Colours of Fall

I went for a walk

I took some pictures of stuff

Ooh, pretty colours!

Apple Chips

 
A couple of days ago, I moseyed on over to my local grocery store and stocked up on two of my favourite apples, Mutsu and Spartan, since they were in season, not coated in that waxy stuff, and less than $1/lb. Mmm, fresh, waxless, Ontario apples...

But a girl can only eat so many fresh apples in a week. What was I going to do with the rest of them? I'd heard good things about making baked apple chips, so I thought I'd give it a go.

DIY Apple Chips: Although any kind of apple can be dried, slightly tart varieties with crisp, white flesh seem to work the best, e.g., Empire, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Mutsu (a.k.a. Crispin), and Spartan.

Here's what you do:

1. Wash and core the apples (2–3, medium-sized). Peeling is not necessary.
2. Slice the apples using a mandolin or sharp knife, no thicker than 2–3 mm.
3. Lay out the apple slices in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheets.
4. Bake/dry the apple slices in a 225°C oven for 2 hours, turning them once.

After they cool, they should be nice and crispy, not pliable or chewy (if they are, pop them back in the oven for another half an hour).

Mmm, so good... they're actually a lot like potato chips except that they, you know, taste like apples. Although apple chips lack vitamins A and C (since the baking process breaks them down), they contain decent amounts of iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin B6, and fibre.

Drying Dilemma: Apple chips are a nice treat, but making them in the oven is definitely not very energy efficient; oven-drying (electric) has been found to be 9–12 times more costly than canning. If you're serious about drying large amounts of produce, investing in a dehydrator is probably a good idea since it's much more efficient and eco-friendly than using the oven and gives more tasty and consistent results.

What will you do with your apples this season?

Fall Colours

This week may be the last opportunity to see some beautiful fall leaves before the rain washes them away. But where to go? And is it already too late?

Leaf-Watching Made Easy: Ontario Tourism publishes its Fall Colour Report twice a week, which "provides information on the colour change and the best viewing locations across Ontario." For example, here is the October 14th entry for the Greater Toronto Area:

"There are some nice pockets of colour now in the Toronto region with a 60% colour change to this point. A good location for a fall colour walk over the next couple of weeks includes High Park just off the Gardiner Expressway. Conservation areas such as Bruce’s Mill off Stouffville Road and the Kortright Centre for Conservation near Kleinburg are great spots for fall colour hikes. The colours along the Don Valley Parkway region are always excellent during the fall and we are also seeing some pockets of nice colour now in the York Region, just north of Toronto."

So grab a coat and camera and head outside before all the leaves are gone.

Happy fall!

Canning Peaches

My first attempt at canning peaches in syrup was both easier and harder than I thought it would be.

Let's break it down.

Easier: When I preserve fruit, I usually make jam because that's what I'm used to doing. However, making jam is sticky, messy, scalding hot, and time-consuming. Canning in syrup is comparatively easy, since you just drop your halved/pitted fruit into a jar, pour hot syrup over top of it, screw on the top, then boil the whole caboodle for 15 minutes. Easy, right?

Harder: Sadly, it's not so easy to do it right. There were some tips and tricks I could have used to make the whole process more successful. You'll notice that the peaches are floating about a third of the way up the jar. That's because fresh peaches are light and full of little air pockets that don't come out until you cook the fruit.

Cold Pack vs. Hot Pack: The process I described above — adding fresh fruit to a jar and then pouring on hot syrup — is called a cold pack because the fruit is "cold" and raw prior to the final 15-minute boiling step. In a hot pack, the fruit is cooked before the final boiling step.

Tips & Tricks: To prevent floating fruit, lightly cook the peaches in your syrup water (1 cup sugar : 4 cups water) for 5 minutes. This helps to drive out the air and shrink the fruit so that (a) the fruit will become denser and not float as much, and (b) you can pack more fruit into your jar, which also cuts down on floating. Also, use a lighter syrup, e.g., 1:4 sugar:water ratio, rather than 1:2, as recommended by some recipes, so that the liquid will exert less buoyant force on the fruit.

Now let's take a moment to admire the picture of the purty peaches. Mmm, peaches...

Next up, sauerkraut!

Links:

• Simple Bites: Canning 101: The Basics
• Simple Bites: Canning Stone Fruits
• Putting Up with the Turnbulls: Peaches in Syrup

Fruit Picking in Niagara

 
A couple of weeks ago, I took a day trip to the Niagara Region to pick some peaches with my husband and his friend. Oh deliciousness! We picked about 20 pounds of Red Haven peaches, 12 of which I canned and 8 of which I stuffed into my eager maw. Now there's only one lonely peach left rolling around my fruit bin and I'm itching to go back to the farm to get some more.

Cherry Avenue Farms: The farm we went to was Cherry Avenue Farms, a family-owned orchard that specializes in pick-your-own fruit. They grow an assortment of cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, and pears on their 126-acre property, which is open to the public between July and September. The fruit is ridiculously easy to pick since the trees' branches are low to the ground and absolutely laden with beautiful, perfectly ripe fruit. No, they did not pay me to write this blog post for them — they're just really nice people who clearly love their farm.

Pick Them While You Still Can: Peach/plum season lasts until the end of September and pear/apple season has just begun. This weekend, why don't you a few friends and family load up a car and drive out to Niagara for a picking spree? Be sure to haul away a few bushels to justify the trip out! If you can't eat all of the fruit while it's still fresh, you can always jam, dry, freeze, can, or pie-ify the excess for the winter months.

My next blog post will be about my experience canning peaches for the first time. See you in a few days!

The S.W.A.P. Team: Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days

It's a scorcher out there! Dressing appropriately can be a challenge, especially when you want to shield yourself from the sun's burning rays but still feel the breeze against your skin. Check out my blog post over at The S.W.A.P. Team for ideas!

Background: The S.W.A.P. Team is a non-profit social enterprise that focuses on sustainable, eco-friendly, and socially conscious clothing consumption.

(I know, I know, I've been away for quite some time, but now I'm back and ready to start blogging regularly again!) 

The S.W.A.P. Team: Just Add Colour

 A shot (or two) of colour is just what the doctor ordered to fight this grey, rainy weather. Check out my blog post over at The S.W.A.P. Team!

Also, there will be a Toronto swap happening at Trinity Bellwoods Community Centre in May! You can find details here.

Background: The S.W.A.P. Team is a non-profit social enterprise that focuses on sustainable, eco-friendly, and socially conscious clothing consumption.