Crabapple Butter

While visiting Syracuse this past weekend, I stopped by the Central New York Regional Market (one of the best farmers' markets I've had the chance to attend regularly - and something that I really miss now that I live down in DC). The market was in full swing and amongst the early fall produce I found some crabapples that looked absolutely beautiful. The fact that I'd never cooked anything with crabapples before didn't stop me - so I bought a small basket and brought them back home with me (along with a larger basket of jonamac apples that have been making my lunch tote very happy). After a bit of scouting about for ideas of what I might actually do with my batch of crabapples (chutney, jelly, preserves, and spiced whole apples all sounded tempting), I settled on crabapple butter. This recipe yields about a pint of ruby-colored crabapple butter that you can use as a spread for toast, quick breads, or just eating by the spoonful.

Crabapple Butter (~ 1 pint)
2 lbs. crabapples, stems removed and quartered (do not peel or core)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar (adjust if necessary to achieve desired sweetness/tartness)

1. Place crabapples and water in a large pot, spreading apples into a single layer if possible. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until apples are soft (~ 15 minutes). Crush using a potato masher then strain through a sieve, pushing through as much of the pulp as possible. Discard remaining skins, seeds, etc.

2. Combine pulp, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring regularly, about 20-30 minutes.

3. Spoon into clean dry canning jar(s) and cover. Cool and refrigerate.

Black Raspberry Freezer Jam

And finally the berries come to an end...late Sunday afternoon, I put several bags of blueberries, raspberries, and black raspberries into the freezer for later berry exploits. But before I did that, I tried my hand at freezer jam. After letting the jam sit for the requite 24 hours needed for set, I had some tonight for dinner (on a PB&J sandwich) and found the jam to be quite thick and very mild in flavor - delicious!

This recipe comes from inside the Sure-Jell pectin package and uses less sugar than traditional jam recipes - if you make it, be sure to get the "pink box" of Sure-Jell (for less and no sugar needed recipes), not the regular "yellow box." The recipe calls for red raspberries, but based on my trial with black raspberries, it works just as well for those!

Black Raspberry Freezer Jam (~ 6-8 cups)
4 cups crushed black raspberries (about 3 pints before mashing)
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 box Sure-Jell for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes Fruit Pectin
1 cup water
clean plastic or freezer-safe glass containers with tight-fitting lids

1. Crush raspberries using a potato masher, about 1 cup at a time, until amount of crushed berries measures 4 cups. Do not puree berries - there should still be some chunks of fruit.

2. Combine sugar and pectin in a large saucepan and stir until thoroughly combined.

3. Add water to sugar and pectin and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute and remove immediately from heat.

4. Quickly stir crushed berries into hot sugar and pectin mixture until thoroughly mixed.

5. Pour jam into prepared containers, leaving about 1/2 inch space at top for expansion during freezing. Cover containers.

6. Let containers stand at room temperature for 24 hours, until jam is set. Refrigerate for up to three weeks or freeze for up to one year (thaw in refrigerator).

Fresh Berries - Raspberry Lemonade and Berry Topping

Since 4th of July falls on a Saturday this year, Friday was a holiday for most folks around here. And for once, the weather in the DC area was gorgeous - temperatures hovered in the 70s or just at 80 for most of the day, the humidity was low, and the sun was shining. Which means it was perfect weather for going berry picking. This time around, I decided to try a new farm, Larriland Farm in Woodbine, MD. Larriland uses integrated pest management, so their fruits generally have much less pesticide burden than other farms. In addition, Larriland has a large selection of fruits and veggies for people to pick. I didn't get around to everything that was in season yesterday, but I did get about 15 pounds of berries - blueberries and three varieties of raspberries (black, purple, and red).

I'll be posting a number of berry recipes resulting from this haul in the coming day. [UPDATE: Recipes are now posted for raspberry-peach smoothie, blueberry muffins, raspberry-white chocolate scones, and black raspberry freezer jam.]

For starters, here are two fairly easy recipes that I'll be bringing to this evening's Fourth of July celebration.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade
I can't claim all the credit, since I found this recipe in the July issue of Martha Stewart Living. However, I have switched the proportions around a bit. Also, Martha suggests spiking with vodka, if that's your style.

Raspberry Simple Syrup
4 cups water
2 cups fresh raspberries (I used a mixture of black, purple, and red raspberries)
1 3/4 cups sugar

Sparkling Lemonade
2 quarts lemonade (homemade or storebought)
1 liter sparkling water
Raspberries and mint for garnish

1. Bring water, raspberries, and sugar to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and gently mashing berries as you stir.

2. Strain mixture into a storage container and cool syrup. [Save the mashed berries to eat with yogurt or ice cream.]

3. In a large pitcher or punch bowl, combine raspberry syrup, lemonade, and sparking water. Serve over ice, garnish with fresh raspberries and mint.

Berry Topping (for angel food cake, pound cake, or ice cream)
4 cups berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice

Lightly toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Serve berry topping over cake or ice cream and top with whipped cream.

Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce

As I've noted previously, cranberries are among my favorite holiday dishes. Earlier in the month, I experimented with cranberry relish; today, I am returning to an old favorite, orange ginger cranberry sauce. This recipe requires little prep work aside from opening the bag of cranberries and measuring out a few other ingredients and can be whipped up in about 15-20 minutes, so it is perfect if you are in a hurry and need to put together something fast.

Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce
12 oz. bag fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup orange juice (with pulp)
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. fresh chopped ginger (or ginger paste)

1. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring often.

2. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue simmering (and stirring often) for about 10 minutes.

3. Remove sauce from heat and mash using a potato masher. Allow to cool and thicken, then place in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Maple Pumpkin Butter

Whether you've made zucchini - apple bread or another quick bread, picked up some scones or muffins from the store, or need a topping for pancakes and waffles, this maple pumpkin butter is a perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving breakfast spread. During the baking you'll need to stir the pumpkin butter quite often, so you might want to make this while already in the kitchen for other reasons.

Maple Pumpkin Butter
1 29 oz. can solid pack pumpkin
3/4 cup apple cider
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1 T. fresh chopped ginger (or ginger paste)
dash of nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Stir together all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue stirring as mixture comes to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Transfer mixture to an 8 x 8 baking dish and place in 350F oven. Cook for approximately 1.5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until pumpkin butter has thickened and any liquid has cooked away.

4. Remove from oven and cool. Transfer to glass jar or other container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cranberry - Apple - Raisin Relish

Next up in the preparation for Thanksgiving is a new (to me) variation on an old favorite - cranberry relish. Cranberry dishes are one of my favorites in the holiday meal (along with sweet potatoes) and making one is remarkably easy - not quite as simple as opening a can of jellied cranberry sauce, but much more rewarding (and tastier, too!). I found this recipe in Sunday's Parade magazine and made a few adjustments to reduce the sweetness and up the spice.

Cranberry - Apple - Raisin Relish (about 3.5 cups)
12 oz. bag fresh cranberries
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice (with pulp)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. chopped fresh ginger or ginger paste
1 T. balsamic vinegar

1. Mix together cranberries, apples, raisins, sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, and ginger in a large saucepan or stockpot.

2. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until cranberries begin to soften (about 5-7 minutes). Using back of spoon, lightly mash mixture to break cranberries open.

3. Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar. Transfer to glass jar or other container, cover, and refrigerate.