The DIY Pantry (44 page)

This is an old French recipe and it embodies the best of French country cooking—simple and flavorful. By keeping the pits in the recipe, the flavor of the apricots is deepened and just a touch of almond is imparted.

1. Wash the apricots; then cut them open and remove the pits, but do not discard them.
   
2. Coarsely chop the apricots and set them aside.
   
3. Crack open one pit by laying the long side of a large knife against it and smashing it with your hand. Take out the almond-like nut inside and bite it—if it’s sweet, crack all the remaining pits and forego the use of the additional, optional almonds, but if it’s bitter, crack just three of the pits and use regular almonds. Coarsely chop the nuts and wrap in one thin layer of cheesecloth.
   
4. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the water and honey to a full, rolling boil over medium-high heat. Add in the apricots, lemon juice, and nuts and continue to cook uncovered at a heavy simmer until the apricots are very soft and the mixture is syrupy, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to be sure the mixture isn’t sticking to the bottom and skim off any foam that forms on the top.
   
5. You can test the doneness of the preserves by spooning a bit of the syrup onto a cold plate. If it gels, it’s done.
   
6. Remove from the heat and spoon into jars. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
   

Homemade grape jelly is one of those little satisfactions that brings a smile to your face every time you stumble upon one of the jars in your pantry. The thing with jelly is that the sugar is included in order to help the jelly set properly, not just to sweeten it, so traditional jams and jellies—this one included—call for very large amounts of sugar. If you are wanting or needing to use less sugar or would like to use alternative forms of sugar, such as honey or stevia, find a brand of low-sugar pectin, such as Pomona’s Universal Pectin or Ball RealFruit No-Sugar Pectin, and follow the directions on the box instead of the directions here. Low-sugar pectins are sometimes difficult to find locally, but you can find them fairly easily from multiple sources online.

1. Place grape juice in an large saucepan. Gradually stir in pectin and whisk to make sure there are no lumps. Place on high heat and bring mixture to a full, rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, stirring constantly.
   
2. Once you’ve established a hard boil, add the sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if desired.
   
3. Ladle the jelly into clean jars.
   
4. To store the jelly for up to 1 year, process the hot jars of jelly for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
   
5. To enjoy more immediately, let the jelly cool to room temperature; then store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
   

This fruit butter starts with dehydrated fruit rather than fresh fruit. This technique is advantageous for a number of reasons. First, dehydrating concentrates the sugars, so less sweetener is needed when making the fruit butter. Second, in the summertime when all your fruit is ripening at once, it allows you to preserve the harvest quickly and efficiently using a food dehydrator and then make other products, such as this fruit butter, later on. Lastly, this fruit butter is absolutely kid-friendly, even a kid-favorite, making it an excellent way to introduce or increase the amount of probiotics in your child’s diet. Feel free to substitute other dried fruits as well—fig and apple just happen to be favorites of mine. Try Cinnamon Raisin by substituting raisins for the figs and apples; then spread the finished butter on sourdough toast for a quick and dirty version of cinnamon swirl toast. Or try Peach Butter using peaches and lemon zest. The options are endless!