Category Archives: fruit

Fiery Apple Chile Syrup

16 October 2011 by local kitchen

Back in the heat of August, I was talking chile pepper love with Kat, of Food, Literature, Philosophy, on Twitter. We were talking about our love of the spice and the various ways in which I incorporate chiles into fruit preserves: jam and jelly, syrup and preserves. Kat mentioned that she had been working lately with Jim, the farmer at Rushy Springs Farm near Knoxville, TN, who grows several different varieties of chile peppers, including his own open-pollinated version of a Tennessee Cherry […]

Categories: apples, canning, condiments, fall, hot chile peppers, preserving, winter • Tags: apples, canning, condiments, cooking, fall, food, local, preserving, recipes

Pear & Pumpkin Ale Preserves

9 October 2011 by local kitchen

At long last, the infamous pear & pumpkin ale preserves experiment! Pear & pumpkin seem to go together naturally (and not just because of the awesome alliteration): their growing seasons overlap by at least a month; they are both sweet, yet with their own distinct notes, pears more floral and delicate, pumpkins an earthy, rich, root-vegetable sweetness; the classic autumnal spices, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg & cloves, go nicely with both; even the colors work well together (if my wedding had any kind […]

Categories: canning, fall, pears, preserves, preserving, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: beer, booze, canning, cooking, fall, food, local, pears, preserving, pumpkin, recipes

Apple Bourbon Butter

5 October 2011 by local kitchen

I love apple butter. It’s tasty, of course, but it’s not so much that I love to eat it, as I love to cook with it: I toss it into various muffins & quickbreads, Tai’s granola, the occasional meat glaze or braising sauce. In addition to its usefulness in the kitchen, butter is the easiest way to preserve a whole bunch of apples without a lot of effort: no peeling, no coring, no prep of added ingredients. It’s perfect for […]

Categories: apples, canning, fall, preserving, spreads, wine, beer & liquor, winter • Tags: apples, booze, canning, cooking, fall, food, local, preserving, recipes

Nectarine Ginger Pie Filling

27 September 2011 by local kitchen

It’s almost October: the leaves are turning, candy corns are crowding the store shelves and pumpkin spiced lattes are all over the Internets. So why am I talking about nectarines? Peaches and nectarines are classically August: shouldn’t I be telling you about the butternut squash risotto I made last week? (Oh, and it was good.) But September is wacky that way: it truly straddles two seasons. You look around the farmer’s market and are spoiled for choice: tomatoes, eggplant and […]

Categories: canning, dessert, peaches, pie, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, nectarine, peach, preserving, recipes, summer

Plum Apple Chutney

20 September 2011 by local kitchen

I am ludricrously far behind in sharing recipes with you: there are at least 40 posts in my draft folder and it seems to grow daily. But, being a seasonal eater with a seasonal blog, it doesn’t make much sense for me to share a pickled garlic scape recipe with you in September, does it? Nor “strawberry jam: 10 tips for a good set.” And you might just have to wait ’til next year to hear about the probably-way-too-spicy-for-anyone-but-me blackberry […]

Categories: 100% local, apples, bell pepper, canning, chutneys, fall, hot chile peppers, plums, preserving, summer • Tags: apples, canning, food, local, plum, preserving, recipes

Plum Hot Jelly

7 September 2011 by local kitchen

A few weeks ago, it was hot. Bright sunshine. High summer. It’s kind of hard to fathom now, just a short time later, as I huddle at my desk in fleece pants and fuzzy slippers, watching the rain drip, drip, drip endlessly from the eaves. Back then, in high summer, I met Miss Julia up in Red Hook for some blackberry picking, carelessly comfortable in flip flops and a tanktop: was it really only last month? As we often do, we traded some goodies: […]

Categories: apples, canning, hot chile peppers, jellies, plums, preserving, summer • Tags: apple, canning, chiles, cooking, food, jelly, local, plums, preserving, recipes

Maple Bourbon Blackberries

4 September 2011 by local kitchen

Are blackberries still available in New York? I don’t know, but it seems doubtful, especially after Irene. What I do know is that nearly a week without internet access didn’t do much for the backlog of preserving recipes I’ve been meaning to share with you. I either need to post every day for a couple of weeks or save some of them for next year. Given the backlog of fruit & vegetables cluttering up my kitchen counters, waiting for their own spot in […]

Categories: berries, canning, preserves, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Irene’s Jam

2 September 2011 by local kitchen

Hands up who lost power during Irene? Yep, me too. In a way, we are lucky: given that the combination of NYSEG and Westchester County = power outages at least once a week during winter, we are well-prepared to lose our electricity. We have a gas stovetop, that just requires lighting with a match during a power outage; a propane fireplace to heat the house in cold weather; candles and flashlights a-plenty; and generally a few gallons of water in […]

Categories: berries, canning, citrus, cranberries, jams, preserving, rhubarb, year round • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, hurricane, irene, local, preserving, recipes

Wild Blueberry Jam with Mint

27 August 2011 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: blueberries are long gone from these parts, right? Well, I’ll be willing to bet that there are still some out there (although they may well be completely done after this weekend’s Big Blow). And it is still wild blueberry season in Maine (in fact, I’m also willing to bet that there are enterprising Mainers out in the fields right now, raking for all they’re worth, in advance of the storm). The blueberries I used in […]

Categories: berries, canning, foraging, jams, mint, preserving, summer, wild foods • Tags: berries, blueberry, canning, cooking, food, jam, local, preserving, recipes

Chile Blackberry Syrup (+ Bonus Spicy Booze!)

22 August 2011 by local kitchen

I’ve wanted to try this chile blackberry syrup from Heidi for ages: last year’s blackberry harvest was a bust, so I filed the recipe away in my bookmarks and waited, longingly, for August to roll around once more. The blink of an eye (and a whole lotta blog posts) later, August is here once again, and I’ve been up to Greig Farm in Red Hook twice, with Miss Julia, picking and picking and picking, determined to squirrel away as much […]

Categories: berries, canning, hot chile peppers, preserving, sauces • Tags: berries, canning, chiles, condiments, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Rhubarb Blueberry Pie Filling

4 August 2011 by local kitchen

Last week, when I was valiantly trying to Jenga yet another head of kale into the fridge, I reached the familiar summer breaking point: “something’s got to go.” Turns out the most likely culprit was a partially-snacked-on quart of blueberries from the farmer’s market and a couple of pounds of rhubarb, found, and pounced upon in joy, just a few days before at Holbrook Farm. Did you know that a well-managed rhubarb plot can keep growing right into August, and sometimes into […]

Categories: berries, canning, pie, preserving, summer • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes, rhubarb, summer

Blueberry Crumble

2 August 2011 by local kitchen

Fruit this year seems to keep passing me by: I either miss the season altogether, or start frantically checking my local roster of U-pick farms just as the last of the berries/cherries/stone fruits are saying goodbye. Blueberries are no exception: I have yet to go blueberry picking and the season at Jones is winding down (I’m hoping to get there this week!). I’m less stressed about the blues, however, as I still have a couple of gallon Ziplocs in my freezer: I […]

Categories: baking, berries, dessert, nuts, oats, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, blueberries, dessert, food, local, pie, quick & easy, recipes, summer, vegetarian, whole grains

10-Minute Sour Cherry Bam!

31 July 2011 by local kitchen

You would think I would learn. (You would be wrong.) After my last run-in with shriveled fingertip sour cherries, I decided to make another attempt at cherry jam, this time just a straight-up sour cherry (a little bit of lemon, a little bit of sugar) and a minimal maceration, overnight, banking on the fact that it was the week-long maceration that caused the color-leach in my last sour cherry preserving attempt. Well, don’t take that piece of preserving wisdom to […]

Categories: 100% local, cherries, jams, preserves, preserving, quick & easy, summer • Tags: cherries, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Strawberry, Lemon & Rosemary Scones

25 July 2011 by local kitchen

On this blessedly cool and rainy Monday it’s a relief to get back in my kitchen after the doldrums of Hotpocalypse Week. And what better way to celebrate a return to baking weather than a scone? A little sweet, a little savory, and made with the very tail end of the season’s strawberries, there’s just nothing not to like about these little babies. But the best part? They’re not popsicles. Happy rainy Monday! Adapted from my Cranberry-Orange Scones, originally adapted from […]

Categories: berries, breakfast, rosemary, snack, spring, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, berries, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, strawberries

Blueberry Vodka

22 July 2011 by local kitchen

Another beat-the-heat recipe, this one in the fruit + booze category (always a winner): blueberry vodka. Ice, ice (baby) cold blueberry vodka. This one couldn’t be easier and is a perfect way to preserve those blueberries you picked last weekend but haven’t been able to bear turning on the stove to jam. Easy-peasy: dump them in some vodka and call it a day. Some of the quickest, and tastiest, preserving you’ll ever do. My “recipe” was inspired by Sean of Punk […]

Categories: berries, drink, preserving, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: berries, booze, food, infusions, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes