Gluten Free Vegan Living

Late summer is a busy time of the year for us.  We get loads of fruit from our yard, our friends and the local Farmer’s Market.  We don’t grow a garden — there are too many deer and rabbits around here that would eat it all before we could harvest it!!

Over the last couple weeks, I have frozen a bunch of cherries from our yard, and some peaches from the orchard down the road.  Last week a good friend of ours gave us all the apples and plums we could get off her trees.  She told us the apple were marginal, but hoped we could do something with them.  So ….. we made Plumpple sauce, and it turned out great.

If you are adventurous and would like to try this sauce, here is the simple recipe:

• Take your largest pot and put about a cup of water in the bottom of it.
• Cut up the apples into smaller piece making sure to remove the bruises and bad spots.
• Fill the pot about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
• Next, cut the stones out of the plums (the hardest part) and add to the pot of apples.
• Simmer for around 8 to 12 hours.
• Run the whole pot of fruit through a Food Strainer and Sauce Maker (mine is a 30 year old Presto brand).
• Return the strained fruit to the pot and simmer until it is the consistency of apple sauce — being careful to remember that it thickens as it cools down.
• Spoon into pints or quarts, and process in water bath for about 25 minutes.

I ended up with six pints, one quart (for my friend who gave us the fruit) and another pint or so that I put in the refrigerator (it was gone within a day!).  And it was one of the best tasting sauces I have made yet!

Next, I will be drying Italian Plums (prunes).  Will be out in the yard picking very soon!