Enjoy Seasonal Fruit Year-round

Author: Meera, August 29, 2024
Apricot marmalade

In the Bay Area, strawberries, blueberries, and early varieties of plums ripen in the spring. By the start of summer, a lot of stone fruit is available. Look for apricots and peaches and later varieties of plums during early June through July. Find peaches and nectarines by mid-August.

Kumquats and oranges are the perfect combo
for winter marmalade

The end of the stone fruit heralds the arrival of late-summer pears. Local suppliers offer these fruits at farmers’ markets and to stores throughout the harvest period so buyers can be assured of fruit quality and freshness.

To preserve your favorite summer stone fruit, you have several options. Hot-water canning supplies come in handy for preserving fruit into jam, jelly, marmalade, and conserve. A dehydrator produces dried fruit and leathers. Finally, some fruits can be made into jam or marmalade and refrigerated for use over a week or two or frozen.

As summer nears its end, look for a large variety of pears and persimmons to show up on store shelves. Then, as the winter holidays near, citrus (oranges, kumquats, lemons, and limes) begin to ripen and can be preserved into a soft spread such as a conserve, jam, or marmalade.

Hachiya persimmons are delicious when they ripen to softness

If country living topics interest you and you enjoy a good mystery with recipes and tips for keeping chickens and bees, check out my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries, informed by my real-life farmette experiences.

The novels include A BEELINE TO MURDER, THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE, and A HIVE OF HOMICIDES. All are available online or wherever books are sold.

Novel # 1 Join ex-cop turned beekeeper Abby Mackenzie as she digs for clues and smokes out the murderer of her town’s beloved pastry chef.
Novel #2 Abby fears the worst when her herbalist friend doesn’t show up for tea. Later, when a body is found in her friend’s burned-out car, Abby must sift through clues kept by a cult living on land that was once a nudist colony. Eccentric characters and a gruesome murder keep Abby digging for clues.
Novel #3 Abby searches for the killer of her best friend’s husband. He’s the owner of the Country Schoolhouse Winery with a reputation for being as busy as a bee with the ladies. Abby must decipher the clues to this whodunit before the killer gets her over a barrel.

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