Applesauce and Grape Juice

The kids always have a great time making applesauce. I cook the apples and they take care of the rest. And boy the house smells so good when apples are cooking all day. I just wish our family liked to eat applesauce. Reagan is really my only applesauce eater. This year I decided to try freezing it in individual size portions for him rather than canning it. We'll see if that idea works.
A couple days ago I made grape juice. Sadly, that project was accomplished very quickly due to the shortage of grapes this year.
Last year we had close to 60 quarts. This year the count was 7! The deer must not like the Concord grapes as much as the green grapes because we were left with mostly Concord. Look at the difference in the juice color of this year's and last. I think the purple juice is prettier but I actually prefer the flavor of the pink juice. "Mommy, why do green grapes make pink juice?" hmmm... that's a good question. I don't know. (and I also don't know why the store-bought grape juice from green grapes is clear....)

Pickles and Plums

Well, I got a few items done on my to-do list this week. The girls picked plums and a few peaches for me to make into fruit leather. Unfortunately, our plums are not freestone making them a pain to process. So I only made 9 trays of leather because that was enough stickiness for me.

Next, I made pickles. Look at this strange cucumber....

I managed to squeeze it into the jar without cutting it apart, so that will be an unusual pickle!

I like making refrigerator pickles because they are a little crunchier and the whole house doesn't get saturated with pickle brine smell. It's also really easy. The only downside is you can't store them on the shelf- they have to be in the refrigerator. That means you are limited to making only the amount you can fit in your fridge while still having room for important things like milk. My kids would love to have a fridge half full of pickles but I don't care too! Here is the recipe I use:

1 1/2 quarts boiled water, cooled
2 dill flowers
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 1/2 pounds (8to10) pickling cucumbers
6 long sprigs fresh dill
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 up white vinegar

Put dill flowers and garlic in bottom of Mason jar. Add the cucumbers. Put sprigs of dill in center of cucumbers. Add salt and vinegar, then fill jar with boiled water that is cooled. Put on seal and ring. Shake to dissolve salt. Set upside down on counter away from sunlight and heat. Let sit 4 to 5 days turning the jar either upright or upside down each day.

Let sit upright 2 more days, then refrigerate. Lasts about 6 months.


Next year I need remember to grow dill so I won't have to buy it at Winco. Besides, dill smells so good in the garden!

Ode to the Apricot

We just finished with the last of the apricots for the year. It was nice to have two large productive trees with fruit that was virtually bug free! I made lots of fruit leather, freezer jam and just plain dried apricots with our bounty. Our favorite, of course, is the fruit leather! Yum. Isn't it strange how the most mealy textured, mild tasting fruit ends up being very delicious when dried? Apricots are so easy to work with too, being able to split them with your thumb nail. Our local wildlife also finds the apricot a wonderful fruit. Late the other night, Joel and I heard noises outside and went to the garden with a flashlight. We looked up to find 2 porcupines and 1 raccoon caught in the act of gorging in our tree. I grudgingly decided we had enough to let them share, though I wasn't excited about it.