I’m not sure when it started, but somewhere in the last few years, I started marking the passage of summer by seasonal fruit. And so by the fruit calendar, summer is flying by (despite the fact that it only officially started today). Rhubarb and strawberries are gone and the cherries are present but they last so briefly. I’m just grateful that there’s still so much more wonderful stuff to come. Now, links.
- This three-ingredient, gluten-free buckwheat loaf sounds amazing.
- A dinner time omelet with pickled onions. Yes, please!
- Rhubarb syrup. An oldie but a goodie.
- Preserved cherries.
- Strawberry balsamic jam.
- Fermented carrots with galangal and lime.
- Homemade Luxardo cherries.
- Individual ice box cakes in jars.
- Lemon-scented spoon oil.
- Cherry blueberry shrub.
- Walnut ketchup.
- Pickled radishes.
- These chick pea crackers! Sign me up.
- Tips for gearing up for canning season.
Time to announce the winners in last week’s wildly popular Fillmore Container giveaway! They are #51/Marie and #802/Kristine. Thank you all for taking the time to enter!
I’m hoping you’ll answer a question I have. I have been making blueberry jelly for the first time. It takes so VERY many blueberries to make such a small amount of juice. And blueberries are SO expensive! I just hate seeing all that used pulp and skin, that the juice has dripped from, slide out of the bowl and into the trash. Is there anything else that it can be used for? I just see dollar bills falling into the trash! Thanks.
Congratulations to the winners.
Linda, you can always make jam in place of the jelly but instead of throwing out the berry pulp maybe you could use it and mix it into an ice cream or sorbet. Or what about mixing into muffin batters? Making smoothies! Put on top of your yogurt.
I’m with Colleen on this. Make jam!! The only jelly I ever made was wine jelly, which taught me that if you add enough pectin and sugar to liquid, you CAN make jelly 🙂
What about adding vinegar and making a blueberry shrub?
Thank you for all the quick and helpful replies! I have made jam many times, but I wanted to see if I could make a really clean, clear jelly. I just didn’t think ahead to all the pulp that would be wasted! I’m not allowed to eat ice cream and such (diabetic) but I think I like the idea of mixing into muffins the best.
I had never heard of a blueberry shrub and when I looked it up it looks intriguing. But could you still do that, considering that most of the juice has already been extracted from the berries?
Thanks again for all the suggestions. 🙂
Thanks for the shoutout and yes, by the produce calendar (fruit and vegetables, too) the season seems to whoosh by. A local farmer had all kinds of summer squash at the farm market the last week or so, and I suddenly worried, seeing them, that I’d missed an entire month somewhere! (He grew them under cover, of course, for a headstart compared to my out-in-the-open plants.)
The only way I’d be able to do that right now is to go to the farmer’s market. The chain grocery stores have fruits and vegetables out of season and the critters have eaten everything in my parents’ garden, even the oranges on the tree, so no way to tell the seasons there either.
I am so itching to get my yard cleared out and the raised beds made so I can grow my own. I don’t think I’ll have problems with rabbits, squirrels, gophers or coyotes where I am.
Re: lemon scented wood oil
I would not want this in my kitchen because mineral oil comes from petroleum. See below for details.
http://www.drfranklipman.com/3-key-reasons-to-avoid-mineral-oil/
I would love a recipe for a wood oil with no mineral oil and lemon scented sounds great.
I love marking the seasons by the fruit. My pick your own farmer has approximate dates for each fruit. Also, your season in the Philly area is always about 2 or 3 weeks earlier then here in New Hampshire. Our strawberries are currently at peak and the cherries will be another week or two!