The Harvest Spirit

I've been getting into the harvest spirit, taking advantage of what we have available here at our rental house.  It started with Scuppernong grapes.  If you aren't familiar with them, Scuppernongs are a type of Muscadine grapes, which are pretty common in the South.  There are both white and purple varieties of Muscadines; Scuppernongs are a white variety, although they are actually more of a bronze color.  We're lucky enough to have two looooong trellises of grape vines at our rental house and I took full advantage of them.

Ripe Scuppernongs

Muscadines are large grapes with great flavor but tough skin.  Anyone who grew up eating them knows the best way to do it:  suck the fruit out of the skin, then spit out the seeds.  Southerners are a genteel bunch.  One of the most common things to make with the grapes is jelly, but we don't eat a whole lot of jelly (I prefer jam) so I wanted to do something different.  

Normal size grape vs. scuppernong

Most of the grapes I picked were turned into juice, but I got a little creative and pickled some of them too.  You read that right:  pickled grapes.  I was inspired by a recipe I found online and they turned out pretty tasty. 

This is the 2nd bucketful

Pickled Grapes - that's a bay leaf in the jar. 

After the grapes it was time for the pears.  We have one tree here at the rental house and one tree on the farm.  We wound up with a lot of pears from just those two trees, so I wound up doing a lot more with them.  I dried some, I made pear sauce, I canned some, and I made Belgian pears.

Pears...not just for decorating! 

  

The dried pears were probably the most work for the least amount of return (just in terms of volume). I  peeled and cored the pears, then I sliced them straight across so I wound up with pear rings.  I dunked all of the pears into a bowl of lemon water as soon as they were peeled to prevent browning.  I placed all the slices on cookie-cooling racks on top of baking sheets and put them in the oven at 170 degrees. Dipping them in water first made them take longer to dry, about 8 hours.  I started with about a dozen large pears and was able to fit the dried rings in a quart-size plastic baggie with room to spare.

The Belgian pears were my favorite.  It was another internet find, from Fiona at The Cottage Smallholder.  The recipe sounds crazy - you cook the pears in vinegar for 6 hours.  6 hours!  You'd think they'd be nothing but mush; and what's up with the vinegar?!  But I had so many pears I was willing to take the chance of wasting some.  I peeled and dunked as many pears as I could fit in the bottom of my pot.  No coring necessary - I like this recipe already!  It takes about 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar and 2 cups of sugar, which you heat up in a pot until the sugar is dissolved, then put in a single layer of pears.  You are also supposed to capture any of the juice from peeling the pears and add it to the pot.  Now, these pears weren't all that juicy, but I capture all the juice from peeling ALL the pears.  Plus I had a couple of overripe pears that I crushed in a citrus juicer.  So I had plenty of liquid.  

16 pears in a pot

Once the pears come to a boil, you cover them and simmer for 3 hours.  Then you are supposed to uncover them and cook another 3.  I only let them cook for 2, because the liquid was getting so low. As you can see they take on a lovely golden color (and the smell is amazing).

 The pears shrink down considerably as well.  Those 16 pears fit into 2 quart jars perfectly, with just enough syrup to cover them.  Oh, how did they taste?  They were sweet and velvety, without the slightest hint of vinegar flavor.  They are wonderful eaten plain, but I especially loved slicing them up over pound cake.  I can see I'll be making these again and again.  Actually, I did make them again...several times!  It was such an easy and delicious way to use up the bounty of pears.  

Still decorative!

Here's most of the results of a weekend spent in the kitchen.  It doesn't seem like much but it was well worth it.  I just can't wait to add peaches and plums and blackberries, etc.

Happy Fall, ya'll.