CANNED ORANGE AND GRAPEFRUIT SEGMENTS
BING CHERRIES IN RED WINE SYRUP
MY GRANDMA BUNNY WAS A SEASONAL EATER long before it was cool. In her day, that’s what everyone did. During the early years of her marriage, she lived on a farm in Virginia, not too far outside of Washington, D.C. It was there that she took up canning and adopted the habit of dishing out her home-canned fruit for dessert.
Truly, I think she was on to something. Canned fruit feels a bit more special that just grabbing a pear or an apple from the kitchen fruit bowl. Thanks to the heat it experiences during processing, the fruit takes on a mellow, silky texture. If you’ve taken the time to tuck a bit of vanilla bean, a hunk of cinnamon stick, or a whole star anise into the jar, it will be bright with flavor. And of course, the bit of sugar or honey in the syrup adds sweetness. If you ask me, canned fruit is nearly perfect for dessert.
This section contains just a sampling of options for canning fruit. Once you work your way through these recipes, you’ll find that there’s a whole fruity world out there waiting to be explored. I have kept the syrups fairly light because I like to maintain the idea that I’m eating something healthy. However, if you want to make a more indulgent batch, you can amp up the amount of sweetener in your syrup.