It’s the way of fruit trees to explode all at once, ready or not, and Late summer is always the time when I find myself with more fruit than I can imagine. Peaches and plums have been going full force for about a month, apples and pears are just poking their head into the scene, and the overlap has left me with bags of fruit all over my kitchen and more on the way. This is by no means a complaint; in fact, it’s my favorite time of year for preserving. But I admit it sometimes takes some creative thinking when you have 20-50lbs of a single fruit. I am just one person, so there is only so much of one kind of preserve I am willing to eat.  Over the years I have come to rely on a few recipes that are interchangeable for nearly all kinds of fruit. Fruit butter, fruit pieces in syrup, pickled fruit, and the crumble. These versatile recipes are not just an amazing way to mix up the pounds and pounds of fruit you find yourself with, they are also an excellent way to deal with old, rubbery fruit you bought too much of, or a harvest of fruit that is dry and maybe a little flavorless. These recipes can literally transform fruit bound for the compost bin to something you save and savor on the most special occasions.

The easiest and least time consuming way to handle a lot of fruit is to pickle or preserve it in a syrup. It is as simple as cutting the fruit in quarters, layering them in jars, and covering them with the prepared liquid.  After that you can choose to store them in the refrigerator or process them in a water bath.  Below are two of my favorite recipes for this process:

Fruit Pieces in Honey Vanilla Syrup:
(use for stone fruit, pome fruit, berries or grapes)
(makes 6 8oz jars)

Ingredients:

• fruit
• ½ cup white sugar
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• ¼ inch vanilla bean, sliced open
• 2 cups water
• jars

Method:

• cut the fruit into ½ inch slices and layer them gently into a jar, leaving about an inch of head space at the top
• in a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, honey and vanilla bean. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved
• pour the solution over the fruit, tapping the jars on the counter to release air bubbles. Leave about a ½ inch of headspace on the top.
• seal the jars and process for 15 minutes in a water bath
• store for up to 18 months
• Serve over ice cream, yogurt, cake, etc.

Pickled Fruit:
(use for stone fruit, pome fruit, berries or grapes)
(makes 6 8oz jars)

Ingredients:

• fruit
• 2 cups of vinegar with the standard 5% acidity (preferably cider vinegar or wine vinegar)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise

Method:

• cut the fruit into ½ inch slices and layer them gently into a jar leaving about an inch of headspace at the top
• in a saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and spices and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
• pour the solution over the fruit, tapping the jars on the counter to release air bubbles. Leave about a ½ inch of headspace
• seal the jars and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, or process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes. Processed pickles will keep for up to 18 months.
• serve with cured meats or cheese

Next we have my personal favorite, the crumble.  A crumble is often confused with a crisp, a betty or a cobbler. So before we get into the recipe, lets go over each of these. A crumble is a crustless pie with a crumble topping made from sugar, butter, and flour (or oats). A crisp is similar only made with brown sugar, while a cobbler is made with a biscuit topping. A betty is a completely different dessert made from layering a spiced breadcrumb crumble with several layers of fruit, alternating between the two, then baked. Of these, the crumble is by far the easiest. It is my favorite because you can make it with a single piece of fruit, or 20 pieces of fruit.

Ingredients:
(use for stone fruit, pome fruit or berries)
(makes 1 9”x9” crumble)

• fruit
• lemon juice (for some fruits)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• ¾ cup flour
• 6 tablespoons butter
• (pinch of salt if using unsalted butter)
• ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

Method:

• sift flour sugar (and salt) into a medium mixing bowl
• cut in the butter with a knife and fork or pastry cutter (you can make a pastry cutter by removing the top and bottom of a can), then mix it with your hands until it begins to stick together
• cut the fruit into thin slices (about ¼ inch to 1/8 inch) and layer into 9×9 pan
• if using drier, sweeter fruit like apples, pears, peaches, add juice from 1 lemon. Omit from watery fruit like plums or berries.
• sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit
• bake at 425F until the top is golden brown, usually about 30 minutes
• serve with ice cream or in a bowl with some milk poured over it.

Last, and definitely the most time consuming and labor intensive is fruit butter.  To make a fruit butter you truly need an overabundance of fruit, as you will cook it down to about a ¼ of what you start with.  After trying several different methods of making fruit butter I have settled on what I find to be the easiest and the most freeing.  Traditionally you should cook the fruit on low heat over the stove for about 6-8 hours stirring constantly, then run it through a fine mesh sieve or food mill, jar it, and process it.  The entire process takes somewhere around 12 hours of active participation. So, now I use a crock-pot (slow cooker) and a blender. It still takes almost 12 hours depending on the volume and the type of fruit, BUT, it is passive participation. In fact, I often set it up and go to work, or go to sleep, and blend it and can it when I get home or wake up in the morning. It is basically fool proof. Plum butter is one of my favorite kinds of preserves. Thick with an almost velvety texture, it is bursting with intense, flavorful, tart fruit tastes and warm caramel sugary flavors that compliment each other remarkably well. It is especially delicious on cream cheese, or sandwiched between cookies!

Fruit Butter
Ingredients:
(use for stone fruit, pome fruit, or berries)

• fruit (lots of it, depending on the size of your slow cooker)
• sugar
• cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg, orange zest (optional)

Method

• peel and core your fruit, removing all the pits or seeds (depending on your fruit). If using berries with large hard seeds (blackberries, raspberries, etc.) blend and strain them first
• fill your slow-cooker to the top with the fruit and turn it on high. Keep it covered until it begins to simmer, then remove the lid.
• stir occasionally. If left unattended for a long period of time, turn it down to low and cover with an upside-down colander to keep anything from falling into it. Turn it back on high once you are home.
• the mixture will start to brown and reduce. Once reduced to about 1/3 to ¼ of the original quantity, check the consistency. It should be pasty with small pockets of liquid around the pulp.
• add ¼ cup of sugar, stir it in well and taste it. Slowly add more sugar until it is as sweet as you like it.
• pour the mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth. Spoon into jars and process in a waterbath canner for 15 minutes.

Photographs by Rosey Lakos at roseylakosphotography.com.