Haven't been baking much

I'm sorry I haven't posted, but I haven't been baking much other than bread. Last week, I spent 8 days with my parents. We didn't bake at all! Dad didn't even make any bread like he usually does, until the last day when he made Pyragas for breakfast on Sunday.

We did, however, process a lot of apples. Wish I'd thought to take some pictures, as I probably won't be doing any of my own this year. Some apple trees int heir neighborhood had lovely apples this year--and no one picked them. So Mom and her walking partners started picking up the drops and got permission to pick any they wanted from some of the trees.

I brought along my dehydrator, steam juicer, and some quart jars (Mom was running out) and we made applesauce, apple cider, dried apple slices, dried apple pieces (perfect for granola and trail mix), and apple fruit leather (when we got tired of canning applesauce). Some batches had cinnamon sticks put in with the apples in the juicer. Mom and I spent 1-2 hours three days chopping, coring, slicing, and dicing apples. It was a good time to chat, and one time Dad joined us and did a crossword puzzle with us. My hand got very sore from the knife, and I couldn't only do so much coring. I thought Mom's arthritis would do her in long before me but she never faltered. I hope this doesn't mean I have to start worrying about arthritis any time soon.

I usually buy dozens of pounds of apples each year and make cider and sauce, and dry apples, during January or February. I probably don't need to this year! I brought home 5 quarts of sauce, 2 quarts of cider*, and I don't know how much of the dried things. *After telling Eric he couldn't use so much cider last winter, we forgot about it and used almost no apple cider either hot in the winter nor cold in the summer. So we still have about a dozen quarts from last year. Ooops!

Good thing I forgot about going to the orchard previously...but I do still need to get some keepers. I like to eat an apple a day at work--and with Maggie needing a snack at school, apples are perfect. Eric also uses them in oatmeal. We did bring some back from my parents for the next weeks, but I doubt they are keepers. Also, some of them are far too sour for me (the sample was sweet, but the ones I've tried so far have been so tart and crisp I couldn't finish!).

Drying fruit

Have also dried peaches, pears, and plums these past couple weeks. (Happy Birthday, Mom! I always give her some dried peaches for her birthday.) Today I'm also trying some pear fruit leather. First, I made a double batch of Pear Pie fruit leather last night (apple pie recipe says pears can be used). If I do it again, skip most of the water. A bit too wet, which means more time in the dehydrator.

Then when I woke up early this morning and started thinking about it, I remembered I love plain old dried pears. So why not plain pear leather? Whipped up a batch of that this morning. Which means I chopped the pears finely and then pureed them with the immersion blender. I added 3 tsp of Fruit Fresh (ascorbic acid) to see if it helps stop browning.

4 cups or 4 pears fits on one dehydrator tray. I lightly greased the trays with canola oil. I've made leather before but never oiled the trays. Hoping it comes off easier and makes it so they don't stick to each other when boxed up.

Fruit Sauce

In the midst of search for pear jams, I found a post about small batch canning, that made a plum sauce and a peach sauce. I figured I could make a pear-plum sauce by combining the recipes. My plums were smaller than hers and my pears bigger than peaches, so I adjusted a bit. I'm so glad I found a sauce, as I'm getting quite a few jams back there and was starting to wonder how many years they'd last us. With Maggie now taking her lunch to school and asking for peanut butter and jelly 9 times out of 10, however, I don't think it will last us more than a year. We've never been much of a jam family before; a jar will last us a good 6 months or more. Until this month!


Pear-Plum Sauce

• 7 plums
• 3 pears
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Chop fruit, mix with sugar and cinnamon. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens. This took about 10-20 minutes (I also made a double batch). Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/2" headspace, 10 minutes boiling water batch. (I think 1/4" would be fine.) Makes about 3.5 cups. Even doubled, it's small batch canning!

This is fabulous heated up on old brownies from work found in the freezer. I'm sure the same will be true on ice cream. And fresh homemade brownies.

I then found a USDA guide to canning that included directions for fruit purees, consisting of any fruit except figs, tomatoes, cantaloupe and other melons, papaya, ripe mango or coconut, 1 c water per quart of fruit (way too much for my fruit), and sugar if desired. So I made

Blueberry Pear Sauce

• 3 c pears (~3 pears)
• 2 c blueberries
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of allspice

Cook slowly until fruit is soft. Puree as desired (I simply mashed it some with the potato masher). Add sugar and spices to taste. Reheat to a boil or sugar dissolves. (I put the sugar in at the beginning.) Fill hot jars, 1/4" headspace, 1015 minutes boiling water canner. Makes about 3 cups, to my surprise.

This was so good I immediately made a second batch.

UPDATE: Today I noticed it's an older guide, so I looked for the most recent, which I found at The National Center for Home Preserving at the USDA (Guide #2). It recommends 15 instead of 10 minutes, and added to the list of non-preservable puree fruits (back in the 90s, no one preserved mango in the US I guess, which doesn't surprise me!). So I might have under done my sauce, although 10 is what other sites lists for other fruit sauces. They aren't quite as thick as applesauce, which is also listed as 15 minutes. I will, however, use the 15 minutes for the next batch.

Pear Jam

My books didn't have much in the way of pear jams, so looked all over the internet. Apparently, most people don't make pear jams. And I think I know why. They just aren't flavorful. But I didn't find two good recipes.


I started with Spiced Pear Jam. Despite needing a few ingredients from the store (fresh lemons) and some hassle in preparing (zesting and squeezing said lemons), I tried it before the easier recipe. Sadly, it wasn't well-liked. Rather bland. Kind of tasted like the Peach Cobbler Sauce, but not quite. It was another use for the liquid pectin, which I bought a few years ago when I was going to try making jam but never got farther than the strawberry and grape that didn't work out. Anyway, I won't make this again. I hope others like it, however! It just paled in comparison to our favorite.

Then I tried Spiced Caramel Pear Jam. This is a keeper!

Plums--Jam and Dried

Then I moved on to plum jams. I was afraid the peels would be too sour or tough, so I chopped my plums smaller than called for. Universally, I've found no taste issues, and everything gets very soft, so no need to cut them so finely! I do, however, really like pieces of fruit or peel showing up in my jam (I'm more of a preserves than a jam person probably).

Found the easiest recipe in Joy of Cooking. I bought their special All About Canning & Preserving a couple years ago (last year?). I think the recipes are identical to the Joy of Cooking. But they have lots of pretty pictures!

Plum Jam (bottom right on picture)

• 2# plums, chopped to desired size (about 8ths for me)
• 2.5 c sugar
• 1/4 c bottled lemon juice

Mix in large pot (I used my stock pot again). Cook on medium-high; when the fruit starts to get soft, crush as desired (I used a potato masher). Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, to the jelling point. ~15 minutes start to finish. Remove from heat; skim off foam*, and ladle into hot jars. 1/4" headspace, 10 minutes boiling water canning. Makes 3.5-4 cups.

* I couldn't figure out how to skim off foam from any of my jams. I would have removed half the jam! Some recipes call for up to a teaspoon of butter to reduce foaming. I didn't think it worked until I tried one recipe with and one without (Peach-Plum on bottom left of picture, it's light colored because of the foam). The without didn't only have foam on the top, but all the way through the jam. I will put 1/2-1 tsp of unsalted butter in all my jams going forward. Except this one. It didn't get very foamy.

I made this three times because we loved it. I made each batch separately, as elsewhere, I've been cautioned to never double a jam recipe. The last time I made jam, I scorched it (grape jelly, which I still have because I can't stand to part with something that took so much work. But yet I don't want to eat it either. Silly me.) or didn't cook it long enough (strawberry ice cream topping instead of jam). But this time, I got it!

I also found out that our thermometer probe doesn't work. The first batch was boiling away merrily...but the thermometer registered only 212 degrees. It's supposed to get up to about 220 for the jelling stage. Thankfully, I decided after a while of that to test it and it was there. So I tested some boiling water. The temp registered around 202, off by 10 degrees! Time to get a new thermometer. I want an instant read one anyway; this one you have to wait a couple minutes to register, which is a pain on things like bread where you have to put them back in the oven. Might also be why my bread was always so hard; I over baked it!


I also dried some plums. The first time out of the dehydrator, I thought they were very sour--the peel was overpowering. Since they dry unevenly, I take them out, put them in a container for a day or two, them dry them again. The second time, I thought they were a lot better. Not quite like the prunes you get in the store these days (which they called dried plums now), but quite good. I should make some more, if my plums aren't too squishy.

Peach jams and sauces

top: Spice Pear Jam, Peach Butter.
Bottom: Peach-Plum Jam, Peach Cobbler Sauce, Pear Jam

The first peach recipe I tried was peach butter. I have made a lot of apple butter, and it always goes pretty quickly. I forgot that I start out with applesauce from steam juicing: most of the water is already gone. Not so when starting with fresh peaches.

So what I thought was going to be a one hour process took nearly five. I ended up complaining quite a bit near the end, as I'd brought the canning kettle to a boil at least three times already and the butter was still not ready. We were going to go out for an early lunch, and that time had passed. And so I stopped. I didn't quit--I came back after lunch to finish. But boy was I frustrated! Luckily, the butter came out delicious. Unfortunately, two of the five jars didn't seal. I gave one to my coworker, whose partner loved my apple butter. He  thought it was fantastic!

Spiced Peach Butter from Ball Blue Book

• 18 medium peaches
• 4 cups sugar
• 1/2 - 1 tsp each ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg

Chop peaches. Cook until soft, adding only enough water to prevent sticking (I used the recommended 1/2 cup, which was too much). Puree (blender, food mill, or sieve). Measure 2 quarts pulp. Combine with sugar in a large pot, preferably heavy bottomed (I used my stockpot). I had three quarts so I used 6 cups of sugar. Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon. It doesn't happen forever, but when it does, you'll know it. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. This can take hours, so don't stand at the stove the whole time.

Ladle into hot jars, 1/4" headspace, 10 minutes boiling water bath. About 4-6 pints.

Original recipe says to blanch and peel the peaches. I never peel my fruit if I can help it.

Peach-Plum Jam
I made a couple batches of this before finding the best recipe (below). But at this point, I can't find the recipe back. I'm not sure if it's in one of my books or online. It's good. I think. I'm starting to forget with all the jams I've made. I do know the one we like the least, so I'm pretty sure this was a good one. Now to find the recipe back....

Then I found the best peach recipe: Peach Cobbler Jam. Mine didn't get very jammy, and might firm up as time goes by. But that's okay: It's the most fabulous peach cobbler sauce. We can't wait to eat it on ice cream or brownies this winter. I made two batches...and then ran out of peaches to our disappointment. Can't wait for next year! I might skip the pectin and intentionally make a sauce. As you'll see shortly, I can make any fruit sauce!

Made more pesto

For weeks, I'm been telling myself to make pesto again, but I keep putting it off. I finally did so on Sunday. Some of the basil had started to flower so I had to do it. The picture is a jar of pesto in the window box that used to be filled with pesto. A left a few leaves at the bottom of most plants as they may continue to grow now that the cooler weather returned again.

Eric made these boxes back in June(?) for the edge of the deck. They aren't window boxes, but I've never heard of deck railing boxes so call them window boxes since everyone knows what they are. It's one long box split in three. On this end was basil and carrots (only 8 grew; we ate two earlier and the other six Saturday). In the middle was greens (only the spinach grew, and it was spindly and tiny, plus one carrot and a Johnny Jump Up; definitely the weird box!). On the right are bunching onions (grew great and stayed small) and beets (need to pick and eat them soon).

I finally thought of using regular jar lids instead of wasting a canning lid in the freezer. In the paste, and I've been making and freezing pesto for at least 5 years, I always used a canning lid and ring. I was never sure if the lid would still be good for canning--I did use them again last summer, and two failed so I probably shouldn't--but for some reason I never thought of using a regular lid. (I don't have the highest common sense sometimes.)