Fabulous Colorado Fruit

One thing I absolutely LOVE about living in Colorado is the AMAZING fruit!  This year was a fabulous fruit season filled with canning peaches, pears and raspberries!  Out of these amazing fruits came cobblers, jams, jarred peaches and pears to last through the winter!  My littles are in LOVE with it all!  They couldn't wait for me to get done so they could start munching on it!  I love that I feel a little more prepared for the next while with wonderful tasting things that my family will eat!  The feeling of being prepared is so empowering to me!  And thanks to great friends for helping us find fruit at a good price (thanks Eyres!!) we were able to jar a lot! It was A LOT of work, but my philosophy on it is a few full days of really hard work for a winter full of comfort and yummy fruit!    

This year I tried a few new recipes!  A new freezer jam recipe that I found on the Internet was a great find!  We really like the flavor and texture!  We are fortunate to have friends that shared their wonderful recipes for raspberry (my favorite) jam and peach raspberry jam!  Both have amazing tastes!
If you want some fabulously tasty recipes (kiddo approved), here they are!
Click on the name for below for the Peach Freezer Jam!
Peach Freezer Jam
I used both glass jars and plastic jars and it was just fine in both!  We liked the little addition of the white grape juice!  It was a great way to use those peaches that were just a bit too soft of jar!

Peach Cobbler Filling!
I got this amazing recipe from my sweet friend, Megan!  This recipe works with both Peaches and Apples to make really great fillings for pies or cobblers!

RECIPE:
5 C. pealed and sliced peaches or apples
1 1/4 C. sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. Minute Tapioca (you can typically find this in your local grocery store by the jello and pudding.)
3/4 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients together!  Yes it's that simple!  Fill your jars leaving a 1" head space.  Process 25-30 minutes in a hot bath!  Allow them to cool and seal!  Voila!  Just imagine that fresh peach taste on a wintery day when you are just craving that fresh fruit dessert taste.  Mmmmmm, I can taste it now just thinking about it!

Peach Cobbler
If you are looking for an easy and delicious Peach Cobbler Recipe, no need to look and further than this one!  Living near the land of the peaches (sweet Palisade) of course there will come out of the festivities held there one tasty recipe!  My friend Nicole found the jewel and shared it with me a few years ago!

RECIPE:
2010 Palisade Peach Festival Recipe Contest Grand Prize Winner

Mix the following in a 9x13 pan:
9-10 fresh peaches sliced
2/3 c. sugar (the original recipe calls for 1 1/3 cups but it was found to be VERY sweet.  The reduced amount was perfect since the peaches already have a great amount of sweetness to them!)
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. flour

Cut 1/2 stick of butter into small pieces and dot the peaches with it.  Place in 400 degree oven until butter is melted and peaches are bubbly.  Meanwhile, make the crust.

Ingredients for crust:

2 C. flour
1/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. shortening
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. ice cold water
1 tsp. baking powder

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Blend shortening into dry ingredients with pastry cutter (or fork) until coarse crumbs are formed.  Add cold water and mix just until combined.  Don't over mix.  Roll out dough to 1/4-1/2 inch thick strips.  Lattice strips over peaches.  Sprinkle with sugar if desired!  Bake 35-40 minutes until the lattice strips tops look lightly golden!


Raspberry Jam:
I got this wonderful recipe from my friend Jackie!  Our local City Market had Raspberries on sale for .88 for a 6 oz container!!  I just could not pass up this great deal!

RECIPE:
2 Quarts raspberries-washed and drained (6-6oz. pkg of raspberries=2 Quarts)
1/3 C. water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. grated lemon peel (optional...I did not add this)
1 Pkg. powdered pectin
6 C. sugar

Combine raspberries, water, lemon juice, lemon peel (optional) and pectin in a large saucepan.  Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
Add sugar: Return to a rolling boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Pour hot contents into hot jars leaving 1/4 in head space.
Adjust caps.
Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
Yields about 5 pints.

Peach/Raspberry Jam
And last, but certainly not least, a wonderfully yummy combination of peach and raspberry recipe from my friend Laura!

RECIPE:
10 C. blended peaches (you can also use a potato masher)
10 C. sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 pkg. frozen or fresh raspberries (6 oz. each)

Boil all the above for 10 minutes
Add:
2 pkg raspberry jello (6 oz. each)

Boil for 10 more minutes. Pour into jars and put hot lids on.  Invert the jars for 15 minutes and then invert them back upright.  Yields 10 pints!

So this was the first time that I've sealed jars by inverting them and for this jam it really worked!!  It took a little longer before I heard that exciting popping sound from them sealing, but they did all seal!

I'm excited to continue to find new recipes and try new things next fruit season!  Woot, woot for fabulous fruit!