Applelicious

Two years ago, I lived in a cute little condo in Northwest Portland. Five apple trees reached from my neighbor's property into our yard. With the help of my lovely roommate Colleen, and my ever-willing canning companion Natasha, we made dozens of muffins, many jars of applesauce, and a lot of pie. In the same month I also picked, froze, and jarred sweet Oregon blackberries, which grow in every untamed yard in the region. I sold jam and preserves to coworkers and church friends, to rave reviews.


Last year autumn came quickly. I didn't manage to do any canning in my tiny Japanese kitchen, but we did enjoy many fresh vegetables. We lived in a farming region of the country (our area famous for onions, carrots, and spinach) and never lacked for beautiful food. I made many quarts of ginger-pumpkin-carrot soup, and decadent cream-of-mushroom soup flavored with imported oregano. With the help of a friend I ordered a box of crisp Aomori apples delivered to my doorstep, direct from the grower, at a reasonable price. In the grocery store Japanese apples cost around two dollars, were huge, and picture-perfect. But I didn't need perfection; just fresh and delicious food!



This year I am in Minnesota, enjoying another beautiful autumn. The Midwest harvest is a little later this year than usual, because of an excess of rain in the springtime. My family's farms will harvest corn and soybeans in a few weeks. Recently I had the joy of picking hundreds of apples and pears from the yard of a friend's home. (Thank you, Anne and Kate!) I spent last weekend peeling, coring, de-worming (ew!), chopping, boiling, baking and freezing. Many thanks to Jennifer and Nick for assistance in the process! I now have plenty of applesauce, apple muffins (100!) , apple pies (2), and buttery apple crisp. Food preserving is exhausting, rewarding, delicious work. I love it.