Eating the Produce of My Estates

[hrj]

 One of the amusing(?) things about all my work preserving the Produce of My Estates is that I'm not always good about remembering to *eat* the things I preserve. I joke that I should work out a spreadsheet of what I have in stock and then set myself a minimum quota per week to ensure I go through it all roughly before the next crop comes in. And, of course, I should work harder at giving away the things like jelly and marmelade that I simply don't eat that much of. There are reasons why the majority of the apples and plums simply get frozen (or dried). No need to add sugar (but also: faster processing time). So many of the traditional preservation methods involve a lot of added sugar and I simply don't have that kind of sweet tooth.

But this weekend I cracked into the most recent batches of plum jelly and the Gervase Markham-style orange marmelade, respectively on crescent rolls and toast. And they are, of course, delicious. Sometimes I use jams or jellies as a meat glaze, which is also fun. But even though I'm not as strict about a food regimen as I was a decade ago, I've still cut way back on baked goods and sugar-based foods. So jam on toast is a treat rather than a staple.

I generally consume that frozen plums and apples as breakfast at work, mixed with unflavored yogurt (which I've currently gotten back into making myself). And sometimes I'll substitute a spoonful of marmelade in the yogurt instead. I always keep a bag of dried apples at my desk at work for when I get the nibbles. I tried drying some plums last year and they're good for those "my mouth is bored" times, being more pit than plum. And I make pretty good progress through my candied peel for holiday baked goods and sometimes garnish on cheese plates.

But there are things in my fridge or closet that don't get opened much unless I'm going to a "bring food" party: the tomato relish (it turned out too liquid somehow), this year's experimental quince-bacon jam, a batch of kumquat preserves from several years ago (sort of halfway between a very lumpy marmelade, since the kumquats are whole, and a wet sucket). One of the things on my to-do list is to go through the cabinets and inventory my stash. There's an older batch of marmelade that came out a bit caramelized that I think I need to dump, now that I have lots of more successful batches. I'm pretty sure I've got some apple jelly from two years ago that I've never even tried.

And this is one of the reasons I want to do the "share the produce of our estates" theme party this summer.

Comments

[kareina]

The spreadsheet and quota idea actually sounds like a good one.

I am with you on not having much of a sweet tooth. Have you ever tired making a jam from any of your fruit without adding sugar? I do that with our black currants, and the rather tart result is amazing as a condiment with savoury foods, and also lovely in yoghurt with muesli. Of course, it doesn't keep as well as jam made with sugar. I have never tried canning, so I don't know how it would do there, but I have had it go bad in the fridge during the month of June (which month is called "the rot" in northern Sweden, because things go bad then that don't any other time of the year). Therefore I either make it in small batches, or make a larger batch and freeze it in small containers.

[zeborah]

I've seen recipes for something called "freezer jam" that I think operates on that principle.

I do need to work on the freezing things in smaller containers. I have fruit with rolled oats and milk for breakfast each morning: during summer/autumn I use fresh fruit, then I use what I've tinned, but then I have to revert to what I've frozen and when it's in a large container it's a bit much to defrost at once.

Also pumpkins. Pumpkins are not a good size for a single-person household. And then once you start cutting them up for soup they start getting bigger - not so much in diameter as if pi was no longer a mere 3.1415 - and you end up filling your biggest pot and still having at least a quarter left over.

[hrj]

So, like...a fruit butter? (I.e., reduced through cooking to a paste?) The quince-bacon jam is sort of like that.

Recipe: grind bacon "ends and pieces" then cook in a slow-cooker to render. Remove much of the fat. Add peeled, cored, sliced quinces and cook in the slow cooker uncovered to allow moisture loss, stirring regularly, until it's a desirable consistency. Pack in jars and refrigerate.

But I have limited bandwidth for recipes that require close attendance for a long period. I can do one batch of something like that, but not the entire harvest.

[kareina]

Nope, no where near a paste. I only cook mine down to the consistency of a normal, easily stirred, jam or jelly, it doesn't take very long. I only add a bit of water at the beginning to keep it from having problems before the berries start breaking open and leaking their own juices.

[beanolc]

Rather than dump, would a food pantry take your excesses?

[hrj]

In the case of the scorched marmelade, the problem is that it's *scorched*. It's just barely on the edge of edibility for me, and I've mostly used it for glazes where you're going to expect some carmelization anyway. The problem isn't that it's "excess" but simply that it's only marginally edible and I kept it because it was that year's crop and I wanted to give it a chance.

That batch is one of the reasons I learned to switch to doing the final reduction/jelling process in small batches.

[beanolc]

Ah! Missed that detail. :)