Seasonal Ontario Food

I started fooling around with this recipe last summer, after reading this recipe at The Guardian. As it stood, it was of no use to me as it called for condensed milk, which is sweetened (very sweetened). I decided, though, to see what I could do with evaporated milk, which isn't. The trouble with evaporated milk is that it is much thinner, and freezes differently. How would it work if made into a custard with an egg, I wondered?

The answer is, fairly well. The chocolate version of this is really quite excellent. So far, the berry version is not quite so good, being prone to large ice crystals forming in it. It also freezes much harder than commercial ice cream and must be tempered. However, it is ice cream, and ice cream that doesn't have large amounts of sugar in it, meaning that I can eat it.

I will, no doubt, continue to play around with this - especially if the weather continues at some of the temperatures we've been seeing so far - and I will probably post specific flavours separately.

I started off using an erythritol-monkfruit artificial sweetener (available at Bulk Barn). It's supposedly an all-natural artificial sweetener, and it is not supposed to raise your insulin levels, unlike other artificial sweeteners. It gets recommended a lot because of that, but I am a little dubious about it, and it still has a slightly odd aftertaste. I also found the sweetening effect to be a bit unpredictable when used alone so I tend to either just use real sugar or other regular sweeteners, or use half sugar and half of the erythritol-monkfruit blend.

Note that The Guardian's recipe calls for adding a little alcohol to keep it soft. You can do that if you like, but be aware that alcohol is basically sugar.

8 to 12 servings
about 25 minutes total prep time
allow at least 3 hours for cooling and freezing


Make the Base:
1 354 ml tin evaporated milk
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons sweetener of choice
1 1/3 cup whipping cream

Open (puncture in two spots) the tin of evaporated milk and pour it all into the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the egg and salt, and sweetener of your choice, the amount and type being up to you and depending on other flavourings and ingredients to be added. Also depending on the flavour of ice cream desired, other ingredients may be added now; for instance if making chocolate ice cream the cocoa powder and chocolate should go in with the sweetener.

Heat the mixture over simmering water, whisking regularly at the beginning, moving into whisking constantly as the mixture begins to thicken. Once it has thickened - and it's a thin custard, so the effect will be fairly subtle - remove it from the heat at once and let cool to room temperature before proceeding. There are some flavourings (for example the mashed berries) which may need to be added once the base is cool.

Beat the whipping cream until very stiff, and fold it into the cooled ice cream base. Transfer the mixture to a freezable container with a lid, and freeze  until solid.

It will likely need to be tempered before it is served - leave it on the counter for 30 minutes or in the fridge for about an hour before serving. These times may vary slightly depending on other ingredients added and how cold your freezer and fridge are, so check on it regularly until you have an idea of how long it will generally take.

For Chocolate Ice Cream:
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
60 grams (2 ounces) unsweetened or very bittersweet chocolate
use sugar OR erythritol-monkfruit sweetener

While the ingredients in the double boiler are still cold, mix in the cocoa powder and chocolate, broken into small pieces. Use sugar as your sweetener, to taste, or erythrito-monkfruit sweetener, or a mixture of the two. Otherwise proceed as directed above.

For Fruit (Berry) Ice Cream:
3 cups prepared frozen fruit
1 to 2 teaspoons appropriate flavouring extract, eg. vanilla, almond, lemon, etc
use honey, sugar, OR erythritol-monkfruit sweetener

Before you begin, remove the fruit from the freezer and spread it out on a plate in a single layer to partially thaw. 

Proceed as above to make the base, using honey, sugar, or erythritol-monkfruit sweetener, or a combination. Add a teaspoon of compatible flavouring extract to the custard just as it thickens, if you like. Let it cool, as above.

When the fruit is thawed ONLY JUST enough to be mashed with a fork, do so, and fold it into the custard. Then fold in the whipped cream, and freeze immediately.

For Rum & Raisin Ice Cream:
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup rum
1 or 2 tablespoons honey

Before you make the ice cream, soak the raisins in the rum and honey for at least an hour. Make the custard without other sweetener added, then fold in the raisins with the soaking liquid when the custard is cool, and proceed as usual.




Last year at this time I made Sour Cream Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup.

Why yes, I am not feeling too inspired. All the veggies are quite behind, except for the weeds which are doing fine, thanks.  I do hope to post something I made this year, soon. Meanwhile, I made this last year...

Is this the best jam ever? I think it quite possibly is the best jam ever. I mean, sour cherries! Yet they seem to be harder and harder to find every year. Their season is so short that you can blink and miss it anyway. Perhaps that adds to the sense that this is a rare treasure. That, and the fact that 9 cups of painstakingly pitted cherries, not to mention the sugar, etc, cook down to 4 little pots of jam. This jam is for you, is what I am saying, and only the very dearest of your nearest. Hide it.

In the photo, the jam is served on my favourite Oatmeal Farls and butter.

4 - 250 ml jars


9 cups sour cherries
1/4 cup water
the zest and juice of 1 large lime
2 1/2 cups sugar

Wash and drain the cherries, and remove any debris from them. Put them in a jam kettle or other broad, heavy-bottomed pot with the water and bring to a boil. Simmer them until they begin to fall apart. Let them cool enough to handle, then remove the pits. You can put them through a food mill, but I find it easiest to do this by hand.

Put the jars into the canner with water to cover them by an inch. Bring them to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the cherries back up to a boil as well, with the lime juice and zest added. Add the sugar and boil for about 20 minutes, until the mixture thickens and shows signs of setting (see notes on making jam here).

Put the lids and rings for the jars in a small pot of water and bring them to a boil; boil for 1 minute.

Ladle the jam into the prepared jars and seal them with the lids and rings. Return them to the canner and boil for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool, test seals, and label. They will keep for up to a year in a cool, dark spot, although good luck with that. 





Last year at this time I made Chinese Style Chicken Salad. Good idea! Looks like a stinker of a week coming up, heat-wise.

I saw these cookies at An Expat Cooks, and being a fan of all things spumoni, I decided they had to go on the list for Christmas. Of course I fiddled, mostly by cutting the sugar in half (why do people use so much sugar? Nobody who has tried these thinks that the half-sugar version is anything but cookie-sweet.) I also upped the cherries and made them a fair bit smaller, although they didn't take much less time to bake.

To me, spumoni ought to have a mixed peel/tutti-frutti component to it, although modern versions frequently don't. (Yes I am officially old; I spend a lot of time whining about how everything has gotten woooooorse.)

And now I have to admit that actually I didn't put in any mixed peel, but only because I had intended to make the Rolled Spice Cookies which are full of it and I didn't want all my cookies tasting the same. Otherwise, for sure.

36 to 42 cookies
45 minutes - 30 minutes prep time


2 cups soft unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup dried cherries
OR 1/2 cup dried cherries
and 1/2 cup mixed peel

Measure the flour and mix in the baking powder and salt; set aside

Cream the butter and sugar until very light, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the almond and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour, along with the chocolate chips, pistachios, dried cherries, and the mixed peel if using.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the prepared parchment paper, keeping the cookies 2 to 3 inches apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until set on top and just starting to brown at the edges. Remove to a rack to cool.




Last year at this time I made Rum-Ball Bars. The cake has been baked for this years; they'll be made in the next day or so! Yes, I'm behind. What else is new. 

It's possible this looks quite a lot like our traditional family fruitcake that I make for Christmas, because it's possible I used that as a model. Well okay, I confess. I did! This version has a selection of lighter and perhaps more sprightly dried fruits rather than the traditional glacé fruits of the other. I also added lots of ginger and cardamom because I like them. The results are definitely more in line with modern tastes. I'm not sure I'd say I like this one better, but it's very good. If I had made them both, how would I ever choose? I couldn't. I'd have to eat both of them. It would be sad, if only for my waistline.

I am posting this now because if you want to have fruitcake for Christmas now is the time to make it. Hair-raising but true. Plum pudding ditto.


Mix the Fruit: 
225 grams (1/2 pound) blanched almonds
225 grams (1/2 pound) dried apples
225 grams (1/2 pound) dried pears
225 grams (1/2 pound) dried apricots
225 grams (1/2 pound) dried cherries
225 grams (1/2 pound) golden raisins (sultanas)
1/3 cup soft unbleached flour

To blanch the almonds, drop them into boiling water to cover for one minute. Drain them, and pinch each one out of their papery skin as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Chop the apples, pears, and apricots into pieces about the size of the dried cherries. Mix all the fruit in a very large mixing bowl, then stir in the flour until the fruit is evenly coated with it.

Make the Batter: 
3 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh gingerroot
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3-4 pods green cardamom pods
1/2 cup good sherry
1/4 cup buttermilk or milk
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
generous quantities more of sherry for brushing

Measure the flour, and mix in the baking powder and salt. Set aside. Butter a 10" tube pan, and line the bottom with a circle of buttered parchment paper. Dust the cake pan with flour. Preheat the oven to 275°F.

Cream the butter, and beat in the sugar and the egg yolks, one or two at a time, until quite light and fluffy. (Put the whites aside in another mixing bowl.) Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Mix in the sherry, then half the flour. Mix in the milk and the remaining flour.

Pour this batter over the fruit and mix them together.

Beat the egg whites, with the cream of tartar, until stiff. Fold about 1/3 of the egg whites gently into the cake, then fold in the remaining 2/3 of the egg whites.

Scoop the batter into the prepared cake pan, smoothing it out and taking care not to leave large gaps in the batter.

Bake the cake for about 2 1/2 hours, until done. You will need to cover it with foil after about an hour, when it will be mostly as brown as you would like it. I would start checking it for doneness at the 2 hour mark.

Allow the cake to cool, and remove it from the pan. Wrap it in cheesecloth, and brush it all over with sherry. Wrap it in foil and keep it in a cool, dark spot until wanted. You can take it out and brush it with more sherry whenever you feel so inclined; no-one will complain.

Saft is the Swedish name for this fruit syrup, but versions are made all through Scandinavia. It's basically a sweetened fruit syrup used as a drink, hot or cold. Currants are not always used, but I think they are ideal to add that tart tangy flavour and make a really refreshing drink. You can use all currants if you like, of mixed colours or just one. I used half red currants plus black currants, the last of our strawberries and some cherries in this batch.

Actually the English drink this too; see Ribena. Unless you put in waaaaay more sugar than I'm calling for here, yours will be nowhere near as sweet though. You may wish to put in a little more sugar than I call for, depending on the tartness of your berries and your taste, but start with this amount and taste it first! More can always be added, even as late as when the syrup is being put in the glass, but once it's in it can't come out!

If you don't wish to process the saft for storage, it can be frozen. I'd let it cool completely, pour it into clean glass jars beng careful to leave plenty of room at the top, and freeze them with the lids off. Once it is frozen solid, the lids can be put on, and the saft kept until you wish to unthaw it and use it. In either case, once opened it should be stored in the refrigerator. It's important to leave the lids off at first as the syrup will expand quite a lot as it freezes, and if the lids are on the glass may break. For me though, freezer space is at a premium and shelf-stable canning is the way to go.

30 minutes for preliminary cooking
2 hours to overnight to strain
1 hour to can (20 minutes plus cooling time if freezing)
about 5 x 500ml jars


4 cups mixed berries; strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and/or cherries
4 cups currants; black, red or white
2 cups water
2 cups sugar, or a bit more

Pick any large leaves or other debris from the berries, and pick them over for bad ones. Rinse them well. Put the water into a canning kettle or other very large pot to boil, and add the drained berries when it boils. Simmer them gently for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn them into a cloth - over another large pot - to strain. You are unlikely to find a jelly bag large enough to cope with this quantity of fruit; I use a clean old cotton pillowcase which has moved on to a second career. (Not appearing soon on any beds near you.) You can strain this for several hours, although I put it in our cool, dry basement and left it to strain overnight.

Put the jars into a canner with boiling water to cover them, and bring them to a boil. 

Meanwhile, squeeze out the pulp through the cloth as much as you like - the harder you squeeze the cloudier the syrup will be but personally I don't care - fruit is expensive enough in both time and money that I want every drop I can extract. Return it to the (cleaned) canning kettle. You can measure it first if you like; it will give you some idea whether you have the right quantity of jars.

When the jars in the canner come to a boil, set the time to boil them for 10 minutes. Add the sugar to the fruit juice and bring to a boil. Put the lids and rims into another pot and bring them to a boil. (Turn off the heat when they have boiled for 1 minute).

Lift and empty the jars, place them on a board or other heatproof surface, and fill the jars with the syrup. Wipe the rims with a bit of paper towel dipped in the boiling water and top them with the prepared lids and rings. Return them to the boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove, let cool, label and store.

To use, dilute one part saft with 4 parts plain or sparkling water, or to taste. Also good with white wine, sparkling apple juice, and in hot tea or punch.





Last year at this time I made Batter-Fried Zucchini.

So. I have made three batches of strawberry jam in the last couple of weeks and they have all set. Beautifully. This is a very new experience for me; my strawberry jam has traditionally been on the runny side. The reason is that I bought and tried Bernardin's No Sugar Needed Pectin.

I'm feeling a bit strange about this, because I am not usually very inclined to write about the products of mega-gigantico international corporations. Au contraire.  But this is the first time ever that I have used pectin and had it work. Moreover, I've made a batch of each of three suggested variations, and they all worked equally well.

While this is "no sugar needed" pectin, you can use sugar if you want. My first batch was made as they suggest, with 4 cups strawberries, 1 cup fruit juice and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Compare this to regular jam recipes - the sugar used is way lower. Next, I made a batch with Splenda for my dad, the sweet-toothed diabetic. Finally I made a batch with no sugar, just the strawberries and fruit juice, for my mom, who is on a low-sugar diet and who isn't quite so inclined to sweets. I used a mixture of lime juice and water for my fruit juice in the first batch, and grape juice for the other two batches. They all set up equally well.

My measurement of strawberries got bigger and bigger with each batch I made; I should really concede that the last batch had a good solid 5 cups of strawberries in it. Worked fine. This really seems to be pretty fool-proof stuff.

The ingredients are simple enough; dextrose (a sugar), fruit pectin, citric acid, and calcium ascorbate (a form of vitamin C. No problems there.

I didn't skim my jam, which jam recipes have always said to do. Mine always took so long to set up (assuming it did) that any foam had lots of time to settle out before the jam set. Not this time. The foam managed to make it about two-thirds up the jar before it was caught and set, so my jam looks a little funny. Ho hum. I can live with that.

I've had a number of people recommend Pomona pectin to me, but the trouble is I live in the sticks. It's the products of mega-gigantic international corporations, or local farmers, with nothing in between. In short, I can't get it. Therefore, I really don't know how well it would compare.

There was some interest in the recipe for these, but they were somewhat experimental and I'm not sure this is really a finished recipe. They worked out quite edibly - in fact they were good! - but I do feel I will need to fiddle with the recipe some more. Hmm, that won't be painful, except to my waistline.

Try to keep the cherries fairly dry. Excess juice will cause parts not to cook through.

48 squares
1 hour - 30 minutes prep time


Make the Caramel:
2 cups dark brown sugar
OR 1 cup Sucanat and 1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter

Place these ingredients in a fairly large, heavy bottomed pot. Bring them to a boil and boil steadily for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool somewhat.

Mix the Dry Ingredients:
2 cups soft unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix and set aside.
Finish the Blondies:
2 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons brown rice syrup.
2 cups pitted cherries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9" x 13" with parchment paper.

Beat the eggs and brown rice syrup into the slightly cooled caramel. Mix in the flour. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out.

Sprinkle the dryish cherries evenly over the batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until firm and golden brown around the edges. Let cool before cutting into squares to serve.




Last year at this time I made Puréed Peas.

Well okay, that's stretching a point. It was so pretty though. One large mango, a few peaches and a good handful of apricots, a pint of blueberries, and some cherries that I had cooked in honey syrup. Plus some of the syrup. So good. So very, very good. And too beautiful not to share.

This year I felt the call to do something a bit different from my usual one and only sweet cherry dessert for cherry season, and after a bit of head-scratching I came up with this. (Yes I washed my hands before I got to work.)

I feel a bit bad tempting you with it though, as it turns out cherries are just about over. Already! - this is part of everything being so absurdly early this year. However, either run out and see if you can't find a few of the last cherries, or make a note and do this next year, because it's awfully good, if not quite as glamourous as something this intense and special should be. It's also extremely easy, especially if you eschew pitting. It makes quite a big crisp, and could be easily cut in half if you liked.

8 to 12 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time, plus cooling time



Make the Topping:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup soft whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix the oats, flour, cocoa, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into smallish pieces and rub it into the mixture until none of it looks dry and some of it forms coarse crumbs. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Make the Filling:
2 quarts ripe red cherries (Bing)
the finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
the juice of 1 large orange
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minute tapioca
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Wash and de-stem the cherries. You may pit them if you like, but leaving them in speeds up the cooking process and slows down the eating process, which I regard as overall a good thing. If it is to be fed to small children though, it's probably wisest to pit them. At any rate, arrange them in the bottom of a large (9" x 13") lasagne pan.

Wash the orange and grate the rind of half of it over the cherries. Squeeze out the juice and pour it over the cherries. Sprinkle over the sugar, tapioca and almond extract. Give it all a gentle stir to be sure that everything is well blended.

Finish the Crisp:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Spread the crumb topping evenly over the cherries. Bake the crisp for 50 to 60 minutes, until bubbly around the edges. Let cool for about an hour ideally; it's delightful when it's still a bit warm. However there's nothing wrong with it once it's cold either.




Last year at this time - and at many other times - I made Peas & Cabbage.

Simple, rich and delicious but not too sweet; this is a great way to present beautiful raspberries and blackberries, although other berries or fruits are perfectly possible too. We were lucky enough to pick these in our garden; nearly the last of the red raspberries and the first of the black raspberries.

Depending on what fruit you use, you can vary the flavouring used as well. A little grated lemon, orange or lime zest and a spoonful of the juice instead of the vanilla would complement many different fruits.

12 servings
30 minutes prep time plus 3 to 12 hours chill time



1 tablespoon butter
2 digestive biscuits, crushed, or about 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
500 grams (1 lb 2 oz) cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or other flavouring
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar

1 pint (2 cups) berries, pitted cherries or other sliced fruit

Line an 8" spring-form pan with parchment on the bottom. Butter the parchment and sides of the pan, and coat it in the biscuit or cracker crumbs. Set aside.

Beat the cream cheese with the vanilla or other flavouring for about 5 minutes. You will need a good sturdy electric mixer for this, don't even try it if yours if feeble.

In another bowl, beat the whipped cream with the sugar until stiff. You don't need to wash the beaters between times. Fold half the cream gently into the cream cheese, then beat with the electric mixer again for just one minute, to get it smooth, but be very careful not to over-beat. Gently fold in the remaining cream.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Chill for at least 3 hours to overnight (better). Top with fresh berries, pitted cherries, or other prepared fruit just before serving. This is a rather soft cheesecake, and should be kept well-chilled right up to serving time.

This gets two pictures, because it is just so damn good. I tend to make it just once a year, but it's a tradition and a landmark. I don't do much cooking with sweet cherries; the perfect sweet cherry recipe is to sit out on a shady porch on a sunny day, start popping them in, and spit the pits over the railing. If you can't do that, you can try this instead.

I think it would work well with other fruit; peaches, apricots or plums, raspberries, blueberries; they'd all be good. I haven't tried making this with brown rice flour instead of wheat flour, but I suspect it would be a good candidate for that change, if necessary.

In the past I have always pitted cherries before cooking with them. I have finally rebelled. It occurs to me that I want to spend less time cooking and more time eating - we are both notorious bolters - and that leaving the pits in would help achieve this aim. So far, so good. Just warn people, and I wouldn't leave them in if the tart is to be eaten by very small children.

6 to 8 servings
1 hour - 20 minutes prep time


You need one of those big, shallow tart pans with a removable bottom, 11" across.


1 cup finely ground almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soft pastry flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

2 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
4 cups (450 grams, 1 pound) sweet cherries, pitted or not

Butter the bottom and sides of an 11" tart pan. Line the bottom with buttered parchment paper. The cherries should be washed and drained well, and the stems removed before you start. If you wish them to be pitted, you should do that too. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the ground almond, sugar, flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Wash the orange carefully, dry it, and grate in the orange zest.

Melt the butter, and set it aside.

In another little bowl, beat the eggs until well blended. Beat in the orange juice. When the butter is cooled enough that it won't cook the eggs, beat it in with them as well.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the tart pan, and spread it evenly to the edges.

Scatter the cherries evenly over the batter, and press them down gently.

Bake the tart at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown and firm. Let cool before removing it from the pan.





Last year around now I made Dill Pickles by the Jar, Leeks & Spinach, and Broccoli Stem, Cabbage & Carrot Stir Fry.

Sour cherries are the best cherries! At least if you want to cook or bake with them, can them or dry them. Their zingy flavour stands up well to those kinds of rough treatment; in fact it just gets better. I love cherries, and this way I can eat a few all winter. They are great on pudding or ice-cream. I won't get to do much canning this year because we are moving, but I insisted on canning a batch of cherries.

10 500-ml jars, if the pits are left in
8 500-mil jars, if the pits are removed
2 hours


First, the cherries need to be picked over and have all the stems, leaves, blossom bits and bad cherries removed. They should then be washed and drained well.


While the water heats to sterilize the canning jars, make the syrup.


After the sterilized jars are filled with cherries and syrup, they are processed in a boiling water bath, then taken out to seal and cool before being packed away. Below is my last jar from last years' batch along side one of this years' batch. A year is about as long as you should keep canned produce.


Cherries:
6 quarts (7 litres) sour cherries

Put as many jars as fit comfortably into your canner into your canner, and add water to cover them by an inch at least. Bring them to a boil, and boil 10 minutes.

Make the syrup, and let it steep while you proceed.

Meanwhile, de-stem the cherries, discarding any lingering leaves and old blossoms as well as any bad or damaged cherries. Wash them well. You may pit them if you are so inclined.

Put the lids and rims into a pot, covered with water, and bring them to a boil. Boil 5 minutes.

When the jars are sterilized, remove them from the canner, emptying the water back in as you take them out. Put them on a clean towel or board to work. Fill them quickly with the raw cherries. You should pack them in fairly firmly. Ladle a scant 1/2 cup of hot syrup into each jar of cherries. Seal them with the lids and rims. Put them back into the boiling water canner, and boil for 15 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner, and let them cool before wiping the jars, labeling them and putting them away.

You will need to repeat all this with however many jars you have left to fill that didn't go into the canner in the first batch.

Syrup:
2 cups honey
4 cups water
2 or 3 4" cinnamon sticks
2/3 cup fresh lime juice

Put the honey and water into a pot with the cinnamon sticks, broken up. Bring to a boil and boil for a minute or two. Turn off the pot. Cover and let it steep while the jars are being sterilized.

When you are ready to fill the jars, fish out the bits of cinnamon. Bring the syrup back up to a boil. Add the lime juice.

At this time of year, I am assuming you are using fruit you froze last summer, or at least that you have purchased already frozen. But for future reference, if you are freezing the fruit as part of making this recipe, I find it best to lay it out an a cookie sheet or plate covered in plastic wrap to freeze. Keeping the pieces of fruit smallish and well spread out to ensure you don't end up with a single massive lump 'o frozen fruit is also useful.

This is basically the same recipe as Peach & Raspberry Sorbet, but I will keep posting it in various incarnations, because, honestly, this is one of the best things I have ever come up with, and I don't want it to slip anyones' mind. Such modesty. But there it is.

4 to 6 servings
15 minutes - plus freezing time


2 cups frozen, pitted sour cherries
1 cup frozen apricot pieces
the juice of 1/2 lemon or lime, or some liqueur if you prefer
1/4 cup sugar

Put it all in ye handy-dandy food processor, and process.

That's about it, really, although I suppose I should note that it's a good idea to take the fruit out of the freezer about 5 minutes before you start to let it soften up slightly; especially the apricots. You will need to stop regularly to scrape down the sides and stir up the mixture a bit, and it will likely take about 5 minutes of processing to reduce the fruit to a fine frozen mush - which is longer than you think. However, eventually you should have a smooth, ever so slightly slushy mass, also known as sorbet.

You can serve it at once, or put it in a freezer container and return it to the freezer. In that case, it should be tempered before serving - 5 or so minutes on the counter, 20 minutes or so in the fridge.

I've already posted about making Cranberry Jelly. Fruit juice jellies are one of our favourite desserts around here, and certainly one that I'm inclined to make more often than many others; the fat content is (usually) nil, the quantity of sugar is reasonable and there is actually some nutritional value to be had from them.

Most juices are not so intense and acidic as cranberry juice, so I am lumping all the rest of them in here. Although it is impossible to give an exact formula that will work with every juice, there is a range of measurements that will work very well. The amount of sugar you add can vary from none to quite a lot, and you may or may not wish to use some water to cut the juice. The main thing to remember is that you need to use 1 tablespoon of powdered gelatine to every 2 cups of liquid; the amount of sugar doesn't affect this.

Most people nowadays associate jelled desserts with Jell-O, and other little packets of sugar, gelatine and chemicals. Homemade jellies are so much better. I was going to say they leave Jell-O and its ilk in the dust, but frankly they are left so far behind I don't think they even know there is any dust. Except in those little packets, of course.

I made this striped jelly with blackberry pulp, passionfruit pulp, and coconut milk. The coconut milk turned out to be a great idea; the fruit juices caught me by surprise with just how acidic they were, and the coconut milk really mellowed them. Mind you, that's why I said the fat content was usually nil; this is the exception. Still, jellies are pretty moderate desserts as desserts go.

4 servings (per 2 cups)
3 to 4 hours - 5 minutes prep time


2 cups fruit juice or fruit juice and water
1 tablespoon powdered gelatine
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar

The first step is to taste your juice, and decide whether to use it straight, or to mix it with water. I find pure, unsweetened juices such as blueberrry, raspberry, currant or cherry juice do better being cut. I usually use 1 part water to 2 parts juice. If the juice is sweetened or from a milder fruit, I am more likely to use them undiluted. Sometimes I add a little lemon or lime juice to the mix to add a bit of brightness and complexity to the flavour. The other time I add a little water is simply to be sure I end up with an amount of liquid that doesn't require elaborate calculations to figure out the amount of gelatine to use. i.e, if you are using a 14 ounce container of juice, don't fight it - add two ounces of water and get 2 cups. Unless you like your jelly really boingy.

If you are using water, don't mix it with the juice. Put it in a pot on the stove. If you are not using any water, put about 1/3 of the juice in the pot. Either way, put the (remaining) juice in a mixing bowl.

Sprinkle the gelatine over the juice in the mixing bowl to soften; add the lemon or lime juice if using.

Add the sugar to the water or juice in the pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to be sure that all the sugar has been dissolved. Mix the boiling water or juice into the juice and gelatine mixture. Be sure all the gelatine is dissolved.

You may wish to taste the juice at this point again. If it is not sweet enough, you can add a little more sugar, making sure it too is dissolved.

Let the mixture cool. Refrigerate until set, usually 3 to 4 hours.

I'm continuing to work at using the fruit I stashed in the freezer last summer. Sour cherries have a very short fresh season - not much more than two weeks - so it is well worth while to freeze, can or dry a whole bunch of them. Sweet cherries may be better for eating fresh, but the sour ones, as far as I am concerned, are better for everything else. They are just bursting with intense cherry flavour.

In the past, I have pitted the cherries before I freeze, can or dry them, but in the future I think I will mostly only pit them if I am going to dry them. That will speed up the processing considerably, allowing me to preserve more of them, and if it slows down the eating of them; well, that's a good thing. * Cherries are one of the most fabulous foods in existence and deserve to be eaten slowly and really savoured. Plus, many people think that cooking cherry dishes with the pits still in them adds to the flavour.


You could also use a litre (quart) of canned cherries if you like. In that case, you likely don't need to add sugar to them as they will be already sweetened, and you will need to add more tapioca, maybe twice as much, as they will be more liquid, but you will need to exercise your own judgement in both cases. You may wish to add more sugar to the cherries in any case - we like them quite zingy, others may prefer them sweeter.


6 servings
50 minutes - 10 minutes prep time; plus allow time to cool

4 cups frozen sour cherries, pitted or not
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup oat flour
2/3 cup barley flour
1/2 cup Sucanat
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter

Put the at least semi-thawed cherries in a 2 quart (or 2 litre) baking dish. Sprinkle them with the minute tapioca, almond extract and sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the flours, Sucanat and salt. Cut the butter into chunks and rub it in with your fingers, until all the flour is moistened and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle it evenly over the top of the cherries.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, until browned on top and bubbly. Let cool to at least warm before serving. (And note that it can stay very hot for quite a while.) Ideally, serve it with whipped cream or ice cream.






* If you are preserving cherries to be eaten by the young and reckless, or at least unco-ordinated - under 3, say - you had better pit them, I'm afraid.

I had 6 great-aunts on my mothers side of the family, and all of them were keen cooks. This recipe came from my great-aunt Alethea, who was really much more like a grandmother to me. She and Uncle George had a big old white frame house in Quebec, with raspberries and cows out back and it was the best house in the world. All long gone, alas; aunt, uncle, cows and house.

Well, tempus fugit; have some pie. We still have the pie.

Aunt Alethea made this with a mixture of rhubarb and strawberries. I prefer straight rhubarb. I have also made it with sour cherries or cranberries; they're both good. Currants or gooseberries would work if you don't mind the seeds. You do want fruit that is naturally fairly sour, to counterbalance the richness and sweetness of the rest of the pie.

6 to 8 servings
1 hour - 30 minutes prep time

Oops; collapsed a little when I cut it. I should have left it to cool longer...

single pie crust for 9" pie pan

4 cups finely chopped rhubarb or other sour fruit

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Sucanat or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

3 extra-large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar

Prepare the pie crust, roll it out and fit it to your pie plate, and prick it all over with a fork. Bake it at 400°F for 10 minutes, until very lightly browned.

Meanwhile, trim the rhubarb and chop it finely.

Mix the sugar, flour and sour cream. The mixture should be fairly thick, but not too thick to flow a little. Depending on your sour cream, you may need to add a spoonful or so more.

Let the pie crust cool enough to handle, then fill it with the rhubarb. Spread the sour cream mixture evenly over the rhubarb.

Mix the flour, Sucanat or brown sugar and butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the pie. Bake the pie at 400°F for 40 minutes, until the crumbs are browned.

Cherry is the traditional filling for a clafoutis, or clafouti as it is also spelled. If it's made with other fruit, particularly apples or pears, it's a flognarde or flaugnarde. However, it's great with any summer fruit and whatever you want to call it. Not quite a pancake; not quite custard; it's something in-between that can also swing between breakfast, brunch and dessert.

This particular clafoutis, or flognarde, was made with plums.

4 to 6 servings
1 hour - 20 minutes prep time

1 tablespoon butter
8 to 12 plums, OR 6 to 10 apricots, OR 2 to 3 peaches
OR 2 cups cherries OR 2 cups blueberries or raspberries
OR 2 or 3 apples OR 2 or 3 pears

3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the butter into a 9" glass pie-plate, and put it in the oven until melted. You can also use a 9" flan dish, or a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet.

Meanwhile, wash the fruit and cut it in half. Remove the pits. Plums or apricots can be left as halves; peaches should be sliced. It's traditional to leave in the pits if you are using cherries, for their faint almond flavour. You could always add a drop of almond flavouring, but leaving them in saves the cook time and slows down the eaters, always a good thing in my house. For berries, just rinse or pick over and drain well. Apples or pears should be cored and sliced; peeling is optional.

Rotate the pie-plate to coat the bottom and sides with the melted butter. Arrange the fruit evenly over the bottom of the dish, and set aside.

Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Grate in the zest and nutmeg. (I don't actually measure them; just eyeball it. Also feel free to vary the flavouring according to what kind of fruit you are using.) Beat in the eggs, then the milk. Pour the batter over the fruit.

Bake the clafoutis for 40 to 45 minutes, until set in the middle and slightly puffed and browned around the edges. (It will deflate quickly once you remove it from the oven.) Serve warm.

See Making Jam for more general information about making jam.

9 250-ml jars
2 hours - 1 1/4 hours prep time

8 cups (2 litres/quarts) pitted sour cherries
4 cups (1 litre/quart) red currants
1/3 cup water (or cherry juice)
5 cups sugar

Pit the cherries. Put the empty jars in a canning kettle and cover with water. Turn on the burner and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, wash the currants and put them in a saucepan with the water or cherry juice. There is no need to de-stem them, but pick out any leaves or debris.

Cover the pot and bring them to a boil, stirring regularly until they have all burst.

Press them through a sieve into a jam kettle or other large, very deep pot. Discard the stems and seeds.

Add the cherries and sugar to the currant puree in the jam kettle. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently until the sugar is dissolved.

Keep at a rolling boil, stirring only occasionally, until the mixture reaches the gell stage; about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and skim off any obdurate foam that may have formed.

Ladle into the jars, which may be removed from their boiling water bath once they have been boiled for 10 minutes. Wipe the lips and seal with lids and rims which have been boiled for 5 minutes. Return the sealed jars to the boiling water bath, and boil for 5 minutes.

Once the jars have sealed (plink!) label them with the month and year of their production, batch number if you are making more than one batch, and name. Keep them in a cool, dark place, but once opened, keep in the fridge.