Marionberries - Marionberry Cake

Today I was given two two pint baskets of beautiful ripe marionberries! Marionberries are native to Oregon. They were created at the Oregon State University as a cross breed from cross-pollinating two different kinds of caneberries (the chehalem blackberry and olallie). I froze one pint by rinsing them and letting them freeze flat on a cooky tray before placing them in a bag. The rest I made into a marionberry cake. The recipe was called Marionberry cheesecake but it's more like a cross between a scone and a cake - delicious! I followed the recipe but altered it slightly. I mixed together 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/3 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/3 cup soft butter, 2 egg whites, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and mixed it all together until well blended (I mixed by hand)Then I pushed it flat in a sprayed pie plate and placed a pint of marionberries on top. Baked in 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes until cooked through and edges just slightly brown. This would be great served with vanilla ice cream on top! See original recipe here. http://www.gingerich.com/recipes/marion/01cheesecake.htm

Peas - Frozen Peas

I absolutely love fresh peas from the garden and usually I eat every single one of my peas straight off the vine! This year however, I planted enough peas that I have a little extra so I am blanching and freezing them pea pods and all to be used in stirfry later on. Pick the peas, remove the tops and strings. Blanch by throwing in boiling water for two minutes, ice water for two minutes. Dry on paper towels, throw in a freezer bag, label, and place in freezer!

The picture is of the peas in the boiling water during the blanching process.

Peaches - Homemade Peach Salsa

Next up, canning peach salsa! I love salsa and canning my own will guarantee that it is inexpensive while also making flavors I enjoy. I often go to the grocery store and find that most of the flavors there are either too bland or too expensive for my taste. My first time canning salsa I used a salsa seasoning packet. All I had to add to it were canned tomatoes and I also added canned corn since I like southwestern style salsa. I used the medium heat flavoring package and I really enjoyed it but I know I can make my own salsa equally as tasteful! I also want to use fresh tomatoes since I think this will add to the flavor of my salsa.

Since I don't have time this week to actually prepare the salsa I will need to freeze the peaches until I have time to work with them. First I removed the skins, using the method of dipping the peaches in boiling water for one minute, then dipping in ice cold water. I removed the skins, then dipped the peaches back in lemon juice & water to retain the peaches' color.

Next, I cut the peaches into workable slices for the salsa and I laid the slices out on trays to be placed in the freezer. I will let them freeze flat and separated for about half an hour before placing them in a bag so they will each be frozen individually and not become one big clump of peach!

Peaches - Fruit Leather

I decided to try making some peach leather with some of my extra peaches that were too smushed and pulpy to can. I mashed them together in a bowl with my potato masher and when they were pretty much pulp I spread them on wax paper on a cooky sheet. As you can see from my picture I spread it pretty thin and I really could have made it half this thick. I put the pulp in my stove on warm (170 degrees) for about 5 hours. The edges started to get leathery but since I had spread it so thick it took extra time for the middle to cook through (typical time for fruit leather is 3-6 hours on a low heat). So I had to take a couple days to cook this through. You can see the results below. Some recipes suggest adding sugar but my peaches were so super sweet any additional sugar would have been sickening sweet.

Peaches - Canned Peaches

I always forget how messy Peaches are! I let the peaches I picked ripen on the counter for about three days (I picked them hard) and they were soft to the touch when I decided to can them - I probably could have done them a day or so earlier so the fruit would be firmer in the jars but I was too busy and time slipped away.. So, I decided to can most of my peaches, about 6 pint jars worth. I also always forget how much of a process peaches are so it's good to do a bunch all at once. Oh yeah, and don't forget to put your cutting board and three bowls close together while you are removing the skins, dunking them in lemon juice so the color doesn't change in the peaches, and then dumping the pits in your compost bowl.. I had mine all in different places along the counter on both sides of my stove which resulted in a sticky floor and lots of mess! I will need to wash my floor again tonight! This was a fun blog for getting ideas about different uses for peaches: http://shannandesh.blogspot.com/2010/09/peaches-peach-sauce-peach-butter.html The ideas for vanilla peach sauce and freezing peaches make me want to go back and pick more peaches real soon! Basically the process I went through with my peaches was as follows: Blanch the peaches: Dunk them in boiling water for a minute, throw them in ice water immediately afterward, then remove the skins, they should slide off easily. Cut the peaches up and put in jars. Pour boiling sugar water (6 cups water, 2 cups sugar, I did a "light" syrup) over the fruit in the jars, put lids on and water bath can for 25 minutes.

Cherries - Homemade Canned Maraschino Cherries

Next up, making homemade canned maraschino cherries! I had no idea what a process it was to make Maraschino cherries. I've been going off the recipe at http://homecooking.about.com/od/fruitrecipes/r/blfruit23.htm Day one: using 1 quart of water and 1 tablespoon pickling salt (notice I halved the water but not the pickling salt - I'm making a smaller batch about 2 small jars and figured the salt was important) bring to a boil, let cool, then pour over the halved & pitted cherries. Cover and let sit for 12 hours. Day 2: drain off the pickling brine (do not save). Set aside cherries in bowl. 2 cups water 3 cups sugar 1/3 cup lemon juice 4-6 drops red food coloring or until you've reached desire shade of red Mix all together, bring to a boil and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Pour over cherries in bowl. Cover (I put a plastic lid in the bowl to hold the cherries down in the water)and let sit for 24 hours. Day 3: Next, drain the juice and heat it in a pan on the stove to boiling. Mix in 1 tablespoon almond extract. Put the cherries in a jar and put the juice back in over the cherries and immediately waterbath can. My original two small jars turned into one small jar after my cherries all shrunk - I think I should have let cool the juice the first time around instead of pouring it hot on the cherries since that was when they shrank.