Apricots

 Hanging in the tree yesterday morning. 

Made into Apricot Preserves this morning.  

There is only one tree in this valley which bore apricots.  All others froze, including mine.  

Apricots make my favorite preserves. 

I asked around, even on Facebook. 

Low and behold, only a street away, my good friend M'lisa has an old Apricot tree and it is loaded with apricots.  

It pays to have good friends.  Cherish them as long as you can. 

Gina 

 

What to do

I know what to do with our Apples

Many varieties growing in our garden. 

I know what to do with our plums and pears.

I know what to do with our winter grapes

I know what to do with Greens from our garden.

I know what to do with sour cherries from our garden.

and red beets from our garden.

I know what to do with our peaches.

and our cabbages and eggplants.

I know what to do with our apricots

and with our onions.


But I don't know 

what to do with our Asian Pears. 

My tree is laden with fruit.

They are sweet and crunchy, great for salads.  

But they are not good for baking.  

Preserves are good enough, just not great. 

Should I buy a dehydrator? 
Have you tried to dry them, I haven't. 

Do you have a favorite recipe or idea.  

Would you share?  




 

Have a great remainder of the week dear friends,

Gina 

http://lovemademyhome.blogspot.ca/2016/09/five-on-friday_9.html
http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

https://normandylife.blogspot.ca/2016/09/

So, So many

Apricots 

And so many more left in my tree.

All of my favorite flowers growing in my garden.

Looking like blushing Brides

We like apricot preserves.  

Easy recipe follows.

Recipe

5 cups of cut up apricots

3 cups of sugar

Zest from 2 oranges

orange segments from 2 oranges 

Combine all ingredients

cook for 30 minutes 

bottle into half pint jars

No water or thickener necessary

There are more apricots in my tree.  Come and get some.  

Gina 

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

A year later - Post number 194

Apricots are very easy to work with

They don't need to be peeled. Just remove the stones, cut up and cook with sugar, fresh lemon juice and a little pectin. Bottle when very hot. They don't need to be processed further.


My apricots froze this year. So did every other tree in our town. I spotted an old apricot tree in an abandoned lot, neglected and forgotten. You guessed it. It was laden with apricots.






After cooking the apricots for a little while I noticed that there was something amiss. The skin had turned into little pieces of tough wire. I had to toss it all out. I hate to waste food.



Just five miles north of us is a well kept garden. By the fence stands a very old apricot tree. And every year, without fail, it bears apricots. In exchange for a few bottles of my strawberry and rhubarb preserves I was able to pick a large basket of beautiful apricots.





These apricots are sweet and perfect. Exactly what is needed for my famous apricot preserves.


Gina