflower forming inside the plant.

Small brussels sprouts forming on the branches of the plant.

A large winter squash forming on the vine.

A bell pepper.

Green beans ready to harvest.

I love the look of these heirloom tomatoes on the vine.

Some lovely grapes that we will use to make delicious juice.

An amazing and beautiful head of cabbage.

Some sweet green grapes that are almost ready.

Adam eating grapes from the vine. He ate a whole bunch by himself!

A beautifully shaped old apple tree on the edge of the orchard. These apples make great cider!

Apples on the old tree. They are almost ready to harvest!

Grandpa Dale and Adam on Grandpa's motorcycle.

Adam "driving" the tractor with Grandpa Dale by his side in the orchard.

Adam was so proud to be able to steer the tractor himself.

A Trip to Cannon Beach:

Me with Adam and Paul near the tide pools at Cannon Beach.

The weekend before last we took a trip to the coast with some friends of ours. We rented a house together in the Cannon Beach area. Although it was sunny on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were rainy, cold and windy. We still made the most of it as Adam loves to go into the ocean and doesn't seem to mind the cold. One of the days we all headed out to the tide pools and saw sea stars, sea anemones and mussels. It was so magical!

Griffin and Adam on the train.

We also rode the scenic coastal railroad from Rockaway Beach to Garibaldi and back. Both Adam and our friend's son Griffin really enjoyed the train.

Paul with Adam in the ocean. Adam loves the waves!

Every day, rain or shine Adam loved to go into the ocean waves. He does not seem to mind the cold and really loves the water. I can imagine him doing lots of water sports as soon as he is able to swim! It is a wonder and a delight for me to see how fearless Adam is and how much he enjoys everything!

Spiced Ginger Pears:

A jar of the spiced ginger pears that I canned.

This canning season I wanted to can pears but I got bored with the thought of plain canned pears. So, I came up with this spiced pears recipe that is so delicious! These pears are great with breakfast or spooned over vanilla ice cream! Yum!

Spiced Ginger Pears:

This recipes yields around 2 quarts of pears.

12 cups pears- peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
-lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup brown sugar

As you cut the pears place them in a dutch oven or cooking pot. Pour lemon juice over the pears as you cut them and stir them occasionally so that they don't brown. Once you have all of your chopped pears done, add the cinnamon stick, brown sugar and candied ginger to the pot. Stir it thoroughly and cook on the stove on medium heat until it bubbles and simmers. Ladle the pears into hot sterilized jars and seal. Process the jars in a boiling hot water bath for 15 minutes. Enjoy!


Making a Lantern:

Adam with some of the materials to make his lantern.

Last Friday Adam's preschool The Creative Children's Center had a lantern walk at a local park in the evening. A few days before we made the lantern at home. Adam loved cutting the paper, ribbons and fabric to decorate the soda bottle lantern. He also really loved dipping a brush in a glue/water mixture to glue the decorations to the lantern. Here are some photos of the process:

Adam cutting out paper to decorate the lantern while Paul looks on.

Adam ready to glue a piece of paper.

The finished lantern. Later we added a handle and put a small flashlight inside.


Paul and Adam on the lantern walk at Rood Bridge Park.

Sour Cream Whole Wheat Bread:

A loaf of the sour cream whole wheat bread.

Last week I was almost out of bread so I decided to make another different type of bread from the book I have by James Beard "Beard on Bread." I love this bread because it is very soft and has a great flavor. I changed the recipe a bit because I only had 1 cup of sour cream so I put in 1 cup of whole milk yogurt to go with it. Also, I substituted whole wheat flour for half of the flour in the recipe to make it healthier. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons yeast
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups sour cream (or 1 cup sour cream + 1 cup whole milk yogurt)
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 to 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

1. Combine the yeast, sugar, and water in a small bowl and allow to proof for 5 minutes.

2. Put the sour cream, salt, and soda in a mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture.

3. Then add 4 cups of the flours, cup by cup, to make a very wet, sticky dough, beating hard with a wooden spoon after each addition.

4. Scrape the dough out onto a floured board. Lift the dough up and fold it over. Then, move the dough clockwise and repeat the folding process until the dough is not as sticky and can be worked with your hands. Add a little flour if needed to prevent sticking but do not add too much. This process will take about 10 minutes.

5. Place the dough into a clean, oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in bulk- about 2 hours. Punch down the dough.

6. Then, divide dough into 2 equal pieces and form into loaves. Place into greased 9x5 loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.

7. Heat your oven to 375F. Bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the top and the bottom.

8. Let the loaves cool thoroughly before slicing.

Enjoy!


Note: I should have let the dough rise more in the pans before baking the loaves so they didn't rise as much as I would have liked. I was in a hurry that day- but the bread is still delicious!


Spiced Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes:

Last Friday for Adam's preschool's lantern walk I made these cupcakes to share with the families after the walk. They were a big hit and I was glad everyone enjoyed them!

Spiced pumpkin carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing.

Spiced Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes or Layer Cake:

I found out about this recipe from my husband Paul who saw it made by Ben Starr on Master Chef. I made this cake to try it out this summer and we really liked it. It also makes excellent cupcakes. This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes or a 3 layer cake with 9 inch cake pans. Enjoy!

Wet Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened (do NOT use margarine)

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 ¼ cups pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups grated carrots

Dry Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached and I prefer King Arthur flour)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon each nutmeg, allspice, cloves

1 teaspoon salt

Fold In:

6 egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Frosting Ingredients:

1 8oz package cream cheese (room temperature)

1 stick softened butter

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. 1. Grease your muffin tins with pan spray if making the cupcakes or line them with muffin papers. I also like to grease the muffin papers as well. If you are making the layer cake spray the bottom of the pan with pan spray then fit the bottom of each pan with a parchment paper circle and then grease the entire pan with pan spray. After that flour the pans by putting around a tablespoon of flour into each pan then then shaking out the excess into the sink.

2. 2. Preheat your oven to 325F.

3. 3. Beat the softened butter in an electric mixer until it is light and creamy.

4. 4. Add the granulated sugar and the brown sugar to the butter. Beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.

5. Add the egg yolks to the mixture and beat for 3 more minutes.

6inAdd the pumpkin puree and vanilla and beat for 3 more minutes.

7. Fold in the grated carrots by hand or beat at a very low speed to incorporate them.

8. In a separate bowl combine with a whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and salt.

9. Sift the dry ingredients through a sifter and add them to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Mix on the slowest speed until combined.

10. In a separate bowl or in a clean mixing bowl beat the 6 egg whites and the cream of tartar until stiff peaks are formed. Start out at a very high speed but slow down to a lower speed once the egg whites change from a yellow color to a very white color. Once the egg whites reach the stiff peak consistency gently fold in 1/3 of them into the batter by hand using a rubber spatula. Then, add the rest of the egg whites into the batter until no more white streaks show.

11. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tins/cups or cake pans. Bake the cake layers for about 30 minutes at 325F. Bake the cupcakes for around 20-25 minutes at 325F. Check the cakes with a toothpick- when it comes out clean without any batter clinging to it the cakes are done.

12. Remove from the oven and cool in the pans for 15 minutes. Then dump upside down (gently!) onto a cooling rack to cool completely. If you are making the layer cake you may want to freeze the layers for about 45 minutes after they are fully cooled to room temperature. This will make them easier to frost and assemble.

13. Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting:

Frosting Ingredients:

1 8oz package cream cheese (room temperature)

1 stick softened butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter with a hand or stand mixer on high speed until it’s light and fluffy.

2. Then slowly begin to add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until it is fully incorporated and the frosting begins to thicken up.

3. Add the vanilla. Beat on slow speed until the vanilla begins to get mixed in, then beat on the highest speed possible for 2 minutes to ensure a light and fluffy frosting.

To frost cupcakes:

I like to just add a swirl of the cream cheese icing in the center of the cupcake using a decorating tube filled with frosting. Then, I sprinkle large sugar crystals (like turbinado sugar) on top. Or, you may frost the entire top of the cupcake if you wish.

To frost a layer cake:

1. Place 1 layer of cake on a cake plate or stand- place it so the flat side/bottom faces up. Frost this side.

2. Add the second layer and repeat.

3. Add the final layer and then frost the sides and top of the cake. If the frosting is uneven or not smooth I like to decorate the cake with something like coconut or nuts to cover it up and add some interest. You could also add some frosting swirls or other decorations.

Souffleed Macaroni and Cheese:

I made this dish the other night for dinner alongside a large portion of steamed green beans from the country garden and some broccoli. It was delicious!

Souffleed Macaroni and Cheese hot out of the oven!

This is a recipe that I enjoy making in the fall and winter. It is a satisfying and comforting dish to serve alongside a large serving of steamed veggies or a salad! This recipe is one that I clipped from Gourmet magazine when it was still being published. This recipe can also be doubled to make a 13x9 casserole size.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups scalded milk
1 cup soft bread crumbs (you can also use whole wheat bread to add some whole grain)
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup cooked macaroni (I used whole wheat shell pasta)
3 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
3 tablespoons chopped onions
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons melted butter


-Pour hot milk over the soft bread crumbs; add cheese. Cover and let stand until the cheese melts. Add macaroni. Combine and add beaten egg yolks, bell peppers, onion, salt and melted butter.

-Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold into mixture. Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350F until puffed and golden, about 35 minutes.

Enjoy the beginning of the fall season and have a great week! Next week I'll return with gardening news, recipes and more!

The Best Ride Ever!

Grandpa Dale with Adam on the tractor.

The last couple of weeks we have had some very hot weather in the 90's followed by some much cooler weather. I have been very busy canning that I have not done much in my own garden. However, we were able to visit the country garden last Friday. We had such a memorable day that day out on the "farm." It was so special because it was Adam's first real tractor ride. At first he wanted to sit in the trailer in back of the tractor but as soon as he saw grandpa start up the tractor he wanted to ride up front with him. Later, after the ride Adam said "That was the best ride ever!" It was so sweet to hear those words. It made me think about a lot of things and how really this life that we have really IS "the best ride ever" and we should enjoy every day and every moment!

Suburban Garden:

Although I have not had much time to get out into the yard and garden at our house, there are still many pretty flowers blooming right now. I am amazed especially at the large flower bushes that have grown in the side yard. They have come into full bloom and every day they are full of honeybees buzzing about! The bees really love these flowers! Those plants are ones that I bought at the Oregon City Farmer's Market when we used to have a booth there from a lovely lady named Alita. She grew some amazing plants. We are so sad that she passed away a while back because she was such a talented gardener. It makes me smile though to look at the flowers that she grew in my garden.

A hydrangea bloom in the front yard.


One of our honeybees on a flower in the side yard.

Country Garden:

We had an amazing visit to the country garden last week. Everything is progressing well and there should be a good harvest of tomatoes as well as other things very soon. My mom has already been preserving a lot of the vegetables from the garden and apples from the orchard. I took home another large bag of apples from the orchard as well as two quarts of blackberries that I picked to make another batch of jam. My mom has done an amazing job of canning and freezing the harvest already this season.

We realized that we have already made a lot of yummy things with all of the apples from four trees in the orchard and we still have four more trees to harvest from! Wow! We are going to eat well this winter! Here is a sampling of our apple harvest so far:

My Mom made:

11 gallons of cider ( besides the 2 we took camping, we have drunk some, and the rest is canned).

41 quarts of applesauce, canned

6 pints apple-ginger preserves, canned
Pie slices for 9 pies, frozen

I made:

1 gallon of cider (with Adam's help)
20 pints of applesauce, canned
6 quarts of apple pie filling
3 pints of ginger spice apple butter
2 pints + 7 half pints apple blackberry jam

I will write later about all of the other vegetables and other things we have preserved this season.

Here is some more news from the country garden from my mom Serena Johnston as well as some photos from our day there:

We have 8 apple trees, including two old ones that do bear well from time to time. Both old trees are very tall, and are difficult to prune or shape up, as we try to do with the other apple trees. The Baldwin is the one we have harvested any time there are apples on it, and it is a late apple, not ready yet. It is just at the edge of the orchard, next to the south-facing slope that goes down to the pond. The other tree is on the slope itself. We harvested apples from that tree this year for the first time because before, it was enveloped in shade from the fir trees that had taken over that area. In the last three years we have done a lot of brush removal there, and the tree had a wonderful harvest of apples this last week, for the first time. It just shows what a little care can do! We don't know what kind of apples they are, but they are medium size, yellow, and sweet, mild apples that are ready at just about the same time as Gravensteins. We shook the tree and picked up the apples, since it is too tall for us to pick. We made about 5 gallons of cider from this tree.

The Yellow Transparent is the first apple tree to bear, and we made cider from it as well. Last year I made applesauce from it, as it was the only tree with many apples on it, but this year the Gravensteins looked abundant, so we decided to use these apples for cider and got 6 gallons, two of which we took camping.

The Gravensteins bore very well this year. I made 41 quarts of applesauce, and froze pie slices for 9 pies, and apple-ginger preserves, about 6 pints worth.. I know you also made applesauce and pie filling, and then we even had enough to make about 1 1/2 gallons of apple cider. Oh, and I believe you were considering making apple butter with some. I made a lot of applesauce, as I have learned over the years to make more than needed since some years you don't get any. Weather or something seems to sabotage best efforts, sometimes. :-)

So, that is the harvest from 4 of our 8 apple trees. The others look like they have plenty of apples, and we intend to use them for more cider.

We have two dwarf Bartlett pear trees, and both bore heavily this year. I have got them spread out on newspapers to ripen, as of course we picked them at that delicate stage between green and ripe, so they don't turn to mush in the middle. Two large buckets are going to you to make canned pears, and I will make a lot of dried pears and maybe even some canned pears. It will be interesting to see how many we get. (We have other pear trees that we will harvest later, which are primarily fresh-eating pears, and some that last into the winter. With care, we can eat them fresh into 2012.)

In the orchard the Italian plum tree is loaded with fruit. We expect it may be ready by this weekend, or early next week. I plan to dry some, but may want to make some plum syrup, as you have done before. It is one of Dad's favorite syrups.

We also got Montmorency pie cherries and some wild cherries. I don't recall if you have written about these before, but I think I have 3 or 4 quarts of pie cherries and one of wild cherries. For the wild cherries, we harvested many more, but I got sick and wasn't able to process them. I found a recipe for extracting cherry juice from wild cherries, which I will do if I am ever that lucky again. Their flavor was delicious, so the juice should be too.

Our boysenberries did well this year, and we are trying to get some of the new vines to root-tip so we can get another row started. Besides the ones we ate fresh, we also made some jam.

As for the garden, I have been harvesting green and wax beans. The wax beans were a bush variety, and I didn't get so many. about 1 1/2 quarts. I think the quantity is party on account of the corn, as I planted it nearby and it shaded the beans. I had thought the beans would be harvested before the corn got so tall, but owing to cool weather, things did not go according to plan. The green pole beans are midway through harvest, if we continue with some decent weather. I have got approximately 4 quarts of those so far.

The broccoli almost surprised me, as it is some much earlier than the other cole crops. In fact, one head went to seed. I managed to get the rest of them, and every time I go out I find a few side shoots, which I fix and add to the latest freezer bag. Next year I hope to get more going at once, as it is so useful.

The green peppers have been producing, although if we had warmer weather the harvest would be better. Only about 6 so far, but there are small ones that a little hot weather could encourage to a larger size. They are nice to freeze, so I just put a gallon bag in the freezer, and when I harvest some I just wash them and drop them in the bag. We also planted jalapenos and red Italian sweet peppers, and some are maturing, but we haven't picked them yet.

Oh! I nearly forgot, peas. I put about 5 quarts of Amish snap peas in the freezer, and managed to save the dry ones for next year's seeds.

Tomatillos are wonders, as they grow with hardly any encouragement and bear profusely. I just put a 2 gallon bag in the freezer and after I pick some I take the husks off, wash them, and drop them in the bag.

Cucumbers have been slim pickings, largely because of where we planted them. I amended the soil with rotted chicken manure and compost, and they emerged and grew well in the wet part of the summer. Now that we are in the dry part of the year we have run ourselves ragged trying to keep them watered, and finally realized that the damaged fir tree behind the garden must be absorbing all the water and nutrients, as I have only gotten enough for three pints of pickles. Not worth the bother to do this year.

That corner of the garden has really struggled, and it took us the whole season this year to figure it out. We will decide what to do this fall, but it may mean removing that tree (the top is broken out and it is forming two tops, so it isn't a good prospect anyhow), moving the blueberries ( in the same struggle as the cucumbers, and we lost two bushes), and amending the soil there to some semblance of fertility. We also noticed that of the two grape vines there, the one nearest the tree had lots of grape clusters, but the grapes have not developed as the ones on the same type of vine, but further from the tree, have done. Just goes to show you need to consider plants/trees outside a garden for concerns other than shade, I guess. Probably most gardening areas don't have this problem, though, as I know large fir trees are not as common in other locales.

The potato vines are dying, and we have had several meals of potatoes. They have turned out well so far - large and well shaped - so we hope for the best when we do the main harvest.

As you will notice above, I do mention turnip greens, but not the turnips. They are full of little worms, so the chickens are getting those. I did some reading on the problem, and learned that turnips do not perform well for organic gardeners and can be expected to be wormy. Well, since the chickens like them we will still have some benefit. :-) Next year, though, we won't be planting any.

There are some harvests that we have yet to take. One is lima beans. I planted a bush variety, and they have lots of pods on them, but the pods are still flat. It remains to be seen, but since they are shaded by the corn and the weather has turned cloudy and much cooler, who knows.

I also planted watermelon and cantaloupe which were billed as doing well in cool weather. They do have small fruits on them, but vary in size from golf ball to child's large rubber ball. I think they are suffering the same problem as the lima beans.

I still have rutabagas, carrots, cabbage, and parsnips growing, and all are doing well. I will be harvesting some of our lovely basil soon as we will use some of it with the sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, and some for making pesto.

It is still too soon to tell on corn, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. The sprouts are still pretty small, and the cauliflower hasn't produced a head, so I am doubtful that it will. I think cool weather and shade conspired against the production we would have liked from sprouts and cauliflower, but we will know better next time. The corn grew mightily (as Adam could tell you, it looks like a forest), and the ears are beginning to fill out, but here we are halfway through September and haven't had any ripen yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed, as we are so close.

The zucchini has been good, though. Last year was so dismal we only got a few. I have put one quart of slices in the freezer, and have made 9 1/2 loaves of zucchini bread, besides enjoying it in meals and sharing some with you.

The winter squash is also remaining to be harvested, as is the pumpkin. I planted two kinds of winter squash, and so far see one Hubbard type (sweet Meat) and several of the Butternut. The Hubbard appears to be nearly mature, but the Butternuts are still green; ditto the pumpkin.

Last but not least are the tomatoes which are finally ripening. The plants are loaded, so unless the weather turns suddenly cold, we should be able to harvest a lot of them. So far we have dried some - probably 7 to 10 pounds worth, which of course doesn't amount to much once they are dried, but they'll certainly be delicious mid-winter when we can taste their real tomato flavor.

We have been eating fresh tomatoes for lunch and dinner for about a week, and I hope that next week I will have enough to do some canning. I notice that each time I go to the garden there are more and more tomatoes in various stages of ripening, but of course unless we get another burst of warm weather, they will take their time.

That's about it! Also, besides what we have frozen or canned or dried, we have enjoyed peas, green beans, greens, zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, blackberries, boysenberries, apples, pears, and cherries fresh and in season. Can't get much better than that!

Photos of the Country Garden:

A sunflower in the country garden.

An ear of corn forming on the corn stalk.

A pumpkin forming on the vine.

Finally- some Tolly's Sweet Italian peppers!

Lots of large tomatoes on the vine!

A large squash blossom.

Making Apple Cider:

Adam washing the apples before we made cider.

Adam loved to put apples into the hopper of the cider press.

Adam enjoying a glass of fresh apple cider.

Here are two recipes for some preserved I made this past week. Next week I am going to work on canning some pears and maybe making some pear preserves and other things with the lovely pears that I got from the country orchard.

Ginger Spice Apple Butter:

Chopped apples cooking into apple butter.

This is a recipe that I found online but I added more spices to it.

Ingredients:

• 12 cups tart apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  

Preparation:

1. Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in saucepan, stirring. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until apples fall apart, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.

2. Purée in processor in batches with ginger,cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Return to pan.

3. Partially cover apple butter; simmer over medium heat (sauce tends to splatter) until reduced to 2 1/2 cups, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

4. Put hot apple butter into hot, sterilized jars, seal. Then, process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Blackberry Apple Jam:

A half pint of blackberry apple jam that I made.

This recipe comes from my mom's British canning book called "Home Preserving and Bottling" by Gladys Mann.

Ingredients:

6 cups of apples, pared, cored and sliced
2/3 cup water
juice of 2 lemons
4 cups blackberries
8 1/2 cups sugar

1. Simmer the apples in water in lemon juice until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the blackberries and sugar and boil quickly until setting point is reached.

2. Put hot jam into hot, sterilized jars, seal.

Enjoy every day of this life that really is "the best ride ever!"