Summer and fruit

After experiencing a winter in Latvia last year, I have decided to do some preparation for winter and things that I can't find when I need them.  At Thanksgiving, we always have pies.  I love blueberry pies and instead of ordering blueberry pie filling online (which is kind of expensive) I bought some blueberries in the farmers market and some jars from Depot (not Home Depot but it's the same kind of store).

I didn't take a picture of the blueberries because I didn't think to until Ruth said I should write about it in my blog.  So, here are the same kind of jars I used. 
The way to start is in a heavy duty stock pot, put 4 cups water, 2 cups sugar, 7 tablespoons of corn starch and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Then add 1/2 of the blueberries and the juice and grated rind of a lemon.  Bring back to a boil and reduce and simmer for 4 minutes, stiring occassionally to prevent burning.  Then add the rest of the blueberries and cook for another 4 minutes.  If you are going to pressure seal, do not cook for the additional four minutes.  Since I don't have a pressure cooker, I heat the oven to 300 and then put the jars and the lids into oven to heat while I cook.  Then I put the finished producted into the heated jars, put the lid on and then let them seal.
Here is the blueberry pie filling, raspberry jam, and canned peaches.  The peaches are AMAZING! :)

Then I wanted to do apple sauce, apple pie filling and apple butter.  Here are the apples I used.  They are from Poland and are really sweet and yummy.

I like to use a salt bath to keep the apples pretty.  It works just as well as pectin or lemon.  The really nice thing about it is that it allows you to eliminate the salt in the recipe.

Here are the apples, water, cinnamon and sugar in the pot.  The nice thing is that applesauce doesn't take that long to cook.  This small batch was tender in about 5 minutes.

Then I puree the apples in a blender and then put into jars and put the lids on and then let them seal.  The applesauce is SO yummy and I know what's in it. :)