Applesauce - The Easy Way (A re-post from 10-9-2009)

Since I originally posted this, I have been using Gala apples for making applesauce and apple butter. I find that they are perfectly sweet, without adding sweetener of any kind.

If you want to take advantage of the season's bounty and make your own applesauce, do yourself a favor and get a Foley food mill. It is an old timey, inexpensive, uncomplicated, piece of equipment that couldn't be easier to use. Plus you'll feel like Miz Boone using it and it doesn't make noise.

You don't even have to peel or core the apples, nor worry about the seeds. Simply wash the apples well, with a vegetable brush, then cut them into quarters, and drop them into a pot. Add about a quarter inch of water and simmer, about 10 to 15 minutes, until the apples are soft.

Place the softened apples into the food mill and turn the handle. Viola, applesauce! Taste, and depending on the apples used, you may want to sweeten it. Because I used half Granny Smith apples, I added some sugar. Also I reheated my applesauce because I was canning it.

Making applesauce this way, utilizing the entire fruit, retains all the pectin and nutrients of the apples. Plus, there is suprisingly little waste.

The applesauce is very smooth and has an almost creamy mouth feel.

Bread and Butter Pickles (with a Kick!)

My new co-worker, Joy, must have a fabulous garden. She has been bringing in freshly picked vegetables to share.  I have already enjoyed some beautiful and delicious green beans and squash.  Last week she brought a big basket of cucumbers. I took some of those and they were delicious. A couple days later, she brought in more cucumbers, and the first ones weren't even all taken.  By the end of the week, she asked if I would like to take all that was left. Of course I did. I never want to see food wasted, and especially garden fresh vegetables. 

Once home with all those cucumbers, I knew there was only one thing to do . . . make pickles.  I made quick pickles, Bread and Butter pickles, the recipe from Mother Earth News.  I adapted it slightly, cutting back on the sugar and adding some red pepper flakes. 

The recipe calls for covering the cucumbers in ice and refrigerating for 4 hours.  Because I was juggling all sorts of things needing attention over the weekend, mine stayed in the fridge overnight. No problem, they were perfectly crisp the next morning. 

There is no processing here;  no heating up the kitchen.  This is a refrigerator pickle.  The recipe given is for 6 pints of pickles. Because refrigerator space is precious real estate in my kitchen, I chose to use quart jars instead. 

I'm a little crazy about these pickles!

Bread and Butter Pickles (with a Kick)
adapted from Mother Earth News
5 pounds 5 - 6 inch pickling cucumbers
6 cups thinly sliced Vidalia onion
1/2 cup salt
Ice
4 cups white vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. (or more) red pepper flakes, optional

Wash the cucumbers well. Cut off 1/4 inch from the blossom end and discard. Slice cucumbers into 1/4 inch slices.  In a large bowl, combine sliced cucumber, onions, and salt  Toss gently and cover with a 2 inch layer of ice. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, up to overnight, adding more ice as needed.

In a large stockpot, combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, and continue boiling for 5 minutes.  Drain the cucumber onion mixture, then add to the hot vinegar.  Bring to a boil, then turn off heat. 

Fill clean jars with the cucumbers and onions, leaving 1/2 inch space at top of jar.  Carefully, pour hot vinegar mixture over cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch space at top of jar.  Run a knife along the sides of the jars to remove any air bubbles. Wipe down the jar rim wipe a wet cloth and add lids. 

The recipe recommends letting the flavors develop for 7 days before eating. We were tearing into them right away!

Crockpot Peach Butter

Peach Butter

 On a recent trip to the Farmers Market, I purchased a bushel of beautiful, late-season South Carolina peaches to make peach butter.  I had never made peach butter, but I really enjoyed making apple butter last year and I had no idea, at that time, how much my family and friends would enjoy it over the coming months.  So, I decided to apply the same process with peaches.   

One thing I learned last year is that it takes a lot of fruit to cook down into a "butter".  For my bushel of peaches, I canned 14 pints of peach butter.  That equates to about 7 to 8 good size peaches per pint, or about 35 to 40 peaches for a 6 quart crockpot to yield about 5 pints of peach butter. 

Beautiful Late-season South Carolina Peaches

 I loved the coloring of these peaches, and the fragrance of them was heavenly.  I look forward to opening  jars over the winter and releasing the aroma of summer. 

Gorgeous Puree from the Peaches

 After I peeled and chopped the peaches, cutting out any brown or mushy spots (which were several as these were late-season, very ripe, cheap, and I bought such a large quantity), I pureed them in the blender with a tiny amount of water. 

Peach Water

 Even the boiling water I dipped them in, to facilitate easier peeling, turned a lovely rosy color.

I really considered the sweetness and spices I wanted to add to my peach butter.  These peaches were very sweet, so I knew I wouldn't be adding much sugar.  Additionally, there are many spices which are delicious with peaches, including ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  In the end, I decided to make my peach butter mostly "plain",  knowing I could add more sweetener and/or spices as I opened each jar.  The concentrated taste of peaches was what I was looking for.  And I got it!

Crockpot Peach Butter
10 quarts peach puree
2 tsp. lemon juice (I used Meyer lemon)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. allspice

Peel, pit, and chop peaches.  Place in blender and add a splash of water if needed.  I tried not to use any water, but my ripe peaches clunked around in the blender until I added some to get them started.  Pour the peach puree into a 6 quart crockpot until almost full. 

Continue to puree and pour peach puree, this time, into a bowl to refrigerate overnight. Stir in 1 tsp. lemon juice, cover, and reserve.

Into the crockpot, add 1 tsp. lemon juice, the sugar, and the allspice.  Turn the crockpot on low, cover with a spatter screen and cook overnight.  Next morning, the mixture should be reduced by about half.  Add the reserved peach puree, cover again with the spatter screen, and cook on low for about 3 or 4 more hours. 

Eat, freeze, and/or process in hot water bath according to canning methods for your area.

Yields 5 to 7 pints.  Enjoy!

Peach Butter on a Toasted Corn Muffin

Preserving Summer Tomatoes

I have been busy with kitchen projects but not with my blog.  One of the things I have done is can tomatoes, which I love to do.  Canning tomatoes is time consuming and a lot of work, but the results are so very satisfying.  I love feasting my eyes on those beautiful, plump, red, juicy tomatoes, especially in the winter when it is snowing outside.  The pops and pings of the jar lids as they seal is music to my ears.  And the aroma of summer, released in winter, is so fragrant. 

I am not giving step-by-step directions because I did that last year. You can see that post here.  I also added a link to last year's tomato canning project in the side bar. 

Scuppernong Jam

On one of my many recent trips to the Farmers Market, to buy more apples, I spotted heaping baskets of Scuppernongs. The greenish bronze orbs were teeming with honey bees, and God, that smell! But I purchased my apples and went back home to make more apple butter.

That enticing grape-y aroma, however, would not leave my olfactory. It evoked memories of childhood, of sweltering, late summer evenings, biting into the tough skin of scuplins (that's what we called them) popping the very sweet, juicy, and refreshing pulp into my mouth. I could almost hear the buzzing of mosquitoes in my ears.

As I worked with the apples, I was thinking about those grapes, which is not fair at all to the apples. They should have had my full attention, but they didn't seem to mind.

Compelled, I went to the market again the next day to buy one of those baskets of scuppernongs. I couldn't resist. . .I was beckoned. I asked the farm worker to shoo off the bees before he placed the basket in the trunk of my Honda, which he gladly did. I took that beautiful, evocative, basket of grapes home. It was heavy!

For a few days, our home was redolent with the sweet yet musky aroma of those scuppernongs. You didn't even have to come inside to smell it. So it was no wonder that after days of making apple sauce and apple butter, then cooking those fragrant grapes, we would have a back yard visitor. A black bear!

While we do live in the mountains of North Carolina, we don't live in a rural setting, not even suburban. We live right in town and not where one would expect a bear. But there he was. I was comfortably sitting on the sofa, with my legs tucked under a lap blanket, reading. Pritchard Parker and Jill were back in the office working. I heard an unfamiliar sound and perked up my ears. What were P.P. and the dog doing? Then I realized it was coming from outside and got up to look. Yikes, about 2 feet from the back door, ripping through a bag of trash I had set out, was a big bear.

I called to my husband and, together, we watched out the window until he finished exploring the trash, then lumbered off and over the fence. P.P. went out to pick up the trash the bear had scattered and he said that bear smelled very, very bad. Tough luck for Yogi, the grape pulp was tucked away safely inside the freezer, until trash pickup day. I guess Mr. Bear was disappointed with us because we haven't seen him again.


Scuppernong Jam
5 1/2 cups scuppernong nectar
3 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 tsp. butter (reduces foaming)
1 pkg. Sure Jell for less sugar


Make scuppernong nectar by washing, then cooking about 5 pounds grapes with 1/4 inch of water, 10 minutes, until the grapes are very tender. Press them through a food mill.

Mix together 1/4 cup of sugar with the contents of the Sure Jell packet. Add to the nectar along with the butter. Stir constantly over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred. Add the remaining sugar, bring back to rolling boil and cook for exactly one minute. Quicky ladle into sterilized jelly jars, seal, and process according to directions in your area. (Check with your local Agricultural Extention Service). Makes about 7 cups jam.



Delicious on a hot buttered biscuit.

Crockpot Apple Butter

This is the first time I have made apple butter and I couldn't be happier with the results. I made mine from fresh apple sauce made with fresh apples. Yes, apple butter starts with apple sauce. You can make your own apple sauce, as I did, or you can make your apple butter with canned applesauce.

Know that for a good apple butter, you will cook and reduce the apple sauce by half. I started with approximately 9 quarts of apple sauce, and finished with 9 pints of delicious and rich apple butter.

The amount of sugar and spices, varies according to your tastes. I like my apple butter less sweet, less spicy, and more apple-y flavored.

Apple Butter
9 qts. apple sauce
1 to 4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup)
2 tsp. to 2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon (I used 2 tsp.)
1/4 to 1 tsp. ground cloves, if desired (I did not)
1/4 tsp. allspice, if desired (I did)

Fill a 6 quart crockpot with apple sauce, to within 1 inch of rim. Stir in desired amount of sugar and spice. Set on low and cover with a spatter screen. Cook for 6 to 12 hours, until reduced by half. (I cooked mine overnight). Taste and add additional sugar and spice, if desired, then add the remainder of the applesauce and cook for 2 or 3 more hours.

Eat, freeze, and/or process in hot water bath. Enjoy!

Home Canned Summer Tomatoes

What is better than a vine ripened summer tomato? Rather, what is second to a vine ripened summer tomato? Jars of vine ripened summer tomatoes, home canned. Popping open one of these beauties, in winter, when it is freezing outside, releases the aroma of summer tomatoes and the memory of sun filled days.

I want to share my enthusiam for home canning, and some advice from my experience. I do my canning following the guidelines of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Please educate yourself on safe food handling and canning practices before beginning a project such as this. There is a lot of work involved, and the last thing you want is having your jars of food spoiling.



Begin with perfect fruit and wash thoroughly with fresh water and a vegetable brush.


To peel, plunge the fruits into boiling water, then into cold water, the skins will slip right off.

Core the tomatoes, slice if desired, and bring to a boil.

While working on your tomatoes, sterilize your clean jars in simmering water and keep hot until ready to pack. Follow manufacturer's directions for the lids, some want to be boiled, some not, depending on the sealing compound used.

Process your jars of tomatoes according to the recommendations of your area. I live at a higher altitude, so have to process a little longer than some may.

The pops and pings of the jars sealing is musical and satisfying.

I bought 2 twenty-five pound boxes of tomatoes at the Farmers Market for $8 each and I got 10 quarts of tomatoes from each one. I already had the jars, most passed along to me from my Mother-in-law, Phloxy, who no longer cans. With the cost of lids (cheap) and fuel, I still spent less than $1 per quart of tomatoes.

And I have provenance.