Don’t Waste the Pits: How to Make Cherry Pit Syrup plus Five Ways to Preserve Cherries

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I hate waste. And, let’s be honest, whenever you take fresh produce and prepare it in some way, there is waste. The peels. The tops  The pits of cherries–well hang on a sec, I’m getting to it! Sure, you can always toss that stuff in your compost pile. (Learn more about … Continue reading

Eat Your Weeds!

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The plants we think of as food usually come from grocery store shelves, or better yet, from tables at farmers’ markets. Or even better, from our neatly planted gardens. My point being, that the plants we intend to eat are usually lined up in a row, neat and ordered. But … Continue reading

26 Strawberry Recipes, plus Ways to Preserve Strawberries and Growing Tips

26 Amazing Strawberry Recipes, plus preserving ideas and growing tips: The Ultimate Strawberry Round Up from Once Upon a Time in a Bed of Wildflowers

Around here strawberry season is short–if we’re lucky, maybe, it lasts for four weeks–so there is a lot of strawberry goodness that needs to be squeezed into that short time! It’s the time when I dust off my dehydrator, and bust out my canning equipment. And, yes, there are days when … Continue reading

Rhubarb: Recipes and Growing Tips

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One of the things you learn from seasonal eating is to really appreciate the first fresh foods of spring. Of course, I do occasionally buy “fresh” produce at the grocery store, but the majority of the food we eat throughout the winter are the things that I canned, froze, dehydrated, … Continue reading

Preserving Cherries with Whiskey

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  This summer, just when I had thought I had canned, dehydrated, frozen, and made jam out of a season’s worth of cherries, I found a huge basket of cherries at the Public Market. Cheap. Real cheap. Like the kind of cheap where I expected half the basket to be … Continue reading

Spicy Blueberry Jam

Spicy Blueberry Jam via Once Upon a Time in a Bed of Wildflowers

  Blueberries are a delicious, healthful part of summer, and something we preserve in vast quantities by drying or freezing. But you just can’t bring home a basket of blueberries without turning some of those delicious berries into jam! (Honest. You can’t.)   This Spicy Blueberry Jam recipe uses Pomona’s … Continue reading

Persian Spice Stew with Summer Vegetables

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    If you know me at all, you know I don’t play favorites. I don’t have a favorite season, fruit, or vegetable. I try to enjoy each season as it passes, and enjoy the foods of each season in their time. But I’m not going to lie: From the … Continue reading

How to Freeze Peppers

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  Peppers are just about the easiest thing in the world to freeze… all you really need to do is cut them up, raw, and stick them in the freezer. However, when I’m using fresh peppers in a dish I like to cook them a little in a hot, dry … Continue reading

Blueberry Currant Jam

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Red currants. I saw them at the farmers’ market, all bright red and glistening (it was raining) and I knew I had to have them. Total impulse purchase. When I bought the things, I had no idea what I would do with them… other than that they were reputed to … Continue reading