Every summer for the last eight years, I’ve teamed up with the folks at the Washington State Fruit Commission. As one of their Canbassadors, they send me boxes of fruit. I take those cherries, peaches, nectarines, and plums into my kitchen and then share how I transform them into various batches of jams, pickles, butters, compotes, and conserves.
This year, they sent me three separate shipments of fruit. In late June, it was 18 pounds of sweet, juicy cherries. At the beginning of August, two flats of fragrant peaches and nectarines. And right around Labor Day, a box of sturdy Italian plums (they are a perennial favorite in my kitchen).
I made a bunch of really great stuff with all this fruit, but as the intensity of the summer ratcheted up, I’ve not done as good a job at getting those recipes from my kitchen scratch pad to this site. So here’s what I’ve done. I’ve created individual posts for each of the unshared recipes (to make them more easily searchable) and then I’ve rounded them all up here. Much of these are out of season for this year, but perhaps you’ll remember one or two for next year.
Cherries
Peaches and Nectarines
- Indiana Peach Chutney
- Small Batch Nectarine Lime Jam
- Peach Jam with Brown Sugar and Bourbon
- Honey Sweetened Mixed Fruit Compote
Italian Plums
And for anyone who’s keeping track, here’s what I’ve made in past years with my Canbassador fruit.
- Nectarine Conserve with Lemon, Raisins, and Walnuts (2016)
- Peach Habanero Hot Sauce (2016)
- Gingery Peach Butter (2016)
- Sweet Cherry Barbecue Sauce (2016)
- Honey Sweetened Roasted Nectarine Compote (2015)
- Spiced Nectarine Jam (2015)
- Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Jam (2015)
- Cherry Kompot (2015)
- Sweet Cherry Chutney (2015)
- Slow Cooker Peach Vanilla Butter (2014)
- Low Sugar Spiced Peach Jam (2014)
- Lazy Peach Preserves (2013)
- Honey-Sweetened Peach Chutney (2013)
- Oven-Roasted Nectarine Butter (2012)
- Luisa Weiss’s Spiced Plum Butter (2012)
- Italian Plum Jam with Star Anise (2011)
- Honey-Sweetened Apricot Lavender Butter (2011)
- Apricot-Blackberry Jam (2010)
- Pickled Sweet Cherries (2010)
If you want to see what some of the other Canbassadors have done this year, make sure to follow the Washington State Fruit and Northwest Cherries folks on social media, as they’ve been sharing all the posts. Here’s where you can find them.