So with the eight quarts of free peaches our CSA share got us last week, we have successfully made enough peach butter to give some to everyone we love for Christmas. Andy and I decided that was an awesome idea but sort of a lame add-on: Here are some dvds and that shirt you wanted, and also some homemade fruit spread! So we've decided that our loved ones will be getting little gift baskets with peach butter and various other homemade delicious things. Andy prefers a sweet-themed basket to a mish-mash, so he shot down my idea of corn salsa. He did approve homemade applesauce (which we'll make later in the fall).
And that's where you come in. What else would you want in a basket of lovely homemade fruit-type things? Our criteria are as follows:
- Readily available (local) in upstate NY. So, like, kumquats are out.
- Not too sophisticated or bizarre in terms of taste. I can't imagine my dad loving blueberry-sage jam, for example.
- Sweet, not savory.
Throw 'em at me!
Homemade liqueur always goes over well! Flavored cream cheese, butter or chevre - think honey and pecan or candied orange peel or something easy and good on bread. If you candy citrus, many people like that dipped in chocolate.
ReplyDeleteIf you make liqueur, notice how that boozy delicious fruit has no home. Consider using it to fill your own homemade cordial truffles!! Like those nasty cherry drugstore things, but good! I keep meaning to do this and hope to this year.
Kid says: Booze! And a cousin for amira. Also is it possible to make your own maple sugar candy? I've been wondering about that. I think if you do something to pure maple syrup it might become maple cream or maple sugar. You should look into that. You can make homemade vanilla by leaving vanilla beans in vodka, however i would NOT recommend shots of it because vanilla is an irritant and it will burn like a motherf-er. Do chocolate covered pretzels count as sweet? Or chocolate nipples? I'd sign up for those.
ReplyDeleteAlso i don't like corn salsa. Just sayin.
Liqueur is such a great idea! Andy wants to try his hand at pear brandy, but we have been getting pints of yellow plums every week so I'm thinking of maybe also doing some sort of plum cordial. And Jenny, what an awesome idea on how to use the fruit! I was just thinking I'd plop it over ice cream and call it a night. Your way is much classier. Candied orange peel is also likely, if I can get organic oranges for less than a million dollars (I thought too much about the pesticides and wax on regular ones, because that's the part you usually throw away, so now only organic will do for candied peel). Kid, don't you know me well enough to know I wouldn't do a shot of vodka, regardless of what it's flavored with? And for anyone wondering if the Kid is on crack, chocolate nipples are a real thing and you will have to wait till Christmas for them, except that I'll probably forget to tell you about them by then. I'm so good at memory and the internet.
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