Peach Butter with a Little Spice Kick

This recipe makes a fruity butter with a little spice kick to reflect the fall season.

4lbs. ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped

1/3 cup strained fresh orange juice

1 tsp. antioxidant crystals or ascorbic acid (find at health food stores - it maintains the color of your preserve)

¾ tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups sugar

2 tbsp. strained fresh lemon juice

In an 8-quart pan, combine the peaches, orange juice, antioxidant crystals and butter.

Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the peaches are soft, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

Press the peaches and juice through a food mill or fine-meshed sieve. Return the peach pulp to the pan. Stir in the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon juice.

Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar is complexly dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat and simmer until thick, about 20 to 30 minutes. As the butter thickens, stir constantly to prevent sticking or scorching. Remove the plan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

Ladle the hot butter into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

Blueberry-Peach Jam: Recipe

I'm starting to test making preserves without pectin. The recipe below I pulled together and was told it's one of the best I've prepared, so thought I'd share! (This is also what I entered into the Topsfield Fair this year.) This recipe yields only three 1/2 pint jars, but the trick with no pectin is use 1/2 the weight of sugar to your fruit. So if you have 4 lbs. of fruit use 2 lbs. of sugar. This will vary per recipe depending upon how sweet a fruit is inherently, but this is a good guide to start with.

2lbs. blueberries

2lbs. peaches

2lbs. cane sugar

4 tbsps. lemon juice

Wash and drain blueberries.

Peel peaches and remove pits. Roughly chop and mash fruit.

In one 8 qt. saucepan add the blueberries and 1lb. sugar. Mix thoroughly. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently to avoid sticking.

In another 8 qt. saucepan add the mashed peaches and 1lb. sugar. Mix thoroughly. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently to avoid sticking.

When both fruit/sugar mixes start thickening (about 35 minutes) add 2 tbsps lemon juice to each.

When both fruit mixes sheet the spoon (about 40 minutes) and are at gelling point remove from heat.

Work blueberry mixture through a food mill and discard seeds and skins.

Fill hot jars with a layer of peaches and alternate with a layer of blueberries until ¼ inch from top of jar. Using a knife, mix the two together in the jar.

Wipe the jar rims and threads with a damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process ½ pt. jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes.

Entering State & Town Fairs

This year I am submitting a jam into the Topsfield Fair (Topsfield MA from Oct 2 - 12) and realized as I was getting ready that there's a bit to it! So I thought I'd share a few tips for anyone who might be considering entering.

• Read the rules thoroughly. The Topsfield Fair has about two pages of rules and not following them completely could result in disqualification. I recommend you read the rules before making your product (because you may have to process them a different way than you're used to) and after you make the jars so you label correctly.

• I pulled together such a pretty decoration for my lid and in my last read through of the rules I realized you can't decorate your jars! I think this is common, so read the rules clearly before losing time making your jar pretty.

• You may have enter before you submit. Topsfield requires you send in an entry form a week before you bring in your product. You can say what you intend to bring, so if you add/subtract something it's okay.

• The judges. This year Topsfield has a food expert from Kraft and a woman who teaches how to make/preserve jams. This means my jam will be judged for flavor, quality of the preserve (clarity, etc.) and in how well I processed the jars.

I'll find out at the fair if I placed. I'm in the "jam-other" category for a Blueberry-Peach Jam. Fingers crossed!

And I wish all the best to anyone who enters - it's a bit of fun!

Putting Up Tomatoes

As the summer comes to an end it's time to pick and put up your garden tomatoes. This is one of my favorite home preserving projects because you can enjoy your garden tomatoes all winter long. Last year I used them twice in a tomato soup recipe I found in Ina Garten's latest book, Back to Basics. Highly recommend giving it a try, but your tomato sauce is also a GREAT base for pasta sauce and I'm looking forward to making that all winter with the dried herbs from the garden as well.

Putting up tomatoes takes a bit of time, so I recommend you make a day of it and give yourself time to enjoy it. And there are so many different recipes and approaches to putting up tomatoes so go with your favorite or one that was passed down to you, but if you need a recipe here is what I have followed for the past couple of years and been happy with the results. (This uses a fair amount of tomatoes, so adjust quantities as necessary.)

25 lbs. plum tomatoes, cored and quartered

2 tsps. salt

1/2 cup bottled lemon juice

In an 8 - 10qt. stainless steel pan over medium heat, bring the tomatoes to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. remove the plan from the heat.

Press the tomatoes through a food mill or fine sieve. Discard the seeds and skins (unless you like to keep some in - this is a preference thing). Return the pulp to the pan. Stir in the salt.

Over medium heat, cook the pulp, stirring frequently, until it reduces by about half, or to the desired consistency. this may take 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the liquid content of the tomatoes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking or scorching. Remove the plan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Ladle the sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. using a plastic knife, remove any trapped air bubbles. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. (At this point we dropped a fresh basil leaf in the jar - just for a little flavor). Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process pint jars in a 212F (100C) water bath for 35 minutes, quart jars for 40 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Blue Ribbon Preserves, by Linda J. Amendt

Making & Freezing Pesto

One of my favorite things to make at the end of every summer if fresh pesto in LOTS of batches. Pesto freezes well for several months and only seems to get better the longer it’s frozen. Throughout the year I make chicken, pesto & pasta as a quick meal that’s oh-so-good with this ‘fresh’ pesto.

Here’s the recipe I follow and prefer because it has a slightly bolder flavor:

1 cup well-packed basil leaves

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tbsps. pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, crushed

salt

60g best-quality freshly grated parmesan cheese

Blend basil, oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt until smooth. This can be done most easily in a blender (stop once or twice to stir contents), food processor or large mortar and pestle. When evenly blended, scrape into a bowl and stir in the cheese.

Pour into a tupperware container and store in freezer.

So a couple of tips when making & using your pesto:

1) I’ve doubled this pesto recipe and it works okay, but you if you triple or quadruple it you may find the flavor gets distorted (too “hot” from the garlic, for example).

2) When I cook with the frozen pesto I’ll take it out and leave it on the counter while I cook the chicken. This softens it just enough to scrape out some pesto for your meal.

A great way to enjoy basil from your garden for months and taste a little summer in winter!