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Apple Jelly Recipe: Flavorful Chameleon

Tom
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Apple Jelly Recipe: Flavorful Chameleon

Bramley’s Seedling apple atop a jar of subtle sweetness

Apple jelly with Bramley’s Seedling Apple

Apple Jelly Recipe (As You Like It)

In the world of making homemade jams and jelllies, apple jelly is the starter kit. It’s your paper airplane, your pencil and paper, your tin roof sundae, your khakis and tees, your clean palate. Simplicity sets it apart; adapability provides its charm.  After I waxed on about its virtures in Jam Up and Jelly Tight, I forgot to share the apply jelly recipe. Here it is.

(I’ve made some updates to the recipe since the first post, including adding greater detail and reducing the batch size which tends to set the jelly more reliably.)

Fresh Apple Jelly Recipe

  • 3-4 pounds apples
  • 4-5 cups of water
  • 3 cups sugar
  • juice of one lemon
  • Add: herbs & spices of your choosing

Day 1: Prepare apples for juicing

  1. Mix and match your favorite apples (tart and sweet)
  2. Rinse clean
  3. Remove stems
  4. Chop apples (skins, seeds and all) into halves, then quarter each half
  5. Place apples into heavy stock pan
  6. Add water
  7. Simmer until apples are soft (30-45 minutes)
  8. Remove from heat, let cool
  9. Drain apple mixture in a seive or cheescloth to separate liquid from apples
  10. Give it a couple hours to drain
  11. Light pressure on the sieve, returns a less cloudy jelly
  12. Refrigerate liquid overnight.

Day 2: Making the Jelly in Small Batches

  1. Measure 4 Cups of juice into heavy stock pan
  2. Slowly bring up heat to simmer
  3. Add 3 Cups of sugar (3/4 C sugar for each cup of juice)
  4. Add lemon juice
  5. Simmer
  6. Add favorite spices to taste (or don’t)
  7. Combos I’ve used  below with great results:
    1. bay leaf & cinnamon stick
    2. rosemary (fantastic alone and my favorite)
    3. rosemary & dried cranberries
    4. allspice berries & whole cloves
    5. spearmint (peppermint, not so much)
  8. Continue to simmer until your reach 22o degrees for the jelly set
  9. If no thermometer, try the spoon test when you have to wait until the jelly mixture hangs on the spoon (when turned sideways) before dripping off, thickening as it cools. Here’s a link of what the spoon sheet test should look like.
  10. Put mixture into jars leaving 1-inch space from top
  11. Process in a waterbath to seal (10 minutes)
  12. When cool, the jelly sets in the jars
  13. Any leftover jelly in the pan can  go on the biscuits you are about to make.

This jelly makes a great glaze on meats or pastries as well.

Growing Peach Trees Organically: Peach Leaf Curl Resistant Varieties I Grow

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Growing Peach Trees Organically: Peach Leaf Curl Resistant Varieties I Grow

backyard homegrown peaches

Mt homegrown peaches: mystery peach on the left, apricot-size Oregon Curl Free to the right.

 

Indian Free Peach

Indian Free Peach; most unusual and very late season

Growing peach trees organically can be a real challenge in the Pacific Northwest, but with the renewed interest and recent introduction of varieties that are resistant to the dreaded peach leaf curl, the tide is turning on being able to pluck a fresh grown peach from your home orchard.  Ironically, Vashon Island used to celebrate a peach festival some 60 years ago (likey made possible through the use of chemical sprays).

I don’t want to spray squat, so I’m always on the lookout for Peach Leaf Curl (PLC) resistant varieties that thrive in the cool, wet 50-75 degree growing season of the Maritime Northwest. It’s important to note that the young trees will initially suffer a bit with bouts of PLC, but as they mature their resistance seems to kick in and prevail. Here are some promising peach trees that I’ve planted so far with links to nurseries that I’ve ordered from:

PLC resistant varieties, planted Maritime NW, Zone 8
As of September 1, 2008 for young trees planted 2-4 years ago:  

  • John Muir: moderate growth, leaves slow to appear, minor curl, no fruit set
  • Oregon Curl Free: steady growth, leaves good, very minor curl, nice fruit set, peaches small, taste sweet with tart edge, nice fall color
  • Avalon Pride: steady growth, leaves good, minor leaf curl, no fruit set this year (a great performer when I lived in Seattle, very sweet).
  • Autumn Rose: planted bareroot this spring, leafed out with a bit of leaf curl, new growth moderate 

Indian Free Peach

  • Indian Free:
    • 2007 – vigorous growth, leafed out with minor leaf curl, nice fruit set, harvested 6 small peaches on Oct. 2, superb flavor, gorgeous burgundy flesh.
    • 2008 – vigorous growth, beautiful ornamental blossoms, no leaf curl, harvested 30 medium to small peaches Oct. 12, thick fuzzy skin almost brown in color, juicy fruit, deliciously tart when shy of ripe, when ripe bursts with flavors of blackberry, plum and peach.
  • Q-1-8: white peach: vigorous growth, slow to leaf out, minor leaf curl, no fruit set.
  • Charlotte: slow steady growth, slow to leaf out, minor leaf curl, no fruit set
  • Kreibich Nectarine: vigorous, healthy growth, fully leafed out, very minor leaf curl, very young tree no fruit set
  • Mystery peach: transplanted from a garden where peaches had no place (gasp!); good growth three years later, no leaf curl, and two of my best peaches so far. 

With varied site placement taken into consideration, I’d have to say I’m encouraged by all of these trees, though John Muir is struggling with its less than desirable placement near a towering wild cherry tree. I may have to move it during dormancy next winter.

I’ve had good luck with the following nurseries and their PLC resistant peach trees:

Take a look how these Peach Leaf Curl varieties did the next season in My Peach Tree Report for 2009.

 

The BLT: Assembly (and a Little Driving) Required

Tom
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BLT bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich 

While my list of favorite things about summer could stretch to Portland and back, I find the BLT (a.k.a. Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich) is rarely challenged in its top-ten ranking. Homegrown tomatoes or farmers’ market tomatoes know no match, but this year with our cool early summer, they are nowhere to be found outside of a hoop house or a produce aisle. My crop is no exception, emerald city green through and through. We took matters into our own hands and headed to Eastern Washington to load up on ripe toms and sweet peaches (peach pie also in the top ten). 

With the Cascades acting as a natural rain screen, Yakima, Washington enjoys 199 days of sunshine a year and abundant water from Cascade melt. It’s a combination that makes the valley a cornucopia of amazing fruits and vegetables. The orchards and farms of the valley redefine the word abundant. It’s a fun trip across Snoqualmie Pass and I made it back to Vashon, just in time for dinner, where yes, assembly and a little driving were required, but the results seemed worth it.  (Thanks to Beth driving, and owning a car that can make it over the pass!)

blt sandwich

Spotlight on Summer’s First Fig

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Spotlight on Summer’s First Fig
Negronne fig
Negronne, a.k.a. Violette du Bordeaux

Figs are delicious on just about every level. The tree looks tropical, the leaves are the preferred couture of modest statues everywhere, and the fruit is a sugary bon-bon that is comfortable in savory and sweet cuisine alike.

This is the first year that I’ve harvested a Negronne fig (a.k.a. Violette du Bordeaux fig) , and since the tree only produced one fig, you’ll understand why I’m giving it the star treatment on this august (and August) occasion. (Update: three more ripened in late September.)

 sliced negronne fig

I brought out the good china to savor the moment. After waiting three years, I can say after the first bite, it was worth the wait.  As for next year’s jam-like figs, only 364 days to go.

Growing tip: Since figs produce on last year’s growth, I will prune lightly and judiciously to ensure a bumper crop next year and for me anything above 20 would be a bumper crop in the cool clime of the Pacific Northwest. If you prune too heavily in the early years, you prune off the year-old fruit producing branches. In warm climates you may even get two crops of figs in one growing season.

Build a Wattle for Your Pole Beans

Tom
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Build a Wattle for Your Pole Beans

Our friend Jack and his structurally-sound beanstalk are the things of which fairy tales are made. In my garden, a goldfinch can bring down a pole bean just by considering it as a pleasant and potential perch. Like everyone, poles beans need all the support they can get. Here’s how I do it: the modified wattle (not to be confused with the dance from the 70s).

wattle for your pole beans

Early in the season pole beans have a place to grow.

And when it comes to elaborate structures, I say less is more and besides I need to be able to rototill it into the ground next spring. As with most of my projects and thrifty nature, I ask, “What can I use that I already have?” The answer: tree shoots or saplings. Yep, I’ve got sticks for days.  After cutting down some young maples, the stump or stool sends up shoots; it’s a practice called coppicing, but any unbranched stick will do.  My hands-down favorite green bean to plant is Fortex. It’s french filet type that never gets stringy and has amazing flavor and vigor; at least in the Pacific Northwest.

How to Build a Wattle (or Trellis) for Your Pole Beans

Materials: 7-8 ft sticks, some sturdy, some more flexible

  1. Firmly push strong sticks into ground until secure.
  2. Space 6-8 inches apart and repeat down the row’s length
  3. When vertical sticks are in, start to weave weaker branches horizontally
  4. Alternate weaving the branches in and out of the vertical sticks
  5. Repeat but the next row weave out and in.
  6. Repeat until you have about 6-8 inches of sturdy weave.
  7. Plant your bean seeds at the base of each vertical pole.

woven bean pole panel wattle

A wattle is simply branches woven as a fence.

bean pole wattle fence scarlett runner pole beans in bloom

Strong enough for a flock of goldfinch and mess of beans.

How to Build a Better Berry Basket (or Bucket)

Tom
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How to Build a Better Berry Basket (or Bucket)

berry back porch still life

A bountiful morning when you have the right tools.

Berry (and cherry) picking is serious business; you pick, eat a few, then try to get them in the bucket or basket without spilling your handful from a high altitude. And then there’s the bending down to fill the bucket part. (Bad backs need not apply.) There’s got to be a better way!

homemade berry or cherry picking baskethomemade berry picking basket

The tallclover prototype during its testing phase: lightweight and no rope burns.

I took my design inspiration for a better berry-pickin’ bucket from the clever folks at Bybee-Nims Farms at the base of Mt. Si near North Bend, WA. Their berry bucket: a clothesline cut to four feet, ends threaded through two opposite holes in an open coffee can and then knotted, basically a bucket pendant necklace.

 

ingenious berry basket

 

The prototype: cheap, comfortable and with several applications.

I adapted the idea, using a light weight plastic storage container and a soft twist tie (foam-covered, wire-core) for the rope.  My extensive testing proves the design reliable and my capacity to eat fresh berries without match.  It’s an especially handy when you’re on a ladder. But why limit it to a berry/cherry picking bucket, what about as:

 

  • a cereal bowl for your morning commute or late night snacking
  • a place to store your reading glasses
  • a new-fangled air sickness bag
  •  a popcorn holder when at the theater

Ah the list goes on, but for now I have a date with some overripe raspberries. Ladies, gentlemen, don your buckets.

About Tom

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About Tom

Seattle Greenlake house

After years of living in some great Seattle neighborhoods, I left my teeny-tiny house in Seattle (a real-life version of the cottage I drew as a kid, complete with pointy-tip tulips of unnatural colors and spiral smoke escaping the chimney). I moved to the country, to a schedule of tides and ferries, to five acres of possibilities and a community of kind people.

Tom’s farmhouse in 1900

I found a gem of a house, just needing someone to provide the polish. (photo circa 1900)

blog_farmhouse

Locally, the farmhouse is known as the Peach Palace, a moniker not so much based on the fruit in the orchard or the size of the house, as much as on the paint hue that covers its frame. (One pays a price for the savings found in another person’s paint mixing mistake.) Actually the color has grown on me, and no matter what the hue, I am smitten with my home, its history and welcoming presence.

In the orchard, my newly planted trees bend with the promise of future bounty. For now, they’re just getting settled. I grow apples, peaches, pears, persimmons, quince, berries, figs and cherries, mainly because I love to eat apples, peaches, pears, persimmons, quince, berries, figs and cherries.

Tom and the Boz

On a personal note, I’m someone who embraces the beauty of the bulldog…

a slice of homemade blackberry pie

Succumbs to the power of pie…

Boz the bulldog takes a dip in the pool

Contends that summer is never long enough…

Boz and Gracie: bulldogs in a hammock

Shares his hammock…

Boz and Gracie, snuggling bulldogs

And sofa with bossy (and weighty) interlopers,

Plays with his food (reprising my role as Cyrano de Raspbergerac)

foot in tall clover

And finds  that any time his feet are walking in tall clover, it’s a good day.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me here. [contact_form]

Anna & Ryan’s Wedding: Love Set Sail for Vashon Island

Tom
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Ryan and Anna getting married on Vashon Island outdoor weeding

Anna & Ryan: The smiles say it all

Yesterday, love came to rest on Vashon Island. That’s not to say it’s not hanging around our island on a daily basis, but this was a different kind of love: the sneaking-up kind of love that gets you teary-eyed before you know it, the tonic kind of love that cures what ails you, the knock-on-the-door kind of love that doesn’t wait for an invitation or key turn before busting the door off its hinges to proclaim,  “I’m here. Join me now or get out of the way!” And I’m here to tell you, none of us stepped aside.

Yes, yesterday love set sail for Vashon Island, and I was fortunate enough to be caught in the wake of its charge, to be witness to a day where wishes came true and words melted our hearts. We all saw a different kind of love that day, not one that  wanes or withdraws but one that lives out loud and defines a lifetime. Congratulations, Anna & Ryan!

Anna, Tom and Kitty parents of the bride Vashon Wedding

Beautiful Anna, as held by the two who hold her so dearly.

Wedding location: AYH Ranch Hostel, Vashon Island

Letting the Art of Nature Drift By

Tom
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Letting the Art of Nature Drift By

floating leaf in a stream One leaf, one stream, some sun, seaweed and a whole lot of pretty.

Nature can surely frame a pretty picture, and last Sunday, friends and I discovered the subtle beauty of one place where each step afforded a new work of art: Fern Cove and lower Shinglemill Creek. This chartreuse leaf caught the eye and imagination of my friend Mary Ann and lead me into the cold creek to catch a closer look and try to capture its artful pose. Nature cooperated handsomely.

Shinglemill Creek at Fern Cove

Fern Cove, Vashon Island (low tide)

The Vashon Park District just completed the restoration of the Belle Baldwin House , which guests can rent weekly. The 1912 house is located on the beach above, about 40 feet to the right of the driftwood.

The Grow Report: Cherry Trees

Tom
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The Grow Report: Cherry Trees

Ripe Van and/or Stella Cherries cherry trees

Fresh tree-ripened Stella Cherries poised for the picking.

Here’s an update on how my young orchard grows.

  • Stella: Sweet Cherry, 4 years old, first harvest 2008, 3 pounds, healthy, no insect or disease issues
  • Lapin: Sweet Cherry, 4 years old, first harvest 2007, 1  pound, moderate grower, no insect or disease issues
  • Early Burlat: Sweet Cherry, 4 years old, no harvest, moderate grower, no insect or disease issues
  • Rainer: Sweet Cherry, 4 years  old, first harvest 2008, 20 cherries, healthy, no insect or disease issues
  • Montmorency: Sour or Pie Cherry, 3 years old, first harvest 2008, very healthy (despite shaded area), likely five pounds of small cherries, should be ready to pick in a week two.

In general, the cherry trees are healthy in a full-sun location (except sour cherry trees shaded by large walnuts), in very loamy, sandy soil with excellent drainage, which requires supplemental watering. Foilage is rich green and new growth is about 11 inches so far this summer.

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