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Fruit to fete fall By Sarah Lemon Oct 12, 2022 12:45 AM A A 4 View all photos I’m a cook of two minds. Half of me clings to summer’s eggplant, chiles and tomatoes, of which I haven’t had nearly my fill coming off a disappointing gardening season. The other half of me can’t wait to fully focus on fall’s bounty of apples, pears and winter squash. Apples, at least, are finding their way into my kitchen despite a lackluster fruit selection at my locally owned grocer. Unable to verify the store’s apples as new crop, I knew precisely where I could track down just-picked fruit: Thursday’s farmers market in Medford. Monica Rey’s Green Ridge Farm in Gold Hill produced bright, crisp Jonaprince apples — a relative of Jonagold — for last week’s markets in Medford and Grants Pass. More recently harvesting Golden Delicious, the farm even produces quince later in the season. This hard-to-find, Old World fruit that’s high in pectin is perfect for home preserving. When Rey’s apple and quince harvests align, I’ll plan a batch of apple-quince butter, particularly after perfecting my method last fall. The process taught me that dissecting a recipe, rather than following sequential steps, can save time and effort. A lazy food preserver, I gravitate to recipes that don’t require additional pectin, can be prepared in small batches as time and ingredients allow and store well in the freezer, saving me the trouble of hauling out my canning equipment. Fruit butter also appeals to my penchant for minimizing sugar in preserving, calling for about half the amount of sugar in jams and jellies. The only problem is that fruit butters tend to stick and scorch as they caramelize into lovely, thick spreads. But I found an unlikely way to get around that — by tackling the process in reverse. Conventional wisdom I’ve gleaned from the home preserving bible “Putting Food By” calls for starting a batch of fruit butter with “pulp,” achieved by cooking the fruit with half as much water or apple cider. If you haven’t been conscientious enough to peel and core the fruit before cutting it up, the first step after cooking is straining it through a colander to remove the inedible parts. Running the pulp through a food mill or sieve further breaks down the edible fibers. But who wants to do all that much advance preparation? And why add so much liquid to fruit when the ultimate goal is cooking out all the water? My adaptation entailed a smidge more work on the front end to peel and core the fruit, although that’s easier if you have an apple peeler/corer. I heaped about 3 pounds prepared fruit in a large roasting pan and covered it in 3/4 cup brown sugar, a bit of salt and added a few long strips of peel (for their pectin), a cinnamon stick and star anise pod. Then I started baking the pan a 350-degree oven. For apple-quince butter, substitute one or two quinces for the same number of apples, making sure to add a long strip of quince peel to the pan. To be fair, “Putting Food By” does recommend roasting fruit butter as an alternative to the stovetop method. Spreading out the mixture in a wide, shallow pan speeds caramelization and also eliminates the stovetop’s direct heat contacting just a thin layer of butter that can’t easily be distributed to keep it from burning. The defining departure in my method is that I didn’t add any liquid until about halfway through the process. The fruit at relatively high heat starts to release its own juices within the first hour of oven roasting. Once it was bubbling and starting to break down, I reduced the oven heat to 300 F. After about another hour of cooking and stirring every 20 minutes or so at the lower temperature, I starting drizzling the top with water — just a quarter to a half cup at a time — to keep it from sticking and getting too dry. Another hour or so later, and I had a richly hued, deeply flavored vat of apples that needed only a little blitzing with my stick blender in the roasting pan to achieve silky-smooth spreadable consistency. Before I did that, I squeezed in the juice of half a lemon. A pan of apples is baked in the oven for apple butter. [Sarah Lemon/Mail Tribune] This apple butter certainly can be canned, but why bother when the yield is only about 2 pints? I put one pint jar in the fridge to eat immediately and two half-pints in the freezer for later. A pan of apples is baked in the oven for apple butter. [Sarah Lemon/Mail Tribune] My method also conserves farm-fresh apple cider — which Rey produces on her farm and sells at markets — for quaffing or incorporating into a treat, like these doughnuts. Another sweet celebration of fall, this apple pie with streusel topping won last year’s apple pie contest at Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County Fair. Reach features editor Sarah Lemon at 541-776-4494 or [email protected] Apple cider donuts are a seasonal favorite in fall, when apple cider is widely available at farmers markets. [Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] Vermont Apple Cider Doughnuts 1 cup granulated sugar 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk 1/3 cup boiled apple cider 1 tablespoon vanilla extract Canola or safflower oil, for frying 1 1/2 cups sugar mixed with 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon In a large bowl using a hand-held or standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together the sugar and butter until mixture is pale and fluffy, for 4 to 6 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside. Pour the buttermilk, boiled cider and vanilla into sugar/butter/egg mixture. Mix well and don't worry if mixture looks a bit curdled; it'll smooth itself out. Add flour mixture and combine gently just until fully moistened. Line 2 baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper and dust generously with flour. Turn dough out onto one baking sheet and pat gently into 3/4-inch thickness. Sprinkle dough with additional flour, cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up. Remove dough from freezer; use a lightly floured 3-inch doughnut cutter (or use two concentric biscuit cutters) to cut out about 18 doughnuts with holes. (You may gather scraps and roll again as needed, but you may need to chill dough more to firm it up.) Place cut doughnuts on other baking sheet as you go; then transfer to freezer for 5 minutes to firm up again. Line a plate with a few layers of paper towels and set it nearby. In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat 3 inches of oil to 370 F. Be sure to test with an instant-read thermometer — if oil isn't hot enough, doughnuts will absorb oil and be greasy; if it's too hot, doughnuts will burn on outsides before cooking on insides. Drop 3 or 4 doughnuts into oil, being careful not to crowd pan. Cook until browned on one side, for about 1 minute; then flip and cook until browned on other side, for about 1 minute longer. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining dough. (If it's getting too soft as you work your way through batches, pop it into freezer again for 10 minutes.) When doughnuts are cool enough to handle but still warm, sprinkle all over with cinnamon sugar or confectioners' sugar. (Or roll them in a bowl of cinnamon sugar.) Serve immediately. Makes about 2 dozen doughnuts. Deep-dish apple crumble pie. [Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] Blue Ribbon Apple Crumb Pie For crust: 1 1/4 cups flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening, chilled For filling: 10 Granny Smith and/or McIntosh apples 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon For crumb topping: 1/2 cup sugar 3/4 cup flour 6 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, combine the 1 1/4 cups flour and the salt. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender or until mixture is crumbly. Mix in 1/4 cup cold water a tablespoon at a time to form dough. (It should hold together when pinched.) Shape into a ball, flatten into a disk, then roll out on a floured surface into a circle about 2 inches wider than pie plate. Transfer dough to pie plate. Peel, core and slice the apples, then place in a large bowl. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, the tablespoon flour and teaspoon cinnamon; mix by hand until all apples are covered. Pour into pie crust. (It will look like a lot, but apples will bake down.) Place the 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 cup flour into a medium bowl. Rub the butter into mixture with your fingers until it's crumbly. Pat crumble mixture on top of unbaked pie. Place pie on a cookie sheet (to capture any drippings) and bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes or until apples are completely soft when pierced with a knife. (May take up to 20 minutes longer.) Transfer pie to a rack to cool completely, then enjoy. Makes 1 pie. — Recipe from Travis Harhai, Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania.