Mmmmm.....Apple Time!!

Autumn officially arrived this morning at 11:44am, but for me it really began this past weekend with our annual trek to the apple orchard!! We headed to Behling's in Mexico, NY on Saturday morning, and picked 49 pounds of big, juicy Jonamac apples. Quite a few of the area's orchards were damaged a few months ago by hail and high winds...but not this one. The apples absolutely dripped from the branches, and we were early enough that the picking was easy...low to the ground!! A good thing for those of us who are a little challenged in the height department!

For the past several years I've canned several jars of applesauce to put by for the winter. It is delicious and easy...and I really do like to can. I think there is some primitive area of my brain that, beginning with the first cool breezes of fall, drives me to bake and store food...not unlike the many squirrels that keep digging up my tulip bulbs and burying them in other, more convenient spots... though I'd like to think that I'm slightly more evolved.

This year I added Apple Pie Filling to the shelves, canning 7 quarts on Saturday evening.One of the jars didn't seal, so on Sunday...along with making the applesauce...I baked this pie to taste-test the new recipe (note the pie bird!). It is really very good! It received two thumbs up from everyone.

Here's the recipe:

4 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup cornstarch

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons salt

10 cups water

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 drops yellow food coloring

8 pounds apples

1. In a large pan, mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add salt and water and mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and food coloring.

2. Sterilize canning jars, lids and rings by boiling them in a large pot of water.

3. Peel, core, and slice apples. Pack the sliced apples into hot canning jars, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace.

4. Fill jars with hot syrup, and gently remove air bubbles with a knife.

5. Put lids on and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Three Brother's Wineries - Seneca Lake, NY

I like wine. I'm not really sure what's "nostalgic" about it, but it sure is nice to share a glass with friends, or with a good book on rainy days. I am lucky enough to live in an area rich with some of the country's (world's?) best wines...at least in my opinion. The Finger Lakes region of New York State is flowing with unbelievably good varieties, and the wineries they come from are full of character, especially with the addition of a little group of wineries we stumbled on a couple of weeks ago.

We recently headed for the Seneca Lake wine trail and stopped at Nagy's winery to pick up a particular bottle we like. What we found there were three new wineries owned by "The Three Brothers". The buildings were not officially opened when we stopped, but they invited us in and let us taste the offerings and experience the individuality of each tasting room.

We were told that each building has a different theme based on the personalities of each brother. Stoney Lonesome is an elegant, upscale tasting room complete with a beautiful toucan, who we got to see only minutes after being introduced to his new home; Passion Feet has a jazzy, colorful and somewhat sensual feel to it's decor; and Rogue's Hollow is a renegade-themed building at the end of a winding dirt road, complete with old, rusty trucks and a run-down shack...well, at least it looks like that until you get inside!!

But the creativity doesn't stop there! The labels on the bottles are just as imaginative, with names ranging from sophisticated, to suggestive, to comedic (yet somewhat humorously offensive)...with great illustrations to match. They were fantastic! We came home with bottles of "Backseat Bounce", "Lonely Seaman", and "White Buck".

Most of the wines are combinations of varieties, and the results are some of the best tasting and most "fun" wines we've come across. I can honestly say that I did not try anything I didn't like. I have a tendancy to choose semi-sweet varieties, but even the drier wines in these tasting rooms appealed to my taste buds!

The impression we left with was one that will lead us back again and again. I predict that this little group of wineries will do very well. They offer great wine and a great atmosphere. There's something for everyone!

For more information and directions to the wineries, visit their link at http://threebrotherswineries.com/

Crisp Air and Apples!

Fall is such a great time of year! After weeks of unusually hot weather (and breaking a sweat while standing still) I am finally able to enjoy the crisp, cool breezes of October with a light sweater and some hot spiced cider. Hallelujah!!

To celebrate the change of seasons, we packed the kids in the car and headed for Behling's Orchard in Mexico, New York, to pick a heaping pile of juicy apples. Apparently, most of Central New York had the same idea, as the grounds were packed with people...but there are a lot of trees, so fun was had by all.

We picked 42 pounds of apples, which sounds like a lot but really doesn't go nearly as far as you would think. On Sunday we canned 9 quarts of applesauce, and left the rest for fresh eating and making Apple Crisp. I am including the recipe below. My youngest brought this home from school, where they had made it as a class and loved every bite of it. It's very, very sweet, so a little goes a long way. But if you serve it with plenty of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream you can pack more away!!

- Apple Crisp -

12 apples

4 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup flour

** Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Peel, core and slice the apples and spread them in the dish. Sprinkle the sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon over top of the apples. Mix together the butter, brown sugar and flour and sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

The Smell of Late Summer!

Ahhh... Pickling time!! The end of summer is near. Although we're currently having record warm temperatures in central New York, we've had just enough cool, crisp days to remind me that fall is just around the corner. Of course, the groans of the kids heading out the door for their first day of school yesterday left no doubt. The warm, hazy days are almost at an end. But that also means that pickling time is here!

When I was a kid my mother spent many days at the end of each summer packing the bounty of our large garden into jars. For two or three weeks the whole house would have a sweetly tangy smell that emanated from the numerous batches of tomatoes, pickles and relishes that she sealed in her canner on the stove. My sister and I would help peel and chop the vegetables, but mostly she worked alone adding this spice and that, until the smells made us positively drool! Then all winter she would send us to get a jar or two off the heavily loaded shelves under the stairs, and we would open up the flavors of warmer days.

I was fortunate to have parents who loved to garden, and who had the space and time to do so. With my small yard, my garden usually only gives us enough to eat fresh. My poor kids have only tasted grocery store pickles! Horror!! But that's about to change. In four to six weeks we will get to taste my first experiment with canning my own pickles! Rest assured, it's not the first time I've canned something, so I had some idea of what I was doing. Hopefully they'll taste as good as they look!!

Following is the Ball Blue Book recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles that I used:

4 pounds 4- to 6- inch cucumbers, cut into 1/4 inch slices;
2 pounds onions, thinly sliced (about 8 small);
1/3 cup canning salt;
2 cups sugar;
2 Tablespoons mustard seed;
2 teaspoons turmeric;
2 teaspoons celery seed;
1 teaspoon ginger;
1 teaspoon peppercorns;
3 cups vinegar;

Combine cucumber and onion slices in a large bowl, layering with salt; cover with ice cubes. Let stand 1 1/2 hours. Drain; rinse; drain again. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot; bring to a boil. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Mmmmm....Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade!

Making fresh-squeezed lemonade on a hot summer day is one of those activities everyone should be required to do on their summer vacation. The recipe really doesn't matter so much as the experience of squeezing the juice and drinking the end-result under a shade tree in the backyard.

There are as many recipes for lemonade as there are people who like to drink it! But here is a very simple and quick way to stir up a pitcher full of old-fashioned flavor! Measurements are not exact because much depends on your own individual tastes.

You'll need 5 or 6 lemons, about 1 1/2 quarts of water and a cup or so of sugar. Squeeze the juice of all but one of the lemons using a reamer or glass juicer. Strain into your pitcher to remove the seeds and pulp. Add the water and sugar, to your taste, and stir. Slice the remaining lemon and place in the pitcher for added flavor and to make it pretty. Or, you can place a slice in each glass before serving. Voila! Easy!

An optional step that I use when I have time is to boil the lemon rinds in 1 1/2 cups of the water for 7 or 8 minutes to extract even more lemony flavor. Add that to the juice, sugar and remaining water and stir. Fill glasses with ice and pour in the delicious beverage!

Enjoy!

vintage image from http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/vintageresources.html