When the Fruit Salad Ripens

The long summer drought finally ended last week with a full 12 inches from tropical storm Fay’s leftovers that sat stubbornly right overhead for three days. Pears are falling fast from the granny tree next to the driveway, being mashed into pulp every time a vehicle comes or goes and smelling so sweet it’s drawing flocks of turkeys and herds of deer. The fruit is hard and will dent the car if we park there, but I’ve a plastic helmet to protect my head for gathering. Which I’ve just gotta get busy doing before the bears show up.

Between the Granny pear and the house are the grapes, concords and muscadines quickly ripening but not quite sweet enough yet to justify harvest. That will come in mid-September, I’ll make jam, compote and wine (usually ends up as wine vinegar) this year, the basalmic from last year’s harvest is still aging.

Between the grapes bordering the garden and the house are the apples. The MacIntosh has a bad case of fire blight, the crop’s a total loss. Must spray it this fall, and I’ll hit its buddy the Golden Delicious at the same time even though it’s faring better. Those apples are thick and fat, very sweet and will make excellent sauce. I can’t get into the tree to pick, so must salvage off the ground. If half is unbruised it’s worth saving.

This is a very good year for fruit and nuts. We got nothing last year due to a late freeze, which nixed the mast crop completely. I had to go south to harvest acorns, walnuts and hickory nuts because there were none here. That apparently made this year’s crop push extra hard for survival, so there’s twice as much of everything!

Preservation of fruit like apples and pears is pretty easy. I core, peel and slice the fruit, then boil it with some spice (usually cinnamon), some lemon juice to preserve color and brown sugar, until they’re soft. To make butters you just blend up the cooked soft fruit, put it into pint-size sterile jars and water bath it for about 45 minutes. I’ll freeze some of the apples for pie filling. Just put the slices in a bowl with lemon juice while you’re working, then drain, put into freezer bags and put ‘em away. They’re good in smoothies straight out of the bag. It’s easier to make the filling when you make the pie than to make actual pie filling in quart-size jars and can them.

Both butters and slices (as well as chunks that break) are very good sweeteners to add to cakes and cookies during the late fall and winter. I always bake up a storm during the holidays and send out tins full to friends and relatives. I’ve still got a lot of frozen bananas from summer sales too, so this year some of that will be added to pumpkin breads and such.

A homestead is a lot of work, but it’s a satisfying life. Traditionally fruit was in short supply in the cold months, and getting enough vitamin C was a serious issue. We can always savor our mint and rose hip teas for that boost, but preserving the fruit crop is a lot better than buying expensive foreign fruit from the grocery in the winter, especially in these days of e.coli contamination the FDA can never manage to track down. Plus, even if you hate fruitcake, some nice applesauce cookies, apple turnovers, pears on the side for dinner and such are tasty ways to get your RDAs and fill your tummy with goodness at the same time.

So, happy harvest, homesteaders! If you’ve favorite recipes for your fruit preservation, please add them in the comments.

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