Fall, for many, is the most favorite season. Favorite fall activities include going to pumpkin patches with family members, Christmas shopping at craft fairs, and of course taking a few moments to admire the gorgeous fall colors exhibited by our natural environs.
A key part of the fall is harvest time. Farmers spend many long days and nights working to bring in from the fields what they have spent most of the spring and summer growing. For gardeners, the deadline for harvest is usually the first frost. The green tomatoes only have so many days left in which to ripen, herbs need to be cut down soon and plants in containers need to be either moved inside or disposed of for the season.
Each year I spend a few days preserving fruits and vegetables. I think it is my way of trying to capture the summer and fall so that we may enjoy it throughout the winter. For this column, I wanted to share a few of my favorite recipes for canning and preserving food in the hope that they might become favorites of yours as well.
Apple Cinnamon Syrup
6 cups apple juice (homemade-see recipe below)
3 sticks cinnamon, broken
5 cups sugar
4 cups water
3 cups corn syrup
½ cup lemon juice
Combine apple juice and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepot. Simmer 5 minutes; set aside. Combine sugar and water in a medium sauce pan; boil to 260 degrees Fahrenheit. Add apple juice and corn syrup to sugar syrup. Boil 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks. Stir in lemon juice. Ladle hot syrup into hot jars, leaving ¼’ headspace. Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. Yields about 6 pines.
Homemade Apple Juice
Wash, remove stem and blossom ends. Do not peel or core. Quarter fruit and measure. Add 1 cup water for each slightly heaped quart of prepared fruit in a large saucepot. Cover and simmer fruit until soft. Strain mixture through a damp jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth to extract juice.
Strawberry Jam
2 quarts strawberries
6 cups sugar
Wash and crush strawberries. Combine strawberries and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly to a gelling point, about 40 minutes. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼” headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner. Yields about 4 pints.
Freezing Pumpkin Puree
1 pie pumpkin
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. Remove seeds and pulp. Cover each half with foil. Bake in the preheated oven, foil side up for 1 hour or until tender. Scrape pumpkin meat from shell heaves and puree in a blender. Strain to remove any remaining stringy pieces. Store in the freezer in freezer safe bags.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¾ cups sugar, divided
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour, divided
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
4 tablespoons chilled butter
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
15 oz pureed pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup milk
Preheat oven to 375°. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Stir together cream cheese, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl; cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender until large crumbs form. Set aside. Combine remaining 3 cups flour, remaining 1 3/4 cups sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon, cloves, and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs, pumpkin, oil, and milk in a medium bowl; stir egg mixture into flour mixture just until moist. (Do not over mix.) Spoon half of batter into prepared muffin pans. Dollop about 1 tablespoon reserved cream cheese mixture in center of batter, and top evenly with remaining batter. Sprinkle with reserved streusel mixture. Bake 20 to 23 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.
Squash Casserole
4 cups Butternut or Acorn squash, cooked, drained and mashed
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 cup cracker crumbs
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/4 cup butter
Mix all together. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in large buttered casserole dish.
Kathleen Carr is the owner of The Growing Scene, Inc., a garden center and landscaping company. She can be reached by calling 815-923-7322 or emailing her at Kathleen@thegrowingscene.com.. Have a gardening question? Please contact her. She may address it in an upcoming column.
