Enjoying Summer Fruit!

My family really enjoyed all the beautiful fresh fruit this summer.  I was amazed each time I went to the supermarket and saw the beautiful fruit on sale.  I finally couldn’t take it any longer and had to do something about it.  The following escapades are the result.  Please be warned, the follow fruit recipes were made over the course of a couple weeks.

The first thing I decided I had to make was plum jam.  When I was growing up, my Mom, sister and I went to visit one of my Mom’s friends in Northern France.  The day we arrived, they had set up a snack and had different jams out.  They offered us prune jam, and after we all cringed, we didn’t have the guts to try it.  The next morning, my mom pulled out her French-English dictionary and we realized that prune was French for plum, and it turned out to be some of the most amazing jam we had ever tasted!  To this day, I cannot see plum jam without the memory coming to mind.  As the plums were beautiful and very much on sale, so I couldn’t help myself. 

My favorite way to cook is to google and see what other people are doing, to give me ideas, then I combine different ideas to make my own; I very rarely follow a recipe exactly.  I found a recipe for a plum jam that didn’t require pectin and looked pretty easy.  Two days later I had what I called plum butter, but no preserves or jam.  So rather than give up at this point, I decided to come up with a way to use this new plum butter, and as the plums were still on sale I decided to try again at making preserves.

Plum Tart!

Fallon and I decided to make a gluten free plum tart.  This was very easy and absolutely amazing!  We started by making a gluten free crust.  We used half gluten free all purpose and half almond flour.  I LOVE almond flour.  It is by far the most amazing ingredient on the planet when making deserts.  It adds an incredible nuttiness and texture.  I used half butter and half shortening to make this pastry and a couple tablespoons of sugar and pinch of salt, we then added enough water that it was still a little crumbly.  This could be substituted with any pie crust recipe you like.  The nice part about using the gluten free flours here is that it always turns out flaky and light, because there is no gluten to develop and make it tough!

 We baked the crust at 350, I don’t remember how long, but we didn’t let it start to brown.  Since we were going to bake it again, we just wanted the crust to have a head start.  After pulling it out of the oven, we topped it with the plum butter.  Then we put on fresh plum slices in a pretty design.  We topped it off with a light dusting of sugar and it went back in the oven.  We let it bake until it was beautiful and a little caramelized.

 This is one of those treats that you have no idea has no gluten.  It is the perfect summer treat.  It was delicious warm out of the oven and cool leftover the next day.

 

Jam Obsession!

Now when I say obsession, I mean obsessive in the most serious sense possible.  I used to love canning with my Mom when I was younger, so this started out as a trip down memory lane.  It then moved into bliss watching my children work together as my sister and I had.  Finally I moved into the stage of what have I gotten myself into???  I’m still blaming that day in Northern France and the plum preserves.

I really couldn’t say exactly how each batch was made.  I know that I used fresh fruit, pectin, sugar, pear juice, water, and my personal time and love.  Preserves work best when made in small batches, so each batch made at the most 15-18 cups of preserves. 

Each batch began with cooking the fruit, sugar, and juice/water.  Once the fruit had cooked down to the consistency I wanted, I added the pectin.  I read that if you cook the pectin too long, it will break down and you will end up with runny preserves.  So I tried to minimize the cook time with the pectin.  To make sure I had the consistency I wanted, I used a cold spoon to bring a little drop of the preserves to room temp to see how thick it was.  If I needed it thicker, I could then add more pectin before canning.  I never ran into the issue of it being too thick, but if I had, I would have added a little more juice. 

 I personally love having the fruit flesh and skin in homemade preserves, so I left them in.  You can absolutely strain them out if you prefer.  During my preserve making I learned the difference between preserves, jam and jelly!  Jelly has no flesh, skins or seeds, and is made from juice and pectin.  Jam has some flesh and skin, but still has a jelly texture.  Preserves are primarily fruit and can be a little runnier when at room temp.  I love the fruit chunks, so I chose to make preserves.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you plan to actually can your preserves is sanitation!  If you don’t get your jars clean and then sterilize after you have added the jam, your beautiful creation will go bad on your shelf.  I also found out that homemade preserves/jam last up to 12 months on the shelf, but are their best in the first six months.  So make sure and put the date you canned them on the jars so you don’t have to remember in a few months what you had done.

We washed the jars and lids prior to filling them with the jams.  We then kept the jars and lids in boiling water before we filled them, just to be safe.  After we filled the jars we wiped off the top of the jars with a wet paper towel to make sure no jam would prevent the lids from sealing.  Based on where I live, I found recipes that said to boil the filled jars for 5-10 minutes to seal them.  I decided to err on the side of caution and go for 10.  Better safe than sorry when cooking for my family!  This time really does depend on a lot of variables and I am pretty close to sea level.  So I can’t stress enough how important it is to check.

 

After we boiled the jars we set them upside-down over night to seal.  The next day we turned them right side up and check to see if the lids had sealed.  You know your lid sealed if when you push the center it doesn’t pop back up.  We lucked out and didn’t have to reseal any of our jars.  If any of your jars didn’t seal, all you have to do is make sure there isn’t any food at the seal, preventing it from properly sealing and boil the jar again.  You could also opt to just put the jar in your fridge and enjoy right away!

As you can see from some of my pictures I went a little crazy with my jam making.  As a result I have forbid myself from any more canning.  That is until apples are in season and I can make my apple butter again!  I had such a good time there is no way I could swear off canning for too long!  I had such a good time with my kiddos during our canning and I hope they continue to make beautiful memories together.  Good food and a strong family!  For me, it doesn’t get any better than this!