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Enjoy Seasonal Fruit Year-round
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.
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.
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.
Tags: apricot, blueberries, conserves, jams, nectarine, peaches, persimmon, plum, strawberries