A rumtopf is a German tradition that layers fruit with rum and sugar. The traditional recipe uses a mixture of fruit, beginning with berries and cherries in spring or early summer and ending with stone fruits like peaches and apricots in early fall. Left to marinate until December, the rumtopf is consumed during the Christmas and New Year holidays. This… …click to read more…
Drying is one of the simplest and least expensive forms of food preservation, requiring only warm temperatures combined with good air circulation. Drying removes the water that bacteria, yeasts, and molds need to grow. If adequately dried and properly stored, dehydrated foods are shelf stable (safe for storage at room temperature). You have a choice of several different methods to… …click to read more…
The intensely flavored Italian limoncello liqueur recipe is made in Sorrento, Italy from lemons. While in Sorrento, I purchased a dish towel with a homemade recipe for limoncello printed on it (in Italian, of course). I’ve used the recipe often, and found that it adapts to many other fruits, such as strawberries, cherries, and surprising, also to rhubarb. All of these… …click to read more…
Popular food preservation methods for whole or half cherries include canning, freezing, and drying. Beyond these basic methods, you can preserve cherries in many other interesting ways: making crack seed–a dried cherry snack food, pickling fresh cherries, canning or freezing cherry purée, macerating (soaking) cherries in rum, or making cherry vodka liqueur (Ciliegia Cello). Use any variety of cherry in these… …click to read more…
Use the following apricot jam recipe with any type of stone fruit including cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, and their hybrids, such as pluots and apriums. You may also want to read about fruit pectin and techniques for making jam without pectin. Apricot Jam Recipe without Pectin Makes 3 to 4 half-pint jars Ingredients 3 cups (2½ to 3½ pounds) pitted, and… …click to read more…
Popular food preservation methods for apricots include canning, freezing, and drying. Beyond these basic methods, you can preserve apricots in many other interesting ways. Here, we give you four recipes: Nut and Honey Apricot Fruit Leather, Apricot-Pineapple Jam, Apple Chutney with Dried Apricots and Cherries, or Apricot Nectar. Nut and Honey Apricot Fruit Leather Recipe Making fruit leather is a good way… …click to read more…
Pectin, the substance that makes jams and jellies thick, occurs naturally in most fruits. When you cook fruit with sugar, the pectin will thicken and gel to make jam (if using crushed fruit) or jelly (if using fruit juice). However, this gelling process can only happen when there is the right balance of fruit, pectin, acid, and sugar. The amount… …click to read more…
Many of these easy pickling recipes make refreshing accompaniments for grilled and barbecued foods, or add a crunchy bite to burgers and sandwiches. They feature common (and a few unusual) vegetables and fruits found in spring and early summer home gardens and farmers’ markets. The techniques and flavors represent pickling ideas from around the globe. The word “pickles” to most… …click to read more…
