Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Fabulous Fruit Leather (Even if You Dry it Too Long)
This post has moved. Click here to go to Fabulous Fruit Leather
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Dehydrating Pineapple
Pineapple is one of those foods that are really well suited for dehydrating. They are easy to prepare and get super sweet when they're dried. Great for snacking or putting in trail mix, granola, breads, etc. I'm sure you want some, so here's how you do it.
First, get a pineapple. Or two or three. I just had one. If you're doing two or three, you'll want to wash your hands frequently as you're cutting them or wear gloves as they are highly acidic and it will start burning your hands.
Peel, core and slice your pineapple. There are tools for this, but I just use a knife. If I did a lot of pineapples, it would probably be worth getting the peeler/corer tool. I cut the top and bottom off, then cut the peel off, then cut it in half from top to bottom, then cut each half in half (so the whole pineapple is quartered), then cut the core section off each quarter. Then I cut each quarter in half again before I started cutting the chunks. You can make your pieces whatever size or shape you want. If they're all close to uniform thickness, they'll dry more evenly.
Now, put your slices on the dehydrator tray. Pineapples have such a high acidity that there is no need to pre-treat them with fruit fresh or other stuff. In fact, I've used pineapple juice as a pre-treater for other fruits before. Not perfect, but it preserved color better than just drying them without dunking in pineapple juice.
I dehydrated the slices with the blueberries since I had extra trays available. 135 degrees about 16 hours in my Excalibur dehydrator. They were crispy. If you don't want them crispy, just check them more often than I did and turn the dryer off when they're at the chewiness you like.
They come off the trays nicely. Put them in whatever you're storing them in. Hide them from the snackers or leave them out and let them get eaten. Yes, that's the whole pineapple in that pint jar minus about 6-7 chunks we snacked on before I got the picture taken. Strange but true. Dehydrating is like magic. Yummy magic.
First, get a pineapple. Or two or three. I just had one. If you're doing two or three, you'll want to wash your hands frequently as you're cutting them or wear gloves as they are highly acidic and it will start burning your hands.
Peel, core and slice your pineapple. There are tools for this, but I just use a knife. If I did a lot of pineapples, it would probably be worth getting the peeler/corer tool. I cut the top and bottom off, then cut the peel off, then cut it in half from top to bottom, then cut each half in half (so the whole pineapple is quartered), then cut the core section off each quarter. Then I cut each quarter in half again before I started cutting the chunks. You can make your pieces whatever size or shape you want. If they're all close to uniform thickness, they'll dry more evenly.
Now, put your slices on the dehydrator tray. Pineapples have such a high acidity that there is no need to pre-treat them with fruit fresh or other stuff. In fact, I've used pineapple juice as a pre-treater for other fruits before. Not perfect, but it preserved color better than just drying them without dunking in pineapple juice.
I dehydrated the slices with the blueberries since I had extra trays available. 135 degrees about 16 hours in my Excalibur dehydrator. They were crispy. If you don't want them crispy, just check them more often than I did and turn the dryer off when they're at the chewiness you like.
They come off the trays nicely. Put them in whatever you're storing them in. Hide them from the snackers or leave them out and let them get eaten. Yes, that's the whole pineapple in that pint jar minus about 6-7 chunks we snacked on before I got the picture taken. Strange but true. Dehydrating is like magic. Yummy magic.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Dehydrating Blueberries
This is one of those projects that was really so easy it shouldn't deserve its own post, but here it is anyway. Dehydrating blueberries.
First, get some blueberries. It really doesn't matter how many, but the more the merrier. Wash them and pick out any that are squishy or bad.
Now get a pot of water boiling. If you've got a collander that can fit into a pot, use that pot. It doesn't have to be too big, but you'll have to dip the blueberries in and pull them out, so get a pot big enough to do that. I only had a little collander that could go in the boiling water so it was a little awkward, but it worked. I just did then a few at a time. It would have been really quick if I could have dunked the whole bunch at once. I put a hot pad on after this batch.
The blueberries need their skin cracked so the moisture can escape and they can dry. You're going to crack the skin by dipping them in the boiling water for 15-30 seconds and then pulling them out. It's easier than putting a little slice in each berry for sure. The berries darken up in the water.
After the berries are out of the water, put them on your dehydrator trays, spread them out so they're not all piled on each other, and dry them.
In my Excalibur I dried them at 135 degrees until they were chewy but not soft. It took overnight plus about 3 more hours the next morning--probably 16 hours total.
They can be used in pancakes, muffins, granola, etc. or just eaten plain. I had to hide these because they kept getting eaten. Yummy and super easy way to preserve blueberries. Little wrinkled balls of goodness.
Enjoy your dehydrated blueberries as long as you can keep them hidden from the little snackers. :)
First, get some blueberries. It really doesn't matter how many, but the more the merrier. Wash them and pick out any that are squishy or bad.
Now get a pot of water boiling. If you've got a collander that can fit into a pot, use that pot. It doesn't have to be too big, but you'll have to dip the blueberries in and pull them out, so get a pot big enough to do that. I only had a little collander that could go in the boiling water so it was a little awkward, but it worked. I just did then a few at a time. It would have been really quick if I could have dunked the whole bunch at once. I put a hot pad on after this batch.
The blueberries need their skin cracked so the moisture can escape and they can dry. You're going to crack the skin by dipping them in the boiling water for 15-30 seconds and then pulling them out. It's easier than putting a little slice in each berry for sure. The berries darken up in the water.
After the berries are out of the water, put them on your dehydrator trays, spread them out so they're not all piled on each other, and dry them.
In my Excalibur I dried them at 135 degrees until they were chewy but not soft. It took overnight plus about 3 more hours the next morning--probably 16 hours total.
They can be used in pancakes, muffins, granola, etc. or just eaten plain. I had to hide these because they kept getting eaten. Yummy and super easy way to preserve blueberries. Little wrinkled balls of goodness.
Enjoy your dehydrated blueberries as long as you can keep them hidden from the little snackers. :)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Making Banana Chips by Dehydrating Bananas
Sorry for the trouble, but this post has moved to our new blog location. Click here to go straight to Dehydrating Bananas. Thanks!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Plum Jam (Cooked Version)
Okay, I'm missing summer. We've had a good bout of snow lately and while the sledding has been fun, warm would be nice. So in honor of all the snow, here's another flashback to summer post. Plum Jam. Cooked jams are not too difficult and a little bit of fruit can actually make more jam than you might think. And one of the best parts about making jam is that you can make "variations on the theme" jams that you'll never find in a store, like cherry-strawberry or plum-pineapple or peach-jalepeno (hubby's personal favorite). So in this post we'll talk about making jam from plums, but the general process applies to making cooked jam out of almost any fruit.
I'm using the recipe out of the MCP pectin box, other recipes may vary on ingredient amounts. You'll need:
plums (5 3/4 cups chopped)
sugar (8 1/2 cups)
lemon juice (1/2 cup)
pectin (I like MCP, but any boxed pectin works)
jars (pint or half pint are good)
lids and rings
water bath canner
Step 1: Wash your plums. I got these plums from a friend who got them from a friend of hers who had too many on their tree, but then my friend picked too many of those so I got a box of them. They're kind of funny looking plums--not the kind you get in the store. They are harder, very purple/blue on the outside, very green on the inside, and kind of oblong shaped. Any plums work.
Step 2: Pit and chop the plums. Cut the plums in half to get the pits out. I used my scary food processor to do the chopping.
Step 3: Put the chopped plums in a pot with the lemon juice and heat it up. Doesn't look very "plum" colored does it? As you heat, the color bleeds from the skins and it all turns a nice plum color. About this time is also good to get your water in your canner and start heating that up. You'll also want to put all your lids in a little pot of water and heat them up a little.
Step 4: In a separate bowl, measure all the sugar.
Step 5: Once the sugar is ready, add the pectin to the pot of hot fruit and mix it in. Don't add the sugar yet. You can also add just a dab of butter or margarine to the pot (about 1/2 tsp.) This will reduce the foaming that happens when you cook the jam and make a better looking jam. Why it works, I do not know. Canning magic.
Step 6: Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly (this is why you want your sugar already measured).
Step 7: Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil. Once you hit the full rolling boil, start your timer and let it boil for 4 minutes. See? Nicely plum colored now. :)
Step 8: After four minutes, remove the jam from the heat, skim any foam, and scoop it into the jars. Wipe the rims and put your hot lids on. Put the jars in the canner and process for 10 minutes. Make sure the water is 1-2 inches over the lids of the jars, add more water if you need to, then wait to start the canning time until it's boiling.
After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the canner and put them on a rack to cool. I use the ultra cool upside down oven rack with the opposite end supported by a plate.
Label and put them away. Jam of any kind makes great gifts or can quickly go with a loaf of bread or rolls to a potluck or family in need--a lot of these went out at Christmas this last year. The last round I did, I didn't have enough plums so I opened a can of crushed pineapple and used that to make up the fruit volume. That's my standby when I don't have enough fruit to finish a batch of jam, so we've had peach/pineapple, strawberry/pineapple, apricot/pineapple, and now plum/pineapple jam. They're all good.
I'm using the recipe out of the MCP pectin box, other recipes may vary on ingredient amounts. You'll need:
plums (5 3/4 cups chopped)
sugar (8 1/2 cups)
lemon juice (1/2 cup)
pectin (I like MCP, but any boxed pectin works)
jars (pint or half pint are good)
lids and rings
water bath canner
Step 1: Wash your plums. I got these plums from a friend who got them from a friend of hers who had too many on their tree, but then my friend picked too many of those so I got a box of them. They're kind of funny looking plums--not the kind you get in the store. They are harder, very purple/blue on the outside, very green on the inside, and kind of oblong shaped. Any plums work.
Step 2: Pit and chop the plums. Cut the plums in half to get the pits out. I used my scary food processor to do the chopping.
Step 3: Put the chopped plums in a pot with the lemon juice and heat it up. Doesn't look very "plum" colored does it? As you heat, the color bleeds from the skins and it all turns a nice plum color. About this time is also good to get your water in your canner and start heating that up. You'll also want to put all your lids in a little pot of water and heat them up a little.
Step 4: In a separate bowl, measure all the sugar.
Step 5: Once the sugar is ready, add the pectin to the pot of hot fruit and mix it in. Don't add the sugar yet. You can also add just a dab of butter or margarine to the pot (about 1/2 tsp.) This will reduce the foaming that happens when you cook the jam and make a better looking jam. Why it works, I do not know. Canning magic.
Step 6: Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly (this is why you want your sugar already measured).
Step 7: Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil. Once you hit the full rolling boil, start your timer and let it boil for 4 minutes. See? Nicely plum colored now. :)
Step 8: After four minutes, remove the jam from the heat, skim any foam, and scoop it into the jars. Wipe the rims and put your hot lids on. Put the jars in the canner and process for 10 minutes. Make sure the water is 1-2 inches over the lids of the jars, add more water if you need to, then wait to start the canning time until it's boiling.
After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the canner and put them on a rack to cool. I use the ultra cool upside down oven rack with the opposite end supported by a plate.
Label and put them away. Jam of any kind makes great gifts or can quickly go with a loaf of bread or rolls to a potluck or family in need--a lot of these went out at Christmas this last year. The last round I did, I didn't have enough plums so I opened a can of crushed pineapple and used that to make up the fruit volume. That's my standby when I don't have enough fruit to finish a batch of jam, so we've had peach/pineapple, strawberry/pineapple, apricot/pineapple, and now plum/pineapple jam. They're all good.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Canning Tomatoes
Today we have another flashback to summer post. Canning tomatoes. I was going to do salsa, but the first steps of salsa are the same as canning tomatoes, so we really need to cover canning tomatoes first.
Canning tomatoes starts with getting some tomatoes. Really not cost effective to buy your tomatoes at a grocery store, maybe at a farmer's market. But it's for sure cost effective if you grow your own or get them from a friend that planted 100 tomato plants and has "a few" extra tomatoes (really, that's where I got most of mine this year). Wash the little guys off.
If you grow your own or get free tomatoes, there will probably be some with imperfections like bruises, scrapes, black spots. That's okay. We'll just cut those off and use the rest of the tomato. By the way did you notice my nice stainless steel sink? It's not mine. I canned tomatoes at a friend's house. Canning really goes much quicker and is quite enjoyable if you do it with a friend. You'll see her nice stove and countertop also. Makes for good pictures. :)
Get a pot of water boiling. After your tomatoes are washed, put them in the boiling water a few at a time. I have a really cool wire basket thing that holds my tomatoes while they're in the pot then I can lift them all out at once--saves lots of time over fishing out individual tomatoes.
After they've boiled for a little bit (a minute or so I think) their skins will start to crack. Now they're done and they need to be taken out and put in a sink of cold water. See the cracks?
When they've been put in the cold water, it's time to core and peel them and cut off any bad parts you didn't already get rid of. If the bad part isn't too big, I just let it stay on the tomato until I get to the core/peel stage. Then I have a knife handy and just do all the cutting at once. It also helps the tomato stay together in the boiling water if you don't have chunks cut out of it.
Coring is pretty easy. Get a sharp knife and cut a cone shape out around the stem or where the stem used to be. That's it.
If the tomato is ripe, the skin will slip off easily. If it's not ripe, you'll have to help it out with your sharp knife a little bit. This one was nice and ripe.
Now we've got our tomatoes peeled, it's time to decide in what form you'd like to bottle them. I usually cut mine into little pieces. You can bottle them whole, sliced, chunked or pureed. We pureed these. Popped them in the blender after they were peeled and then poured the blended tomato into a pot. She doesn't like chunks.
Use a good thick pot for heating your tomatoes--I use my standby pressure canner pot because it doesn't burn anything. I've used a cheapo pot and burned the tomatoes to the bottom. Ick. I canned them anyway--that was 10 years ago and I just yesterday emptied the last 3 pints of burnt tomatoes so I could use the jars for something else. Really if you burn the tomatoes, you probably will not want to use them and they'll hang around your food storage room for 10 years like mine did. Your call. You could save yourself all that trouble by using a nice thick pot that doesn't burn stuff.
Heat up your lids. Really, it used to be that this wasn't so important--I used to put lids on jars cold all the time. But the lid manufacturers have gotten cheap and are not putting as good of gummy stuff on the lids and it really needs to be heated or it won't stick to the jar right away and your liquid will leak out while your stuff is canning. Just my theory, but it's backed by lots of my own kitchen evidence.
After your tomato pot is nice and hot (like boiling for a while) and you've skimmed off any extra juice you want to get rid of as well as foam (this pureed stuff foamed, I don't remember my chunked tomatoes foaming), it's ready to go in jars. Put 1 T lemon juice and 1 tsp salt in each quart jar, then pour the tomatoes in to fill it up. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings and put it in your water bath canner for 30 minutes.
When it's done canning, pull the jars out and let them cool off. This stuff is great for chili and soup base or whatever you use canned tomatoes for. Yummy yum yum.
NOTE FOR ROMA TOMATOES: If you have roma tomatoes, you can skip the whole boil and peel section. Their skins don't separate, so they can just be washed, cut the stem end off, and cut them as desired and put them in the pot to heat up. They also are a "thicker" or "meatier" tomato--not so juicy, so you won't have to skim much juice while it's boiling. Romas are awesome. Especially for salsa. But alas, romas weren't free this year, so I didn't can any. :)
P.S. Have you entered the giveaways for the herb seeds and the foodsaver yet?
Canning tomatoes starts with getting some tomatoes. Really not cost effective to buy your tomatoes at a grocery store, maybe at a farmer's market. But it's for sure cost effective if you grow your own or get them from a friend that planted 100 tomato plants and has "a few" extra tomatoes (really, that's where I got most of mine this year). Wash the little guys off.
Get a pot of water boiling. After your tomatoes are washed, put them in the boiling water a few at a time. I have a really cool wire basket thing that holds my tomatoes while they're in the pot then I can lift them all out at once--saves lots of time over fishing out individual tomatoes.
When they've been put in the cold water, it's time to core and peel them and cut off any bad parts you didn't already get rid of. If the bad part isn't too big, I just let it stay on the tomato until I get to the core/peel stage. Then I have a knife handy and just do all the cutting at once. It also helps the tomato stay together in the boiling water if you don't have chunks cut out of it.
Coring is pretty easy. Get a sharp knife and cut a cone shape out around the stem or where the stem used to be. That's it.
Heat up your lids. Really, it used to be that this wasn't so important--I used to put lids on jars cold all the time. But the lid manufacturers have gotten cheap and are not putting as good of gummy stuff on the lids and it really needs to be heated or it won't stick to the jar right away and your liquid will leak out while your stuff is canning. Just my theory, but it's backed by lots of my own kitchen evidence.
After your tomato pot is nice and hot (like boiling for a while) and you've skimmed off any extra juice you want to get rid of as well as foam (this pureed stuff foamed, I don't remember my chunked tomatoes foaming), it's ready to go in jars. Put 1 T lemon juice and 1 tsp salt in each quart jar, then pour the tomatoes in to fill it up. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings and put it in your water bath canner for 30 minutes.
When it's done canning, pull the jars out and let them cool off. This stuff is great for chili and soup base or whatever you use canned tomatoes for. Yummy yum yum.
NOTE FOR ROMA TOMATOES: If you have roma tomatoes, you can skip the whole boil and peel section. Their skins don't separate, so they can just be washed, cut the stem end off, and cut them as desired and put them in the pot to heat up. They also are a "thicker" or "meatier" tomato--not so juicy, so you won't have to skim much juice while it's boiling. Romas are awesome. Especially for salsa. But alas, romas weren't free this year, so I didn't can any. :)
P.S. Have you entered the giveaways for the herb seeds and the foodsaver yet?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Canning Peaches
Well, I don't know about you, but canning season was crazy around here. Consequently, I did a lot of canning/freezing/drying and mostly remembered to take pictures, but had no time to post any of it! So this fall and winter, you just never know when a random canning post is going to appear.
Today we'll be canning peaches. Yummy. The first thing you need to do is get some peaches. There are lots of different varieties of peaches, but they come in two types: cling and freestone. If you've got a choice, you want a freestone variety. They are much easier to work with. The cling peaches are called that because the flesh "clings" to the pit, and so has to be freed by a pitting spoon or some such measure requiring a great deal more labor than just starting out with a freestone peach. A freestone peach has a pit or "stone" that comes "free" from the flesh (separates) easily. So if you're looking to plant a peach tree on your property, I'd look for a freestone variety.
After you've got some peaches, get them washed up and pretty. Now we'll skin them.
Skinning a peach is really quite easy. Get some water boiling in a pot. Dip the peaches in the boiling water for a while. The book says 30-60 seconds, but I've left them longer with no ill effects. You can tell when they're ready to come out because the color of the skin changes--the red will dull a bit--you'll see what I'm talking about when you do it.
Then take them out of the boiling water and put them immediately in cold water. I have a really cool metal basket thing (you can see the handles in the above picture) that allows me to put a basket of peaches in the water and then pull them all out and transport them to the sink. Slick. Much better than fishing one peach at a time out of the pot of boiling water, but that works too.
Now the skins should slip off the peaches easily. These are kind of mini peaches, but hey, they were free, so I'm not complaining.
If your skins do not slip off, you might have cling peaches, or your peaches may not be ripe enough. The skin of underripe peaches does not come off easily and causes a great deal of frustration! If you have underripe peaches, just wait a couple of days for them to ripen up a bit before canning and save yourself the trouble of peeling them with a knife.
After they are peeled, use the dent along the side of the peach as a guide to cut the peach in half and remove the pit.
Now you can leave them halved or cut them in slices, whichever you prefer. I like slices, but halves are faster, so I have some of both in the storage.
Put the cut peaches in a bowl containing 2 quarts of water and 2 TB FruitFresh or EverFresh or some similar product to prevent browning.
Meanwhile, get your boiling water canner, pot of lids, and syrup heating up. Syrup is a ratio thing. 1 sugar to 4 water is a light syrup, 1 sugar to 2 water is heavy. I like 1 sugar to 3 water. Use whatever you want to measure the sugar and water as long as you pour it in the pot according to the ratio.
I have a friend that skips the syrup and just puts 1/4 cup sugar in each quart jar after she's filled it with peaches and then pours boiling water over the top of it all to fill the jar. She claims it's less messy than using syrup. Might have to try that next year.
Now, put the peaches in your jars and pour the hot syrup over them to the bottom of the neck. Free the air bubbles. There's a tool for bubble freeing, but I just use a butter knife and poke it in about 4 times around the edge of the peaches and do a little squeeze/wiggle with it to get the air out.
Wipe the rims of the jars clean, screw on your hot lids and rings and process the jars in the canner. 25 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts. Pull your jars out when they're done and put them on a rack to cool. My rack is my way thrifty oven rack upside down, one side supported by an upside down plate.
Enjoy! Especially lovely to look at on the shelf and delicious over vanilla ice cream . . . :)
Today we'll be canning peaches. Yummy. The first thing you need to do is get some peaches. There are lots of different varieties of peaches, but they come in two types: cling and freestone. If you've got a choice, you want a freestone variety. They are much easier to work with. The cling peaches are called that because the flesh "clings" to the pit, and so has to be freed by a pitting spoon or some such measure requiring a great deal more labor than just starting out with a freestone peach. A freestone peach has a pit or "stone" that comes "free" from the flesh (separates) easily. So if you're looking to plant a peach tree on your property, I'd look for a freestone variety.
After you've got some peaches, get them washed up and pretty. Now we'll skin them.
Skinning a peach is really quite easy. Get some water boiling in a pot. Dip the peaches in the boiling water for a while. The book says 30-60 seconds, but I've left them longer with no ill effects. You can tell when they're ready to come out because the color of the skin changes--the red will dull a bit--you'll see what I'm talking about when you do it.
Then take them out of the boiling water and put them immediately in cold water. I have a really cool metal basket thing (you can see the handles in the above picture) that allows me to put a basket of peaches in the water and then pull them all out and transport them to the sink. Slick. Much better than fishing one peach at a time out of the pot of boiling water, but that works too.
Now the skins should slip off the peaches easily. These are kind of mini peaches, but hey, they were free, so I'm not complaining.
If your skins do not slip off, you might have cling peaches, or your peaches may not be ripe enough. The skin of underripe peaches does not come off easily and causes a great deal of frustration! If you have underripe peaches, just wait a couple of days for them to ripen up a bit before canning and save yourself the trouble of peeling them with a knife.After they are peeled, use the dent along the side of the peach as a guide to cut the peach in half and remove the pit.
Now you can leave them halved or cut them in slices, whichever you prefer. I like slices, but halves are faster, so I have some of both in the storage.Put the cut peaches in a bowl containing 2 quarts of water and 2 TB FruitFresh or EverFresh or some similar product to prevent browning.
Meanwhile, get your boiling water canner, pot of lids, and syrup heating up. Syrup is a ratio thing. 1 sugar to 4 water is a light syrup, 1 sugar to 2 water is heavy. I like 1 sugar to 3 water. Use whatever you want to measure the sugar and water as long as you pour it in the pot according to the ratio.
I have a friend that skips the syrup and just puts 1/4 cup sugar in each quart jar after she's filled it with peaches and then pours boiling water over the top of it all to fill the jar. She claims it's less messy than using syrup. Might have to try that next year.Now, put the peaches in your jars and pour the hot syrup over them to the bottom of the neck. Free the air bubbles. There's a tool for bubble freeing, but I just use a butter knife and poke it in about 4 times around the edge of the peaches and do a little squeeze/wiggle with it to get the air out.
Wipe the rims of the jars clean, screw on your hot lids and rings and process the jars in the canner. 25 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts. Pull your jars out when they're done and put them on a rack to cool. My rack is my way thrifty oven rack upside down, one side supported by an upside down plate.
Enjoy! Especially lovely to look at on the shelf and delicious over vanilla ice cream . . . :)
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