West Brookfield Farmers Market

We all love the abundance of fruit and veggies available to us during the growing season but sometimes it gets overwhelming and we are not sure what to do with it all.  Pickling, canning, and dehydrating foods are the best ways to preserve fruits and veggies for winter storage.  Never attempted canning?  It's not as hard as you might think and there are lots of great "How-to" books to assist you.  If canning isn't your thing, freezing is the next best thing.  Here are a couple simple recipes to get you started on home food preservation followed by a couple freezing tips.

Fruit Butters

Fruit butters are delicious spreads made by cooking fruit in small amounts of liquid until a spreadable consistency is reached.  Spices are often added but sparingly so as to not overwhelm the flavor of the fruit.  Apple butter is the most popular kind of butter but many other fruits can also be preserved this way.  The following recipe uses apples with some notes at the end if you wish to use peaches or pears.

Peel and slice apples, removing core.  Use equal measures of fruit and cider, or half cider half water.  Sugar to taste but not more than half the amount of fruit.  Cook the butter down, slightly reducing heat to avoid spatter.  Stir vigorously to prevent burning.  Test for readiness by putting a spoonful on a cold plate.  If no juice oozes out from the egdes, then it is done.  If it is still too juicy, just keep cooking down until it reaches the desired consistency. 

For a smoother butter, pass the mixture through a sieve, strainer or food mill.  Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if need with a pinch of salt.  Boil rapidly, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.  Add some cinnamon, cloves and allspice to the butter and stir.  Spice amount depends on how much butter is being made.  Some folks recommend 2 tsps. of mixed spice for 1 gallon of butter.  Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

 * Peaches:  Scald fruit and remove skins and pits, crush fruit, and cook in its own juices as directed for apple butter.

* Pears:  Quarter, remove stems but not cores and skins.  Add half as much water as fruit by measure.  Follow directions for apple butter.

Freezer Pickles

 This is an incredibly easy and delicious recipe.  It has been used in my family for years.

 Mix together 8 c. thinly sliced cucumbers, 2 TBL. kosher salt, and 2 onions, thinly sliced.  Let stand in bowl for 2 hours.  While the cucumbers sit, place 1 1/2 c. sugar and 1/2 c. vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a light boil.  Boil until sugar is dissolved.  Let cool.  Divide the cucumber mixture evenly amongst freezer containers and top each container with 1/2 tsp celery seed.  Pour syrup equally over the cucumbers and celery seed.  Freeze.

*  Make sure you leave enough room in each container for expansion while freezing otherwise the syrup will ooze out of the top.

*  I usually use three or four Cool-Whip containers for this recipe.  The syrup won't cover the cukes entirely.  The juices from the onions and cukes will provide enough additional liquid.