I'm drowning in fruit. We've got an apple tree and a pear tree in our back yard that have been producing loads of fruit since we arrived. We've also got grapes which will be ripe any day now. Then there's our gruff neighbor Fred. He brought over several pounds of plums the other day. And by several I mean a LOT.
Considering how expensive groceries are and how many kids I've got to feed, I can't complain about the plethora of fruit. The problem is, I don't know what to do with it. Can it? Bake it into bread or cake? Freeze it? What does one do with ripe fruit other than snack on it?
I've looked up recipes and have so far made pear/plum jam, several loaves of pear bread, an apple pie, a pear pie, zucchini bread (zucchini compliments of our neighbor Leonora). At this point, I'm sick of peeling fruit and I'm tired of baking. Which is saying a lot seeing as how I love to bake.
So, if anybody knows a way to freeze fruit without it getting gross and brown and mushy, I'd love to hear it.
4 comments:
LOL, Shirlee. I love making jam/jelly. This year we went to Traverse City for vacation and picked cherries. We were staying in a condo so I had access to a stove. I actually made jelly on vacation. LOL. My family thought I was nuts.
I don't know about freezing, but I'd make all the preserves and breads you could. Freeze little loaves of the bread and then give it out as Christmas gifts to those sweet neighbors. :)
Otherwise, not sure. Good luck though. :)
How do you make the jam, Sabrina? Do you have a recipe you use? How long does it keep?
So many questions. Ha!
BTW....how is the writing going? Are you working on something?
Kayla actually just made homemade jam in her home-ec class and it was super easy. You take 2 cups of sugar, a package of no-cook pectin, and 4lbs of fresh fruit. You mix the sugar and pectin, then dump the fruit in and mash it up. Then stir and put in a container. It'll thicken in a half an hour. It's good for 3 weeks in the fridge or up to a year in the freezer.
As for grapes (I think you said you had grapes) you can just wash and dry them and freeze them whole. My Gram used to do it all the time and we'd eat them frozen in the summer as a cool snack.
Hope you're all doing great and we're able to catch each other soon :O)
Shirlee, I made cherry, apple, and peach jam/jelly this year. I just use the surejell or ball recipe except I use my food processor to make the pulp. I don't take the time to let the fruit drip to make jelly. I don't mind fine little pieces of fruit in mine.
I love the colors of the jars and the little thrill I get giving it away as gifts. LOL. Doesn't take much to excite me. LOL.
I think it keeps at least a year though mine is usually gone after Christmas. We use the bread machine to make the dough and then make little mini loaves of bread to go with the jam for family. Sometimes we make muffins. Oh, you could make apple/pear muffins and give away some jelly with it.
I'm hoping to submit my suspense to the LI line next month. I'm going to finish it up in the next few days and have a friend read it and give me some opinions. :0/
It's a total rewrite of the first book I wrote a couple years ago. I picked it back up this spring and used some of the story line but changed the whole premise and I think it's made a more believable story. I hope so at least. LOL.
Thanks for asking. :)
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