Fall Means Canning

It's funny, but come fall my head and heart turns to canning. Even though I do not live on a farm, I long to do just that. To have a garden, a small orchard, chickens, and a couple of dogs.
 To spend my time spring to fall planting, watering, digging in rich brown soil and reaping the rewards on a daily basis of my labors.

No stress from a 9 to 5 job; fresh vegetables, fruit and eggs; daily exercise and fresh air; and preserving the harvest for the winter months which will be filled with quilting, purse making, jewelry making, and holiday fun. Nothing sounds better to me, but alas, I have not been able to make this happen in my life.

So, due to some very reasonable purchases from a local woman last weekend, I have been canning. Have made Spiced Peaches, Peach Preserves, Chunky Cinnamon Applesauce, Diced Tomatoes and Southwest Peach Chutney so far. I have also dehydrated apple slices, banana chips, and tomatoes w/oregano. Still have 40# of apples, 15 pounds of pears, and 10# of peaches to deal with, but couldn't face it last night, so took a night off. The storage under the RV (affectionately known as "the morgue" to us) is full!! But I will have some wonderful Christmas gifts to give to friends and family and fantastic delights to taste during the upcoming cold winter days and nights. Going to make Fresh Apple Cake with Walnuts, 2 of them, as have 2 parties to go to this upcoming weekend, plus think I will bake some in canning jars for storage too. Yes, you heard me right. If you fill canning jars (ALWAYS use wide mouth jars or else you have to eat it out of the jar with a spoon!) half way up greasing them very very well, put them on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven, then put on the lids and rings, they seal and can be stored in the pantry for a year or so. I have learned this from my wonderful friend Iris, who has persimmon trees and wouldn't think of wasting the fruit even though no one wants to eat it, so makes Persimmon Bread which everyone loves and cans it. I made a couple dozen pints of Banana Bread when a friend gave me 35# of quicky ripening bananas a month ago, so I now know first hand how well it works.


For the Spiced Peaches, I peeled and quartered the peaches, putting them into a large bowl with some lemon juice in it and stirred them around with my hands to keep them from turning brown. I then put 5 whole cloves per pint (10 in the quart jars) in the bottom of the jars before packing in the peach quarters. I stuffed a whole cinnamon stick down the side of the peaches in each jar once they were sufficiently full....remember to always leave 1/2 inch head space in the jars when canning. While I was doing this, I boiled some water with Splenda (sorry, but Roy is a diabetic, I'm trying to get 30 more pounds off, and many of our friends are diabetic/weight conscience, so it's not an all-natural recipe!) to make a very light simple syrup. When all the jars were filled with peaches, I poured the hot syrup over them to cover, then wiped off the tops before putting on lids and rings and water bathed them for 30 minutes. They're beautiful, and since one jar didn't seal, we tasted them last night and they're yummy!!!! They'll be stupendous in December with Christmas dinner or January/February when the fruit will be so welcome on a cold winter day....maybe even heat them up...mmmmmm!!

Friday I will bake the Fresh Apple Cakes, a recipe from my ex-mother-in-law. It and the Fudge Cream Pie she made live on and are well worth making, as not all her dishes beared repeating. If the weather is crummy, it may go down to 1 party, we'll see. Wouldn't hurt my feelings....I really need 1 weekend where nothing is happening just to rest and recuperate and catch up on paper work, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards. Oh well, soon we will be in Uruguay having a wonderful time on vacation, celebrating our 15th anniversary, and meeting new people, seeing new places, having a much needed respite from the day to day world and having an adventure to boost our souls. It's not been a fun time lately, and I need it! Life should be an adventure and fun, and it has not been either as of late. Time to change it!!!


The Southwest Peach Chutney is to die for. I'm telling you, buy some peaches (only 4 are needed if you just want to make it fresh and use it and not do all that canning stuff) and make this...it's stupendous. Great on fish or chicken, and probably lots of other stuff too. Mahi mahi tacos comes to mind..... Kind of spicy, but not hot, with zest and flavors that explode in your mouth. And it's quick and easy too.



Southwest Nectarine or Peach Chutney
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 onion, diced fine

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, minced

2 Anaheim chilies, seeded and diced

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, diced (canned chili found in the market)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup white wine

4 ripe nectarines or peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped



Instructions

In a stainless-steel saucepan, heat the oil and saute the onion, garlic, ginger, and chiles over moderate heat for about 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, rice vinegar, cinnamon, and white wine and cook until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. To prepare the peaches, drop into boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove from water, run cold water over them to cool, cut into quarters, remove the pit, and peel off the fuzzy skin. Add the chopped fruit and cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes on medium low, stirring occasionally, until thickened.



Notes:

1) If you can't find Chipotle Chilis in Adobe Sauce, I use 2 t. chipotle chili powder in the sauce prior to adding the peaches. Gives it the same slightly smokey taste as the actual chilis.


2) Cans wonderfully and you can double, triple or quadruple the recipe to make multiple batches that friends and family will love as gifts. Be sure to water bath for 30 minutes after filling and sealing the jars with lids and rings.