This weekend has been off the wall. My house is filled with fruits and vegetables...bought & gifted. A late start to the Farmer's Market on Sunday made me miss my strawberries, but we walked away two large sacks of apples, peaches, plums, nectarines from one stand for under $10 (he did NOt want to take them home!). Always great deals at the end. I also found "French" plums :)....we Germans call them Zwetschgen, and swear they are not French :).
Then my family and I went on our annual self-pick to the blackberry farm. YUM!! We enjoy our weight in berries while we are picking, and then take home a heaping flat. Blackberry jam for the rest of the year...just finished off our last jar, perfect timing. This time I put cloves & cinnamon in with my jams..the house smelled heavenly! I don't put sugar in my jams, use No Sugar Pectin, or recently, Pomona. I put in a little honey for sweetness :).
What am doing with some of the bruised fruit from my heaping fruit bags?? Inspired by Tiffanie, I am making Srcap Fruit Vinegar!! Thanks to Wild Fermentation, this house is wastin' NOTHING! I can't wait for them to be done! My kitchen is starting is starting to look like a farm lab....mason jars everywhere.
Scrap Fruit Vinegar is easy to make. Just fill a mason jar with your bruised fruit (even apple cores), and 1/4 cup of sugar. Cover with a cheesecloth, or use coffee filters secured with a rubber band. Let bubble and brew for one week (check out the pic below). Strain out the fruit and compost. Recover, and ferment 2-3 more weeks, after which it will be ready to use :). Fabulous, yes?
Bubbles, after one day....
