Edible Gifts

We took our favorite local trip around Lake Pepin on Sunday and found a new place (for us at least) called Domaine Da Vine apples and grapes—U-Pick. I hadn’t had access to Concord grapes fresh from the vine, so I bought a couple of pounds. Back home, looking through my old cookbooks, I found some interesting recipes using a small amount of grapes. They all required slipping the skins, so I knew they would be time-consuming, but, oh, well—it is an interesting undertaking. I chose a grape butter from my 1972 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.


I found slipping the skins less difficult than I thought. If you make a slight cut at the stem end and squeeze from the other end, the grape pops right out. Since you use the skins in the recipe later, any pulp that clings to the skin goes into the final mixture. The result surprised me. It thickened nicely (grapes do have quite a bit of pectin) and was delicious. But best of all, it was a beautiful jewel-like purple color. It made me think of making some other colorful companions and making gift baskets.

If you want an early start on edible gifts for the holidays, now’s the time. It has been so unseasonably warm it has been hard to think of holidays but at last the weather is changing and there are still local fruits to preserve and add to my grape butter for a beautiful offering. Spiced apple jelly tinted to a rosy clear color will be a great addition and a smooth lemon curd is always welcome. I decided to add a concoction from a new book on my shelf, Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Topp and Howard: Kiwifruit Honey Almond Conserve. Purple, rose pink, yellow and emerald—now for a sparkling bright red. I looked for a change in flavor, too, and found Cranberry Hot Pepper Jelly—a great gift for making the easy appetizer with cream cheese on crackers or to accompany a holiday roast or bird. This rounds out a beautiful gift for somebody and you can step it up a notch by adding homemade or store bought crackers, breads, breadsticks and some cheeses.

Spiced Grape Butter

1 ½ pounds stemmed Concord grapes
1 Tbsp. grated orange peel
1 cup water
2 ¼ cups sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. cloves

Wash grapes; separate skins from pulp. Cook pulp until soft. Sieve to remove seeds. Add peel and water; cook 10 minutes. Add grape skins; heat to boiling; add sugar and spices; cook until thick. Seal in hot, sterilized glasses. Makes six 6-oz glasses.

Apple or Crabapple Jelly

Wash fruit; do not pare or core. Cut in eighths, removing blemishes. Barely cover with water; simmer until soft. Strain through jelly bag. Measure juice; heat to boiling; skim and add ¾ cup sugar for each cup juice. Stir until sugar dissolves; cook until syrup sheets off spoon. Add red food coloring until a light rose color is achieved. Seal in hot sterilized glasses. Rose, geranium, mint or other leaves may be used for flavoring.

Kiwifruit Honey Almond Conserve

1 ½ cups diced, peeled kiwifruit
1 cup diced, peeled and cored apple
1 lemon
¼ cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup liquid honey
½ cup raisins
½ cup sliced almonds
1 Tbsp. Amaretto liqueur (optional)

Place kiwifruit and apple in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Remove thin outer rind from lemon with vegetable peeler and cut into fine strips with scissors or sharp knife; or use a zester and add to saucepan. Remove and discard the remaining white rind. Finely chop the pulp with a knife or in a food processor with on/off motion. Add pulp and water to saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes or until fruit is tender. Stir in sugar, honey and raisins. Return to a boil, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, until mixture will form a light gel, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in nuts and liqueur (if using). Ladle into hot sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes.
Makes 3 cups

Cranberry Hot Pepper Jelly

1 large sweet red pepper
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded or other hot pepper
¼ cup water
¾ cup cider vinegar
¾ cup frozen cranberry cocktail concentrate, thawed
3 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch liquid fruit pectin

Finely chip sweet and jalapeno peppers in food processor. Place in a small saucepan with water and vinegar. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes. Strain mixture through a coarse sieve, pressing with back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Pour liquid through a jelly bag. Place strained liquid, cranberry concentrate and sugar in a medium, nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin, return to a full boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Lade into hot, sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes. Makes 3 cups.