sleevendog, I guess everything has good seasons and bad ones. My apples here are loaded with fruit, but the peaches and cherries didn't do well, our temps were too far below zero this winter and destroyed the buds. I'm hoping to find some pears, as my trees are still too young to bear fruit.

We'll break out the cider press in another month, maybe, I'm hoping Elery is healed enough from that hip replacement by then to get around and play with the kids.

OK, so no sauce, no pie and no jelly. How about apple catsup or BBQ sauce or salsa? I'd hate to have those apples go to waste. (grin)

My tomatoes are pretty much a lost cause, I won't be canning those this year. I've already had three cuttings of rhubarb, the beans were amazing, I've made baba ganouj twice with garden eggplant and the butternut squash are as prolific as I've ever seen them. The only things that didn't do well are turnips/rutabaga, as the rootworms went crazy this year, and the melons, which just didn't seem to like the weather.

My question is what should I do with a 50 foot row of leeks? They did exceedingly well...

Annie

Yup. It is an odd year. We had a very cool spring and early summer. Now it is soo hot.

It is also a year for huge fruit crops in Maine too. But I am very sad - tomatoes have blight.

Winter squash took forever to get going - now they are growing like gangbusters. I finally have fruit set but I am not sure if they have time to ripen.

Now if I could just figure out a pasta sauce with apples.....

Local apples are not quite ready to pick, but it has been an unusual year for the garden here as well. Regular rains all summer long (instead of severe drought) and only a handful of days 100°F and over, instead of 40-50 days 100°F and over. I haven't been without water in the rain barrels all summer.

I found the first of the season Jonathan apples over the weekend (Missouri-grown @ 98-cents per pound). They are our favorite apple variety for snacking - raw and dehydrated, but they were very small so I bought a tote bag that had 4-1/2 pounds of apples in it. I made 6 trays of dehydrated cinnamon/sugar slices (just a drop in the bucket to what I'll eventually dry), but I promised our granddaughter at college I'd send her some a.s.a.p. when the Jonathan's arrived. ;-)

I used the cores and peelings to start a jar of vinegar, made the broken slices and the slices too small to dehydrate into Waldorf Salad, and had less than a tablespoon of waste for the compost (worm holes and bruises) when I was done.

I've had basil galore! Burpless cucumbers - double galore!! Four varieties of kale (dehydrated a lot of it, and gave away LOTS). No zucchini, however, and I planted it twice, once from seed and then bought plants.

I fostered two volunteer cantaloupe plants that started growing in planters I grew lettuce in this spring. They are giving us really nice cantaloupe - a rare site in our garden.

-Grainlady

I need to know how to make vinegar! I have been blessed with lots of apples from friends.
You also might consider a couple of apple cakes for the freezer. With a little "cake gravy" it's a dessert fit for a king, but it's also wonderful to steal a piece for an afternoon snack....or breakfast1

Lindac, google apple scrap vinegar. I used whole fruit as i have so much, but the peels and cores will make vinegar. The best is using a wide mouth jar....covered with a bug cloth. And STIR morning, noon and night. (i keep mine near the morning coffee world.) Gets the attention it needs.

Thanks....will do!

Apple chutney is great if you like savory apple things. Good with cheese and crackers or with meats.

Thanks!...I'll look up chutney...

Lucky you!

Have you tried roasting apples? I've made a roasted apple compote ( I used to make it a lot & it was hubby's fave) with raisins, nuts & spices, drizzled w/ honey or maple syrup or brown sugar.

I also posted here awhile back, a recipe for oven 'barbecue' chicken legs w/ apples & onions...

Well, you could try your hand at apple wine or hard apple cider! Oooh, how about apple pie filling? Apple fruit leather?

Very cool Sleevendog. And I love your flowers in the background. I made chunky applesauce...by "made" I mean I made a purchase from Trader Joe's.

I made a kettle of stewed apples today. They are good warm or cold.

Sue

Our apples come in June. Tons of them. I make apple wine. The bottles are ready to be racked for the first time.

I was given an apple chutney/pickle recipe by an old friend; it looks good and I've been meaning to try it for ages. If you're interested I could dig it out and post it here.

Discovered that the apples I was given are...um...not "mushy"...but don't hold shape when cooked.
Would love the recipe, but it's not going to work for this batch of apples.

I'm. So. Jealous. We just don't get good apples here in Texas. There was a year recently that the north had a plethora of apples, like it sounds is happening this year. Did even one of them make their way to Texas? NO. Enjoy your apples. I have no suggestions for too many apples, as I've never had that problem. DH loves apple pie, to me, meh. My favorite way to eat apples is fresh.

Is apple vinegar the same or different from apple cider vinegar?

Sally

Sally, you don't state your planting zone, but if you don't get too many chill hours and have hot summers, the variety Anna is really good for eating, was bred in Israel for heat and also makes delicious pies. We grow it here in hot, dry Southern California. It ripens in June. The flavor is acid/sweet and the flesh is crisp when picked green with a slight blush of pink here and there. If we wait till it goes red, it's mushy.

Sally, there appears to be no way to email someone through Houzz, so send me a message at annie1992 at yahoo dot com...

Oops, sorry to be demanding. I edited this to add a "please". :-)

Annie

Annie, you are very sweet if you're thinking what I think you're thinking. (grin)

Sally

I don't see much point to apple pie, but I love apple cobbler and apple crisp.

I am impressed by your industrial size dehydrator.

Add a couple more parts, you can have a great smoker.

dcarch

Bumper crops here too. Going to pick pears tomorrow at a friend's who has a huge harvest this year. A most insistant friend.

I actually want to check out his kitchen. He is an engineer who loves to cook. He buys a lot of industrial kitchen gadgets - as far as I can tell to vacumn pack indian food for his sailing trips. Oh and he is from Prague nowhere near India.

Anyway back to picking pears. Fresh, dried, pear cider, maybe chutney and ideas????

agmss, I have an amazing pear preserve recipe, compliments of Carol/Readinglady, and a pear mincemeat recipe from my old Farm Journal cookbook, if you are interested in either of those. Pear butter is good too.

Sally, of course I'm thinking what you think I'm thinking. Or at least I think so. (grin)

Annie

If you would post that pear preserve recipe I am sure that some of us ( ahem) would copy and paste it in case anyone would present us with some pears.

Here it is, LindaC, don't let the "3 days" put you off. It's only a few minutes each of the first two days, with final cooking and processing on day 3 and it's worth every second, believe me. I keep thinking it would be nice with some added vanilla bean too....

The notes and instructions are Carol's (Readinglady). I have reduced the sugar by 1/3 and still gotten an OK soft set, but if I cut it more than that, it's too syrup-y. Truthfully, I don't think it's too sweet with equal amounts of pears and sugar, unless you use something really sweet, like Seckel pears.

Old Fashioned Pear Preserves from Carol (Readinglady)

You can also make Pear Preserves if you want chunks of pear suspended in syrup. By weight use equal amounts of pears and sugar. You also need the juice and seeds of one lemon. I wouldn't go over about 4 pounds of fruit because it takes too long to cook larger amounts. This takes several days, but it's mainly waiting and the results are wonderful. Here's what you do:

Day 1: Peel, core and cut firm-ripe pears into chunks or slices. Leave pieces large enough to retain character in preserves. Place pears in acidified water (Fruit Fresh or Ascorbic Acid).

Rinse and drain pears. Place in large bowl and add sugar equal in weight to pears. Add juice of lemon and place pips (seeds) in small bag. It's messy but I also add any of the pulp that was reamed out. Add to bowl. Stir gently
to distribute syrup and refrigerate overnight. Throughout evening stir occasionally to distribute sugar. (I usually don't do this more than once.)

Day 2: Place macerated pears and sugar syrup with lemon seeds in bag in large pan. Bring to a boil and cook about 10 minutes, skimming foam. Reduce temperature and continue to cook (about 20 minutes) until pears are translucent and candied. Turn off heat and leave pears and syrup overnight.
(This can be room temperature.) Cover pan with a cloth, not a lid (to prevent condensation).

Day 3: Using a slotted spoon lift pears from syrup and place in a strainer. Collect any additional syrup in a bowl beneath the strainer. (I drained syrup left in pan into a bowl and washed the pan because the syrup was
crystallized along the rim then I put the syrup back.) Bring syrup to a boil and cook to gel point stirring frequently. (Depending on how thick you want the syrup, this can be anywhere from 218-222.) You can also use the frozen plate test.

The advantage is you get to thicken the syrup just the way you like without cooking the delicate pears to the point of disintegration.

Return the pears to syrup and boil 1 minute to reheat them. Pull off heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This allows fruit to equalize with the syrup so it doesn't float to the top of the jar.)

Place preserves in sterilized jars and BWB 5 minutes or clean, hot jars and BWB 10 minutes.

This stuff is truly delicious, and I make it every year, but never have enough. I don't share well either!

Annie

I just pickled asian pears...: ) yum and so good. I'll post the recipe soon.

We work so much and only have weekends on the farm but so fun and we were climbing all over our fruit trees...

And no internet where we are.

Made another batch of apple/pear butter. Started a 'carboy' of cider...might go 'hard' with that.

I did make a lightly stewed batch...as if for a pie...and food savered in very small packages as we do like a Dutch Baby or a custard come cool winter months.

A fruit season like this is one in five years in my climate. I don't use any spray at all...just let nature decide any given year.

Lots of prime fruit for co-workers...gift baskets

I did make an apple/pear salsa that was a hit.

Trying a gazpacho tomorrow night with some fresh corn and pear...

And another apple/pear butter in the crock pot.

Got it....thanks!

LindaC, you're welcome.

Sleevendog, those look amazing. I just planted 3 pear trees this year, but no Asian pears. Next year, I think, I'm planting plums. And more blueberries, I put in 7 this year, I'd like to have a couple dozen eventually.

Annie

Beautiful pictures, Sleevendog!

Sally

Fruit trees take patience Annie, as you know, but so worth the wait. The Asian is probably 15yrs old now. I only have three grape vines but they also are abundant and probably ready to harvest next weekend. (in the pic is concords)....just used as a gift 'bow'. Did not remember making grape vinegar until i looked at old pics, so i'll start a batch of that as well.

I need more blueberries. I only have three and they may be a bit tired. Not producing like they used to.

DH is reading 'the Art of Fermentation' so he is now excited about all this harvest and we have the Annie Proux cider book.

Finding lots of pickled asian pear recipes. I used lemon juice and peel, wild thyme, rice vinegar, ginger slices, green peppercorns and Thai hot chilies...