Cherry Berry Jam

Last year I checked out many different jam recipes.  I liked the idea of a mixture of fruit.  I didn't find one for exactly what I wanted, so I made one up.

Here is my recipe for Cherry Berry Jam

Ingredients

12 c cherries
4 c raspberries
4 c blackberries
4 Granny Smith apples
1/2 c lemon juice
1 c homemade pectin
10 c sugar

I use frozen fruit because these three do not ripen at the same time.  I bring out the needed fruit a day or two ahead and thaw it in the fridge before making the jam.  I use pitted cherries and squish them as I put them into the pot.  It serves two purposes - to check for missed pits and to make it easier for the cherries to break up during the jam process.  The first time I made cherry jam I didn't do this and had to try to squash the cherries with a potato masher part way through cooking.  It is easier to squish them before cooking than mash them while they are steaming hot.

 

The blackberries are a thornless variety that grow in our yard.  I don't know if we have two varieties but some of the berries grow much larger than the rest.  The small ones are also harder to pick as they don't release from the stem as easily as the larger ones. 

 

The raspberries here seem to have a better crop in late summer.  They do produce in the spring but the berries are small and dry out quickly.  In the latter part of August and on into September and even October - we have big, juicy berries. 

 

I peel, core and chopped the apples.  The apples not only add natural pectin but give little appley bits to add texture to the jam.  Some apples mush-up quite readily when you cook them, but grannies seem to hold their shape better. 

 

Mix all ingredients except the sugar in a large pot and cook until fruit in soft and breaking apart.  Add sugar and continue boiling and stirring until it reaches the jam stage.  (either 220°F on a candy thermometer or the cold saucer test)

 

Pour into sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes in hot water bath.  The recipe makes 10 - 11 pints.  Enjoy!  ;)

 

 



Mulching Fruit Bushes

If you remember my blog last year about using wood shavings -

http://mountaingardengleanings.blogspot.ca/2011/09/shavings.html , one of the uses were for a groundcover.  This year, we decided to buy some landscape fabric and cover the rest of the area in the back that is home to our small fruits (grapes, raspberries, saskatoons, blueberries, rhubarb and kiwi).  The newspapers I used last year are still working in the one row I tried but they probably won't last for many years.  With the landscape cloth and the shavings, I hope to have very little weeding back there.

First thing we did was do a good weeding and raked the area so it was basically level.

You can see the weeds between the grape arbor - they do have a tendency to get away from us.  Hopefully this will be the solution to that problem.

The fabric we bought allows water through it so we laid the drip hoses on top of the fabric and shavings so we can monitor it.  We found the drip line did not work well as the tiny holes would plug up so we added nozzles that mist the row.  We cut holes in the fabric where the plants were growing and then covered the whole thing with a thick layer of shavings.

We worked on one length at a time and kept the shavings away from the edge so we could overlap the next length. 

When we finished one row, we continued onto the next.  At the ends we place slabs of wood to hold the shavings in and to cover the ends of the fabric.  That way we can extend the area if we need to.  We are thinking about added some raised beds for strawberries and such and think that we will do it in that area of the yard.

We hauled many, many loads of shavings on the van and the job took us several weeks to complete but it was worth the end product.  Doesn't it look nice?  It seems nice to as we got a variety of shavings - fir, pine, spruce and cedar.

Next year we will redo the row I did last year with the newspaper and continue out that side of the patch.  :)

Uses for Wood Shavings

We get wood shavings from a sawmill near town.  There are several mills around here and they all give away their wood shavings.  It saves them having to pay to haul them away.  We have found one place that has the perfect shavings for us.  At some of the other places, they are too fine and contain too much sawdust so they are hard to use.  All you need is a shovel and garbage bags and you are in business.

We mostly use the shavings for the chicken coop.  I use the deep-litter method to cover the floor and find it works great with little or no smell and little work on a daily and weekly basis. 

How the deep-litter method works is that you cover the floor with shavings and as the girls poo (usually from high on the roosts at night) you add more shavings and it all gets mixed together.  The shavings keep the floors dry and relatively odor free.  Some people rake out the droppings but I don't.  Some people stir them into the shavings but I don't.  What I do is occasionally throw in a handful of scratch (grain) and the girls stir it up with their digging and scratching.  When the shavings are too dirty, usually they are 6 to 8" deep they get hauled out to use in the garden and we start again.  They get spread on the half of the garden we are not using that year and dug in so they break down and provide nutrients for the next season.

I also read that you can use the shavings as ground cover so I decided to try that in the raspberry patch.  First we weeded between the rows.

Then it was rototilled and raked smooth.

Next we overlapped newspapers.  We layered them around half a dozen pages thick or so.  This is supposed to help keep the weeds down.

After the newspaper was down, we dumped on the shavings and spread them around.

The shavings are around three inches thick between the rows.

Now doesn't that look nice?  I think it will work great so we won't have to till between the rows.  If the shavings get too packed, we can just add more.  All it takes is a trip to the mill and we're in business again.

If it works well then we will use paper and shavings as ground cover between all the permanent rows at the back.  Only time will tell.  ;)



Fresh Raspberry Pie

My family loves fresh raspberry pie.  Unfortunately you only have the short raspberry season to enjoy it.  I've made this recipe for over 20 years. 

It starts with a baked pie shell.  You can you a frozen shell if you wish or make your own.  I use the same pie crust recipe I've used since the beginning of time. 

Pie Crust Ingredients
2 c flour
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 c Crisco or lard
6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

This makes 1 9" pie.  I used 1/2 for the raspberry pie and saved the rest for another project.

Glaze Ingredients

1 c raspberries
1 c water
1 c sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch

Sort raspberries so firmer, nicer looking ones are for the pie.  The softer ones can be used for the glaze.  Rinse berries quickly so they don't get to wet or the crust will get soggy.  It takes about 4 cups of raspberries for the pie depending on how high you pile them.

 

Combine 1 cup raspberries with 1 cup water in a small saucepan.  Mash berries and bring to a boil to bring out all the juice.  

Simmer several minutes until all the berries are mushy.

Strain the liquid and return to the saucepan.  As you can see below, some of the seeds went through the strainer (I am missing my finer strainer) but that is not a big problem since you will be pouring the liquid on raspberries with seeds anyway.

Add sugar to juice and stir well.  Mix cornstarch with a bit of cold water to dissolve and add to the hot juice, stirring constantly so lumps don't form.

Stir the glaze until it thickens.  You can see below how the liquid clears up as it thickens.

Pour or spoon the glaze over the raspberries.

Continue adding the glaze covering all the berries.

Refrigerate for several hours to set the glaze.

We didn't wait long enough for the pie to completely set so the first pieces were a little messy.  Very tasty, just messy looking.

The next pieces looked better when the glaze had a bit more time to set.  But sometimes you just have to jump the gun and cut into it before the glaze is set.

After having this pie, we prefer it to fresh strawberry pie.  The tartness of the raspberries offset the sweetness of the glaze.  Enjoy!  ;)



Smoothies

Lately I have been making smoothies for my family to drink.  I have been using frozen and canned fruit from our orchard.  I don't use a recipe as such but here are some of the results.

In the blender toss in fruit of your choice - here I am using unsweetened frozen raspberries.



Next add fruit flavoured yogurt that goes with your choice of fruit.  I used raspberry this time.



Add some ice cubes.  I add a glass or two depending if the fruit is frozen, cold or warm.



Add some liquid.  (I use vanilla soy milk but you could use milk or juice as well)  If you use fruit in juice or syrup you may not need any other liquid.



Blend until ingredients are mixed and smooth.



Enjoy!  :)



I use different fruit that I have on hand.  I add bananas if I have them. 
I've used home-canned peaches (I use a lighter sugar-syrup) with peach yogurt.





Apricot puree goes great with mango yogurt.  The puree was frozen when I made apricot juice and I froze some puree to use in baked goods.  I haven't used any in baking because it is so good in smoothies.





Canned plums (pits removed but skins on) with fieldberry.



Leftover canned pineapple with strawberry yogurt.



Frozen pitted cherries with black cherry yogurt.



The list goes on and on and you can change your yogurt flavours as well.

Once the fruit is ripe, I will be using fresh fruit again.

Bottoms up and enjoy!  :)