Autumn Olive [Elaeagnus umbellata] Jam

This year I've had a bumper crop of autumn olives.   We have several wild trees and the one across the way is huge and covered with berries.  They're good this year.   Even the dog will strip ripe berries from the lowest branches.  

With all that abundance, I thought you might like a quick list of the lovely jams you can make with these wonderful berries.

Elaeagnus Raspberry Jam [my favorite!]

Elaeagnus Peach Jam

Elaeagnus Apple Jam

Elaeagnus Orange Ginger Jam

Once you've made the jam, here's a great recipe for Eric's Jam Bars.  Delish!

And if you're wondering what the heck autumn olives are in the first place, check out this post.

Apple Season

It's apple season!    Here are a few things we are doing and have done with apples.   I hope you get a chance to try a few of them.

Apple Pie Filling
Apple Pear Pie Filling
Apple Slices - canned
Apple Dumplings
Apple Tart
April's Apple Slices [Slab Pie]
Green Tomato/Apple Crisp 
Apple Pear Maple Jam
Autumn Berry [Autumn Olive/Elaeagnus] Apple Jam




One bushel of apples makes about 21 quarts of apple pie filling or canned apple slices.   I've got one bushel done [pie filling] and one more coming [canned apple slices].   Our pantry is overloaded this year, which is both a blessing and a curse.   I'm focusing on the blessing part. 

Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Apple Jam

I've been experimenting with Elaeagnus [autumn olive] and other fruit in jam this year.   Since elaeagnus are a bit similar in flavor and tartness to cranberries, I knew I'd have to try an Elaeagnus Apple Jam.

It's heaven in a jar.  Everyone in the family loved it.  I'm thinking this would be a fabulous jam to use as a glaze on ham.   Or chicken.   Or those meatball thingies that you make in the slow cooker.   Yes!

To make it easier to make, I used apple juice concentrate from a can in this jam instead of fresh apples and since that stuff is pretty sweet, I cut the sugar down to 2 cups.  It's perfectly sweet-tart just like cran-apple juice.


Elaeagnus [Autumn olive] Apple Jam
www.rurification.com

2 cups elaeagnus [autumn olive] pulp [for directions on getting the pulp, see this post]
1 can apple juice concentrate
3 tablespoons low sugar pectin
2 cups sugar 

Combine elaeagnus, apple juice concentrate and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a hard boil [one that you can't stir down.] Boil one minute, stirring constantly.   Add sugar and stir well.  Bring to hard boil again stirring constantly.  Boil one minute.   Ladle into jars and cover with clean lids and rings.  Process for canning.

This jam is very acidic and is very safe for canning.  Makes about 5 cups.

If you don't want to use apple juice concentrate, you can use 2 cups of applesauce instead.   And if you want to use fresh apples, then peel and core 2 apples and cook them until soft.  Then make the jam. 

Apple Slices

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted this divine recipe for Apple Slices on her blog.   Here's the link: http://www.ala-murphala.com/blog/2013/10/cheating/.    I was excited to try them, but had a hard time convincing my family that we needed to move this recipe up in the queue.  [We always have a long line of recipes we're wanting to try.] 

I eventually won out, and it was a quick job to make these up with three of us mixing, cutting and rolling.    We made half a batch in a 9x13 pan.

Then we went out and moved a lot of gravel.

I took a quick break to come in and glaze the cooled pastry so they'd be ready to snack on when we were done.

These were a HUGE hit.  There were threats to drop something on them so I couldn't take a pic and, 'Darn.  We'd have to make them again.'   I got the pics, quick, but we're still going to make a lot more of these this winter.   They are fantastic the first day and if you cover them with plastic they'll soften up and be even better the second day.   They won't last longer than that.

Here's the recipe.  It's a half a batch of the recipe here.

April's Apple Slices 
www.rurification.com    Adapted from Flour, Water, Yeast & Salt.

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening or butter
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup water to start, plus a bit more if necessary

Filling:
5-6 cups cored, peeled, sliced apples.  I used 4 large apples
1 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 400. 

We started with the filling. Peel, core and slice the apples.   [I'm too lazy to peel, so we left ours on.   Delicious!] Put them in a big bowl.  Mix the sugar, 2 Tablespoons of flour and cinnamon in a smaller bowl and sprinkle over the apples.   Let sit while you prepare the crust.

Combine the crust ingredients except the water with a pastry blender or a food processor.  Put the crumbles in a bowl and add the water.  Mix with clean hands - it's the only way I've found to really know how wet or dry the dough is.   Add a bit of extra water if the dough won't stay together.

Divide the dough in half and roll one half out right in a 9x13 pan.   I have a small pastry roller with a small roller on one end and a larger one on the other end.  This worked great.    Roll the other half of the dough on the greased back of another pan - I used a jelly roll pan. 

Put the filling in on the first crust in the 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle the extra spice mix from the bottom of the bowl all over the apples.   Invert the other crust on top of the apples.   It's all right if it's not beautiful.    Prick all over with a fork.

Bake for 40 minutes on a lower rack in the oven - the bottom crust gets done well this way.

Remove and let cool.   When cool, make the glaze and drizzle over the pastry.  Let the glaze set up and then serve. 

These are fantastic re-warmed and served with ice cream. 

Note:  This is a short pastry.  You don't need a pan with tall sides. You can double the recipe and make it in a large jelly roll pan.   Great for serving crowds!

Pork Medallions with Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze

Last fall I made some super delicious glazes and we've been working our way through them.

Recently Eric - the Meat Master - came up with a fantastic dish using the Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze.

This recipe also calls for my not-famous-but-totally-should-be Pork Rub.   It's fabu.

I know you're hungry, so without further ado....


Pork Medallions with Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze
www.rurification.com

• 1/2 onion
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• butter to saute the vegetables in
• 1/3 cup Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze concentrate + 1 cup water [OR 1 1/3 cup regular glaze]
• 5 dried apricots, cut in small pieces
• Robin's Pork Rub
• 1 lb or so pork, cut up into medallions.   [We like pork shoulder chops]
• oil to cook meat in

Saute the onion and carrot in the butter until soft.  If you need to thin the glaze, then combine the water and glaze concentrate and heat until thoroughly combined.  Put the cooked vegetables and apricots in the glaze.  Dredge the meat in the pork rub and heat the oil in a large pan.   Brown the meat in the oil until crispy.  Pour the glaze over the meat and reduce.  Deglaze with 1/3 cup white wine.

We served this with quinoa, garden beans and peas.    Absolutely delicious!  

Apple Tart

Confession:   This apple tart is just an open face apple pie. 

We only had one ready-made pie crust and I was too lazy to make more.  The trick is to put it in a tart pan.  Everyone should have a tart pan for just such occasions.

Also - the apples were frozen in a bag and we didn't defrost them before we unceremoniously dumped them in the crust in big frozen chunks.

It looked awful.   I didn't care.  

Remember that - it's the unceremoniousness that makes it taste extra good.    I'm sure.

If you want to make it fresh, here's the recipe:

Apple Tart
www.rurification.com

• 1 pie crust, pressed into the bottom of a tart pan
• 8 cups sliced apples, skins on
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Put the crust in the tart pan.  Toss the apples with the sugar and spices.   Dump it all unceremoniously into the tart pan.   Bake on the bottom rack of the oven at 350 degree for 60 minutes or until apples are soft. 

This is the same apple sugar spice mix we use for frozen pie mixes.   We wash and cut up 1/2 bushel of apples at a time, core them and slice them.  Don't bother peeling them.   Put 8 cups of apples in a freezer bag and dump in the sugar/spice mix.   Freeze flat so it's easy to break up into chunks for those last minute apple tarts. 

Apple Pear Pie Filling

I mentioned a couple of days ago how I process pears.  Feel free to hop back a couple of days to see that post if you haven't yet. 

I got my pie apples the day after we processed the pears. I like pears and apples together in pies and since I'm on a Perma Flo pie filling kick this year,   I decided it would be awesome if I took some of those now soft pears and added some firmer apples to make yet another type of Perma Flo pie filling to can.

Mmm-hmm!   This is what I did for enough pie filling for 8 pies.

Apple Pear Pie Filling
www.rurification.com

• 1 gallon processed pears with the water they were cooked in
• 1 gallon sliced apples - we washed and cored them but didn't bother to peel them.
• 1 1/2 cups Perma Flo
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• sprinkle of cloves [optional]

Pour off the pear water and mix it well with the Perma Flo.   Combine all ingredients into a very large pot.   Bring to a boil. 

We put it into quart jars and processed them for 30 minutes.   Yield:  8 quarts

This filling is fantastic with waffles or popovers and vanilla yogurt! 

Natural Dye Sample Project: Part 3

Over the past few days I've told you about our natural dye experiments, the process we used, the mordants and afterbaths and the fibers.    In this last part, I'm going to talk a bit about each of the dyes.     The photo shows the alpaca samples.   Refer to Part 2 for pics of other samples that turned out super well. 

From left to right, the dyes we used were:   indigo, comfrey, goldenrod, osage orange, walnut, apple twigs, madder, brazilwood, cochineal, logwood.

I've done posts of some of these before, so follow the links [red or purple] to more information.

Indigo:   This dye requires an oxygen poor environment in which to bind the dye to the fiber.   This means you have to create a 'reduction vat'.   There are several ways to do that.  We used Rit Dye Remover as the reducing agent.   Worked great!     In the past I have also used sheep urine to achieve a reduction vat.   It worked, but smelled awful.     Tradition has it that the best thing to use in indigo vats was the urine of adolescent boys.    We didn't go there.

Comfrey:  This is a mostly medicinal plant that was brought over from Europe and has now naturalized.    I found some on this place and planted it around [Extremely effective for bruising, scrapes, cuts, etc.].   One of the dye books mentioned that it gave a green dye so we tried it.   It did give a nice light olive dye, but it takes a lot of leaves.    The photos don't give it justice.

Goldenrod:  We have acres of goldenrod out here.  Gather the flower tops.  It's best to use just as the flowers are opening.   You can cut it and dry it and save it for later and it works just fine.

Osage Orange: This is a tree native to this part of the world. Maclura pomifera has large soft seed balls.  It is an extremely useful tree - good for bug repellent as well as gorgeous orange dyes.    We used sawdust for the dye. 

Walnut:  Black walnuts in the hull give great dyes.   I saved ours and we used them after they had turned black.   It takes a couple of days of boiling to get a lot of dye out, but it sure gives gorgeous browns.

Apple twigs:  We pruned our apple tree early one spring and a few hours later noticed bright orange staining on the wood.    I did a little research and sure enough, it has been used for dyeing, so we tried it.    I gathered smaller twigs - finger sized - cut them up and boiled them in a pot.   I loved the color.

Madder:   Plenty has been written on the use of madder in dyeing.   We purchased the dried roots and used those.    It takes an extra day of soaking to release the dye, so plan ahead.

Brazilwood:  This is hard to come by these days and has become very expensive.  If you can get some, do!   It gives gorgeous colors and the wood chips can be used multiple times until exhausted.   This was one of my favorite dyes to use because of the wide range of colors it yielded.

Cochineal:  This is an insect.   Also very expensive these days.    When you buy it, you'll get a packet of dried grayish bugs.   Grind the bugs up to release the dye.    A little goes a very long way - we thought we were going to get medium shades of red and we got very very very dark shades.   This is a dyebath that will yield many exhaust baths, so prep lots of yarn. 

Logwood:   Another tree Haematoxylum campechianum  yields great color.  We were shooting for lavenders, but got lots of gray.    It's possible that we were using too much dye or the pH was wrong.     The alpaca in the photo above showed the best color variation for this dye.

Where to buy natural dyes?   A lot of these dyes can be found near you - collect them from the wild.  Remember to ask permission before you go into someone's field or yard to gather something. 

For the more exotic dyes you can get great natural dye kits and extracts from Earthues and dry dyestuff from  Dharma Trading Company.  

A couple of things to remember:

• Natural dyeing is not precise.    You won't get the same color twice.   That's why synthetic dyes were invented.   
• Natural dyeing is not necessarily safe or organic.   Stick to alum and tartaric acid or cream of tartar if you want safe mordants.   Wear gloves.
• Prep plenty of fiber so that you can exhaust the dyebath completely - you'll get a lot of shades that way. 
• Natural dyeing is a long process.  Give yourself plenty of time. 
• In order to get even color over your fiber, you'll need to stir.  However!  Stirring can cause felting with protein fibers so have a plan for gentle swishing and don't be surprised if the fibers come out streaky.   

Good luck!   And keep us posted on your own dye experiments.

Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze

We've been talking about glazes for the past few days and by now, you might be a little confused over the pectin/no pectin options when you're making a glaze.

It's an interesting choice.

Do you want a thick glaze to spread around a piece of meat? 

Do you want a syrupy glaze that you can pour on?

Both options are good ones and it's entirely up to you which way you go.   The nice thing about a jam glaze is that it takes up less shelf space and it's easy to dilute.   Just mix half as much liquid [water or juice] to your jam to thin in down a bit.   Easy.     If you bottle it in 4 oz. jars, then one little jar thinned up is enough to glaze a chicken.

The nice thing about a syrup is that you don't have to do anything except open the jar and pour.   Even easier.

To make a syrup from a jam recipe, all you have to do is leave the pectin out.   That's all.   So that recipe that I gave you yesterday for Orange Basil Garlic Ginger Glaze can easily be syrup if you leave out the pectin.

Well here's another apple recipe.   If you want syrup, leave out the pectin.   If you want jam, make it with pectin.   Easy.


Apple Rosemary Mint

• 1 1/2 cups apple juice, apple cider or apple juice concentrate
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Ball Low Sugar pectin [optional – use if you want jam instead of a thinner glaze]
• 3 sprigs mint [3”]
• 3 sprigs rosemary [4-5 inches]
• 1 cup sugar

Combine juice, pectin [if making jam] and herbs in pot. Bring to boil. Boil one minute. Add sugar. Return to boil. Boil one minute. Remove herbs. Ladle into jars.

Note: This makes a well jelled jam. It is an excellent glaze concentrate. Just mix equal parts jam and water (or juice) in a pan and heat it up for a thin glaze or mix half as much liquid as jam for a thicker glaze. Stir until well incorporated. You can add more liquid if you need to in order to get the right consistency.

Apple Thyme Sage Glaze

Glazes.   I've been thinking a lot about glazes.    

Basically, they're jam or jelly that you put on meat during cooking.   Meat and jam, can you get any more awesome than that?

Plus, PLUS, glazes are a multitasking food - you can put glazes on fruit, too, for tarts and stuff.   I love tarts and stuff. 

SO,  you have lots of options.  I love options.

And speaking of options, you have even more options when you make your own glazes.

Options like:  Do I want thick glaze like jam, or thin glaze like syrup?   

And:  Do I want to use plain old juice or juice concentrate?

I know.   The possibility are endless.   I love endless possibilities.

But what I like the very best about glazes are the awesome combinations of fruit and savory herbs.

Here's a thin glaze that you can make with plain old juice and easy to find herbs.   Over the next couple of days, we'll talk about the other options and I'll give you some more fabulous recipes.  


Apple Sage Thyme Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups apple juice, apple cider or apple juice concentrate
• 2 sprigs sage [3 inches each]
• 3 sprigs thyme [4 inches each]
• 2 cups sugar

Combine juice, sugar and herbs in pot. Bring to boil. Remove herbs. Ladle into jars.

Note: This glaze is a syrup that easily pours over your meat. You can use this technique instead of using pectin to make jam with any of the juice/herb combinations that I'll show you later, too.

This is a great glaze for pork and chicken. 

Apple Pear Maple Jam

So I told you yesterday that I cooked down a big pot of pears all at once.   Well, once they're cooked down, they can stay in the fridge for a few days at the ready for you to make quick jams as you have time.   

I was totally telling you the truth.  

Here is a jam I made with some of those cooked pears, plus some new apples.  

 The pears cooked down further to give the jam a nice soft base, and the new apples stay firmer so there's a nice balance of textures and flavors.  I left the apples in chunks.   This jam is a favorite with my picky eater. 

Apple Pear Maple Jam

• 2 cups cooked pears 
• 2 cups chopped apples
• 1 cup cold water
• 4 Tablespoons Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup sugar

Combine the pears, apples, cold water, pectin and cinnamon.  Stir well until pectin is dissolved.   Bring to a boil.   Stir constantly until it reaches a hard rolling boil that you can’t stir down.   Boil hard for 1 minute.  Add maple syrup and sugar.  Return to full rolling boil and boil hard for 1 minute.   Ladle into jars.

Note:   The maple is a supporting flavor here.   If you want a serious maple flavor, then use 1 cup of maple and only 1/2 cup of sugar.   Or you can use 1 1/2 cups maple and no sugar.   

Note:  Canned pears are the same as cooked pears.   Use a small can or two, drained, if you don't have this year's pears to cook up. 

Cedar-Apple Rust Revisited

So, you remember last fall when we found those little brain-y looking things in our cedar trees?    We picked them off the cedars whenever we found them.   We missed this tree.

This is what happens in the Spring, when it's warm and rainy.   They turn into orange blobby things. 

I was walking up to the hives and saw this.   

Pretty, in a weird kinda way.  Like orange Christmas ornaments.

Here's a better look at the clusters.    There were a lot on this tree.  

Here's a good look at the 'bloom'.   These were easily as big as your fist.

We saw them on cedars down the road, too.

No apples on this place this year.

We've got three apple trees and this might be a good year to take out the two little ones and plant something else.   We'll keep the big one for shade.