Red Onions with Honey Glaze

Winchester

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That's my Saturday project. Bought my red onions at the farmers market on Wednesday. And got a nice jar of wildflower honey; it's darker than what I usually buy, but I thought the color would go better with the onions.

Red Onions with Honey

2-1/2 quarts thick sliced peeled red onions (about 15 large)
1 Tbsp. salt
1 cup honey
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup white wine

Put red onions in a bowl and sprinkle with salt.

Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat. Simmer sauce until reduced by half, about 30 minutes. As sauce thickens stir frequently to prevent sticking.

Pack red onions into hot jars, leaving 1-inch of headspace. Ladle the hot sauce over onions, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust the caps. Process 15 minutes of 10 pounds of pressure in a pressure canner.

Makes 4 pints.
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I have tomatoes to cook down for sauce for the freezer, too. I'll start them as soon as I finish my coffee and get offline.

And tonight, my sister is coming over with some of their grapes. My BIL would like to have preserves made, but we've been unable to come up with a good recipe for the preserves. He said he'd take grape jam, so we'll be doing jam tonight. It seems easy enough, although I've never made jam.

When they planted their grapes, they only planted seedless grapes...or so they thought. Evidently, their grapes were mislabeled because two of the varieties have seeds. That's OK....I have a food mill, so we can take care of those seeds quickly.

We'll likely make more than one batch; they have a lot of grapes!

Grape Jam

2 quarts grapes
6 cups sugar (a lot of sugar!)

To prepare pulp...Separate pulp from skins of grapes. Chops skins, if desired. Cook skins gently 15 to 20 minutes, adding only enough water to prevent sticking (about 1/2 cup). Cook pulp without water until soft. Press the pulp through a sieve or food mill to remove the seeds.

To make jam....Combine pulp, skins and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam, if necessary.

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Makes 3 pints.
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There is a recipe that I'm rather interested in trying, but I don't know if we'll get to that or not today. I have the peaches and a fresh pineapple, and I have some unsweetened white grape juice; my sister has some grapes. It could work. I don't have the Fresh Produce Protection, but I could go buy it, I guess. It would be good for diabetics or those watching their sugar.

Grapes, Pineapples and Peaches in White Grape Juice

1/2 pineapple per quart
1/2 pound grapes per quart
1/2 pound peaches per quart
Ball Fruit-Fresh Produce Protection
Unsweetened white grape juice

Peel and core pineapple and cut into 1-inch chunks. Wash grapes, stem and drain. Wash and blanch peaches. Peel peaches, halve and pit. Slice peaches. Treat with Fruit-Fresh to prevent darkening. Drain, rinse, and drain again.

Cook the fruit together in a small amount of water hot throughout. Heat white grape juice just to a boil.

Pack hot fruit into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Ladle hot juice over the fruit, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles.

Adjust lids. Process pints 20 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Makes one quart or two pints, following the quantities above.
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By the way, the recipes are all from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. I don't know how you all feel about copyright or giving credit for recipes, but that's where they came from.

So that's our Saturday. Hopefully, it will all work out and life will be good!
 

3catsn1dog

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Sounds super yummy. Like really flipping yummy.

The most adventurous Ive gotten was doing up fresh sweet corn as it was picked off the farm. DF brought home like 5 bags filled with corn they gave him after picking it. Sooooo yummy...it didnt last long so now Im telling him he needs to get me more so I can fill my freezer back up.
 

denice

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Does jam work without pectin? I haven't made jam or preserves in years but I remember always using pectin.
 

lizzie

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Sometimes it will if the fruit has enough natural pectin and it's a little underripe.You have to cook it till you get 2 drops that form side by side when you take a spoon from the boiling jam or jelly.I have a Fanny Farmer cookbook that has always been my bible,and she's never steered me wrong yet!
 

catapault

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Winchester, there's a little something to keep in mind if you are making Grape Jelly. If you process the grapes and make the jelly right away you might find that over time little crunchy crystals of tartaric acid will form. They're not in any way harmful, but who wants crunchy stuff in their grape jelly?

Two easy solutions: cook an apple in with the grapes, then extract the juice. You can go ahead and process right away. Does not affect the flavor and prevents those pesky crystals from forming.

Or, extract the juice, pour into jars and let sit in your refrigerator for 48 hours. The crystals, if any, will form on the sides of the jar(s) and remain behind when you pour the juice into your preserving kettle. Simple to wash away when you clean the jars.

Grape butter is a lovely preserve, easy to make from the pureed pulp that remains behind when you strain the cooked grapes for jelly making.

I use 1/2 as much sugar (by volume) to grape pulp. You can sweeten it up to 2/3 or even 3/4 but I wouldn't go higher than that.

If you'd like a pleasantly flavored Grape Butter preserve try seasoning with cloves and cinnamon, adding the spices and stirring well when you take the kettle off heat to bottle.

Happy preserving.
 
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