Peaches!!!

This is harvest time. And for me it is the busiest time of the year.
I had a late night recently, where I canned some peaches in syrup. Big buys are always cheaper, talk directly to a farmer if you can, these were bought at the farm in the Okanagan, and all of these peaches cost $20. The snap lids for the jars cost $2.50, so all together I paid only $22.50 for 12 cans of organic peaches. I'm happy, since this is my two year olds favourite treat.

Peeling them and slicing them are probably the hardest part of the job, luckily my sister helped out.

The slices are placed in sterilized jars and I pour hot syrup on them (sugar dissolved in water, I make it light, 1cup sugar to 10 cups water.)

I let them process in my water bath canner for 40 minutes, and then let them cool overnight.

These jars are too high in demand and won't last long, but its worth it for me, I love doing this.

Apples to Applesauce...

Many of the old neighbourhoods in Vancouver have fruit trees that are often not harvested.
This lovely apple tree is in the yard of one of my friends, and they were too busy this year to pick them. I was very happy when she invited me to come harvest them, in exchange for a portion of the harvest.

I brought a few friends, and we used a tool called a apple picker. The tree is relatively small, and it was loaded, so it didn't take long for us to harvest quite a bit.

We got three bags. We divided them up between the owner and the pickers.

At home, and three weeks later (you got to love apples for their lasting qualities) I started to process them into applesauce. First washing them, then coring, and peeling the ones whose skins had lots of blemishes. I have been enjoying leaving most of the peel on the apples when making applesauce, its easier, and it gives the applesauce a heartier texture.

Putting the pots of apple chunks on the stove, I cook them down until they are juicy, soft and very steamy. I also added some sugar and lemon (less than a cup of each) to raise the acid to help ensure that they last longer in the cans.

After the apples are cooked and boiled, then I puree them with my blender. Hot puree bubbles too dangerously, and I have been burned before, so, now I make sure to cook them down first and then puree. Notice how much the apples did cook down, the two pots of apple chunks made one pot of apple sauce.

And into the jars and through the water bath canner they go. It was funny, usually you follow a recipe for a dozen jars and end up with 8 or 16 jars, here I followed no recipe, and ended up with exactly one dozen.

Are there trees in your yard that you can share with eager foragers? 

Or are you eager and want to harvest some of the wasted fruit in your town?

Check it out, there are programs connecting these two all over the world, and they always need new fruit and new pickers. 

In Vancouver -https://vancouverfruittree.com/

In Calgary- http://calgaryharvest.com/

In Toronto- http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/

In Montreal-http://lesfruitsdefendus.wordpress.com/

The first time we used the applesauce was with Latkes, made with our garden potatoes. So, virtually a free meal. Cool.

Latkes

1/2 lb grated potatoes

1 egg

spinkling of flour

oil

Oil a cast iron pan and heat on med. Mix the grated potato with the egg and flour, and form into patties on the pan. Fry until cooked inside and browning slightly on the outside.

Enjoy!

Pickled Jalapenos!

There is almost nothing that seems more gourmet than eating your own, home grown pickled jalapenos. They are a plant that is more associated with warmer climes, but I have had extraordinary luck growing them for the last 2 years. I treat them just like tomatoes...

I start them inside, at the end of March under either grow lights or fluorescent lights. This gives them a long enough growing season to produce fruits.

I start hardening them off, at the end of April. Hardening off means you are gradually getting them used to being outside, I like to follow the sunny days and start with a few hours a day for a week, graduate to 6 hrs a day for a week, then all day for a week. Eventually you forget to take them in one night because you are out enjoying the good weather, and the process is complete.

Eventually, after much growth vegetatively, small blossoms begin forming

And then they come, descending from the blossoms, just like tomatoes. They start green and ripen to red as the season waxes on, however our season is so short I've only seen a few turn red.

Then I harvest them all, this is the bounty from 2 plants, I got just over 1lb. Now to process the harvest. This was my first canning experience, it took me and 3 friends all day to get 10 jars of anything, so I will not give any advice on this except to say go to this site: Home Canning ...

Sterilize EVERYTHING...

And have lots of helping hands.

These are the five jars of jalapenos beside the pickling mixture, which was:

3 cups apple cider vinegar

3 cups water

3tbsp pepper corn

9 cloves garlic chunked

1tbs seasalt

9 bay leaves

 Here are the cans in the water bath, what fun. I will try canning again, I think it can be quick once you get to know it. And the results are so beautiful, and easy x-mas gifts.

 On a spicy scale of 1 to 10, I think these are at an 8, but lots of people think I'm a wimp when it comes to spice too!

Enjoy