It's been a bountiful year

Garden bounty is at its height and with the bounty comes the work of preserving the harvest. I'm busy drying herbs, making jams and butters and canning corn, apples, pears, green beans, and tomatoes.

I dried chamomile, vervain, yarrow, motherwort, California poppies, lemon balm, and lavender from my garden. I found that if I wash the herbs and then lay them out to dry on a towel on the counter overnight. I can put them into my dehydrator, and get a lovely supply that is sticky with natural oils and resins but dried of moisture so it won't mold.

If you have a surplus of apples, a batch of applesauce is always nice to put up.

Applesauce

Makes 5 and a half quarts

You will need:

a bushel of apples

1/2 teaspoon citric acid per gallon of water for rinsing for each pot of apples 2 cups of water plus more if needed while cooking

1 3/4 cups supar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

Sterilize jars by running them through the dishwasher on the sterilize setting. Cut and core apples dropping the slices as you go, into the bucket of citric acid water to keep the fruit from discoloring. When all of the apples have been cut, dump the apple slice into a strainer. Pour the apple slices into a large pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the slices are soft. Puree with an emersion blender. Then add sugar and spices and stir to combine. Fill waterbath pot with water and set to boil. Fill a small saucepan with water and heat to almost boiling. Drop lids into the hot water. Fill the hot jars with the hot applesauce and cover each jar with a hot lid. Add lid rings hand-tight. Set jars into the heating water with enough water to cover above an inch of the top of the jar. Bring water to a boil. Process for 20 minutes. Let jars cool. Remove to a towel on the counter and let sit 12 to 24 hours. Remove rings and store.

Fruit trees are a blessing. We are lucky enough to have an orchard with apple, pear, plum, nectarine, quince, asian pear, peach, apricot, cherry, and paw paw trees. We have a section of nut trees with walnuts, almond, and hazelnuts also.

I love this spicy pear butter recipe. It tastes like Christmas in a jar.

Pear Butter

makes 5 pints

You will need:

a bucket of pears

3 cups of apple juice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutneg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

2 teaspoons vanilla

Peel and core a bucket of pears to fill a stock pot. Sterilize jars. Cook pears on medium heat and add 3 cups of apple juice. Bring to a simmer and cook until fruit is soft, at least an hour. When fruit is soft, puree with an emersion blender. Add spices and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Place hot fruit into hot jars and top with a hot lid that has been heated in a boiling pan of water. Add rings hand-tight. Fill your canner with hot water and place jars in. Add water to cover jars by 1 inch. Bring water to a boil and process for 15 minutes.