Sweet Potential (Fruit Preserves)

This Will Make It Taste Good

This is an apple version of the Whole Fruit Fig and Lemon Preserves we made this summer (https://cookwithheather.com/Deep-Run-Roots-Whole-Fruit-Fig-and-Lemon-Preserves/), but This Will Make It Taste Good has instructions for just about any fruit you want to preserve in this way.

She says this recipe makes 6 quarts, but I only got about three quarts out of my apples. If I had included the cores, it may have made more like 4, but that is also probably highly dependent on what fruit you use. For me, it was about 1 quart per pound of fruit I started with.

You can find this recipe here: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sweet-potential-macerated-fruit-preserves

As for nutrition...it's mostly sugar and fruit, and serving sizes vary so much it's hard to decide what is "normal." If you need to keep track, it's probably safe to weigh what you use and count it as that many grams of carbs; the fat and protein content is negligible, though there is a lot of fiber in the fruit itself.

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: so this is very similar to the Fig
[00:07]: preserves we made from Deep Run Roots
[00:09]: I'll link that up above but
[00:12]: um
[00:13]: there are instructions in the book to
[00:15]: make it with basically any kind of fruit
[00:19]: um so we've made this
[00:21]: not on the Channel with other fruits I
[00:25]: think I've made it with blueberries and
[00:27]: strawberries when those were in season
[00:29]: but now it's the fall
[00:31]: almost winter and so I was going to make
[00:34]: some with apples
[00:36]: she says these are apples and pears are
[00:38]: some of her favorite fruits to make this
[00:40]: with
[00:41]: um and
[00:42]: it takes a while it needs to sit
[00:44]: overnight so we're getting this started
[00:46]: tonight so we can cook it in the morning
[00:49]: um
[00:50]: the first thing I'm going to do is slice
[00:53]: up my lemon I cut off the top and the
[00:57]: bottom just because those parts are a
[00:59]: little meh and I'm just going to slice
[01:01]: this up
[01:02]: thinly
[01:04]: kind of as thinly as I can
[01:07]: and I'm going to remove any seeds
[01:11]: not that I have to but
[01:13]: that's not in the
[01:16]: the instructions
[01:17]: [Music]
[01:19]: but
[01:20]: I generally do
[01:22]: and it really doesn't matter how thin
[01:24]: these are
[01:27]: but I'm just trying not to uh
[01:35]: fingers at this point
[01:37]: so there we go the lemon I'm gonna put
[01:39]: it aside
[01:41]: dry my hands and then I have these
[01:44]: apples I have weighed them
[01:47]: beforehand and we're going to peel and
[01:51]: slice them so I'm going to have my
[01:53]: assistant help me peel them
[01:57]: um because there's a lot of apples here
[01:59]: I think I've usually made a half batch
[02:01]: but I got enough to make a whole batch
[02:03]: night measured to make sure I have
[02:06]: enough sugar but it's going to be barely
[02:08]: enough well
[02:09]: since we're going to take a lot out of
[02:11]: the apples because I'm not going to
[02:13]: include the cores she says you can she
[02:15]: likes the way they look I'm not going to
[02:16]: do it
[02:18]: um anyway
[02:19]: that will take some of the weight out so
[02:21]: it'll be okay because we're basically
[02:23]: going to use
[02:24]: by weight the same amount of sugar and
[02:27]: uh fruit
[02:29]: so I'm going to be peeling and then
[02:32]: slicing these up I think I want them in
[02:35]: relatively small cubes that is my plan
[02:39]: so that's what I'm going to be doing is
[02:41]: you can also slice them thinly and make
[02:45]: them whatever
[02:46]: shape you like
[02:49]: um
[02:50]: but she says to oh my goodness where is
[02:54]: it
[02:56]: definitely peel
[02:58]: at them away from their cores and slice
[03:00]: them into slivers or small cubes so you
[03:03]: don't want anything too big so I'm going
[03:06]: to try for the small cubes
[03:07]: so
[03:10]: I'm going to give my assistant some
[03:14]: to peel and hope that he does not hurt
[03:17]: himself with the peeler like he often
[03:19]: does and I'm going to start peeling and
[03:21]: cutting these up
[03:28]: I didn't say but these are pink lady
[03:31]: apples uh she does say you want a crisp
[03:35]: apple she likes but not really tart like
[03:39]: Granny Smith
[03:40]: so she likes Pink Ladies or
[03:44]: um
[03:45]: Fuji or Gala something that is crisp and
[03:49]: not mushy
[03:56]: so what I'm doing for
[04:01]: the um cubes is I cut them into quarters
[04:05]: I cut out the core like that this is
[04:09]: just how I quite often deal with apples
[04:11]: when I'm cutting them for the kids or
[04:13]: for the Kongs that I make for the dog I
[04:17]: cut them like this a lot for the Kongs
[04:19]: because they fit in easily that way they
[04:22]: fit into the little hole
[04:23]: and then sort of set it up on one of its
[04:26]: flat sides cut
[04:29]: two to four times depending on the size
[04:32]: of the Apple just however thick you want
[04:34]: them
[04:37]: and then turn it
[04:39]: and cut them the same thickness so that
[04:42]: just
[04:44]: gives you
[04:46]: approximate cubes and it doesn't really
[04:49]: matter if these are all
[04:51]: perfectly the same
[04:54]: but you want them relatively similar
[04:58]: because you're going to cook it and you
[04:60]: want them to cook
[05:01]: about the same rate I am trying to get
[05:03]: most of the skin off because she says it
[05:05]: will get tough
[05:13]: okay so I have a huge pile of apples now
[05:17]: and I'm going to weigh them
[05:23]: because this is all by weight it's
[05:24]: really easy to
[05:26]: um make a half recipe which is probably
[05:29]: what I should have been should have done
[05:31]: so if you know me you might be getting
[05:34]: some of these for Christmas I don't know
[05:36]: we'll see
[05:38]: you can
[05:39]: um
[05:40]: can these process them and put them in
[05:43]: jars I'm not sure that I will be doing
[05:45]: that so I I don't know we'll see
[05:48]: all right
[05:51]: okay so now I know the weight of my
[05:54]: apples
[05:55]: and I need an equal weight of sugar
[05:59]: you lost about a pound so
[06:10]: it's gonna be almost all of the sugar
[06:12]: just you know
[06:15]: at least three quarters of it
[06:55]: good enough that's a lot of sugar
[06:60]: so now
[07:06]: I'm just going to add our lemon
[07:10]: and
[07:12]: kind of toss this all up so the apples
[07:15]: are all covered with the sugar
[07:30]: all right
[07:32]: not that all the sugar is going to
[07:35]: dissolve right now but
[07:37]: these are going to sit out overnight
[07:42]: um
[07:45]: just at room temperature she says you
[07:47]: can put them in the refrigerator but she
[07:48]: never has room in her refrigerator
[07:51]: for this so uh yeah I don't have room in
[07:56]: my refrigerator for
[07:57]: this most of the time
[07:60]: um
[08:00]: I'm going to put it into
[08:03]: a dutch oven my Dutch oven that has seen
[08:07]: better days but works just fine
[08:10]: and I'm going to put the lid on and
[08:11]: we're going to just let it sit out with
[08:13]: the lid on overnight
[08:16]: I'll see you in the morning
[08:22]: so my apples and lemons and sugar have
[08:26]: been sitting here overnight and there
[08:28]: has definitely been a syrup formed
[08:31]: around the fruit so now it's time to
[08:34]: cook it so I'm going to turn the heat to
[08:36]: medium
[08:38]: and we're going to wait for this to come
[08:41]: to a strong simmer there is some
[08:44]: undissolved sugar that's fine but uh she
[08:48]: says that you should probably and she
[08:50]: does stir this as it as it comes up to a
[08:53]: boil as that Sugar dissolves just to try
[08:55]: to
[08:57]: um
[08:58]: keep it from
[09:01]: burning on the bottom because that's
[09:03]: where it kind of landed so
[09:09]: it smells mostly of lemon right now
[09:12]: but so we're gonna wait for this to come
[09:13]: up to a strong simmer
[09:18]: which will take a while not quite as
[09:21]: long as if it had been in the
[09:23]: refrigerator but it will take
[09:26]: some time
[09:28]: it's been almost 20 minutes and it's
[09:30]: still not up to a strong simmer and I am
[09:32]: got limited time this morning so I'm
[09:35]: turning it up to a medium high to try to
[09:37]: just get it
[09:39]: warmer faster so
[09:44]: it's on me
[09:45]: because I don't have
[09:48]: all day for this so she says this is
[09:50]: going to take about
[09:52]: an hour for these this fruit
[09:56]: um tougher fruits like pears and apples
[09:57]: and watermelon rinds and maybe citrus
[10:01]: might take longer to cook
[10:04]: so uh
[10:05]: I'm turning it up
[10:08]: um
[10:10]: things like berries about 15 minutes is
[10:13]: probably all you're going to need to
[10:14]: cook this after you get it simmering
[10:17]: but this is going to take a while so
[10:23]: I don't think it'll hurt anything to
[10:24]: bring it up to a simmer
[10:26]: at a higher Heat
[10:28]: so almost there I can tell it's about
[10:31]: start boiling in fact
[10:33]: this might be a decent simmer it's been
[10:36]: about uh seven minutes since I turned it
[10:39]: up so look I would if you're doing
[10:41]: especially apples and the whole batch I
[10:44]: would start
[10:45]: it at a higher temperature but that's
[10:47]: just me so I'm gonna turn it back down
[10:49]: to medium and make sure that we're still
[10:53]: a good simmer
[11:07]: all right I'm gonna call this a good
[11:09]: simmer now
[11:10]: um without stirring it anymore and put
[11:14]: the lid on and turn it down
[11:17]: um
[11:17]: a little so I turned it down from on my
[11:21]: stove about five to a three it's sort of
[11:23]: a medium low
[11:26]: a little bit closer to medium
[11:29]: three is what I like to simmer things on
[11:31]: generally on my stove so whatever you
[11:33]: usually do that
[11:35]: uh with whatever temperature usually do
[11:38]: that it's probably what you're looking
[11:40]: for here
[11:41]: so
[11:43]: we're gonna go away turn off the cameras
[11:45]: because it has been
[11:48]: almost 30 minutes since we started this
[11:50]: and uh it's gonna take another hour so
[11:54]: we're not going to film all that when I
[11:56]: decide it's done I will show you also
[11:59]: she says that
[12:00]: you want this to be a thin syrup so if
[12:04]: it starts to get too thick if it starts
[12:07]: to boil away depends on how well fitting
[12:10]: your lid is I noticed mine has a little
[12:12]: bit of a was rocking a little bit
[12:16]: huh when it was cold the lid didn't seem
[12:20]: to fit very tightly now it seems much
[12:24]: better
[12:25]: so we'll see how much we lose if that
[12:29]: happens if you think it's starting to
[12:30]: get too thick she says it should be pale
[12:32]: and thin then you can add about a cup of
[12:36]: water and and keep cooking it uh
[12:39]: we are looking for about a third of the
[12:43]: fruit to be kind of translucent
[12:46]: um
[12:47]: and at that point she says it's done for
[12:50]: for these kinds of fruits
[12:53]: um
[12:55]: taking on that clear veneer so
[13:00]: it's kind of like when onions are are
[13:03]: fully cooked and you can kind of see
[13:05]: through them it's a little bit like that
[13:06]: with this but I'll show you what it
[13:08]: looks like when I decide it's done
[13:10]: so we'll be back in about an hour
[13:15]: okay so this has been
[13:17]: simmering with the lid on for a little
[13:20]: over an hour an hour and maybe 10
[13:22]: minutes and I think I'm going to call
[13:23]: this done I would say about a third
[13:27]: of it as she says looks sort of
[13:31]: darker and translucent so we're going to
[13:34]: call that done now I'm going to transfer
[13:37]: it into these quart jars and they're
[13:40]: supposed to sit at room temperature for
[13:42]: an hour before you put them in the
[13:44]: refrigerator uh you can probably process
[13:48]: this into jars to keep at room
[13:50]: temperature I don't remember if she says
[13:54]: how long but I'm sure they're
[13:57]: there were instructions I believe on the
[13:59]: Fig preserves I did anyway
[14:02]: um
[14:03]: but it will keep in the refrigerator for
[14:05]: at least three months so we'll show you
[14:07]: what it looks like when it's all done
[14:09]: and let you know what we think in just a
[14:11]: minute
[14:12]: [Music]
[14:19]: on this episode of cooking the books
[14:21]: with Heather you watched me make sweet
[14:24]: potential using apples from Vivian
[14:27]: Howard's this will make it taste good
[14:29]: cookbook
[14:32]: um
[14:33]: so it took a while to cook
[14:38]: I think it took us a little over an hour
[14:40]: but I think we got it just right
[14:42]: um May it's a little thick but
[14:46]: not not too sticky thick so I think it's
[14:50]: okay probably could have added a little
[14:53]: water and if I decide to
[14:56]: um
[14:57]: put some in jars and and seal them I
[15:01]: will reheat it
[15:03]: to Boiling and then add a little water
[15:05]: just to to be sure it's not
[15:08]: too thick because she does want this to
[15:11]: be thin
[15:13]: um
[15:14]: now I don't know if I've added if I
[15:16]: mentioned this before but she says that
[15:18]: sometimes you will add spices as you're
[15:21]: cooking it and if you want to do that
[15:23]: that's fine but she thinks that uh it's
[15:28]: more versatile if you don't add the
[15:30]: spices to it while it's cooking because
[15:32]: you can add spices like cinnamon or
[15:35]: cloves or anything like that
[15:38]: in whatever you're using it for instead
[15:41]: so you can make it you can flavor it and
[15:44]: a number of different ways so that's why
[15:47]: I didn't add any of those spices and I
[15:50]: think I prefer that as well because we
[15:52]: can do just about anything with it
[15:55]: um we tried it on pancakes this morning
[15:58]: and I enjoyed it I thought that was good
[16:01]: the kids don't love syrup on their
[16:03]: pancakes at all in general anyway they
[16:05]: will sit there and eat them just plain
[16:08]: but they did try it it was fine the
[16:11]: apples did keep a little bit of of a
[16:13]: crispness to them they weren't super
[16:15]: mushy which I enjoyed and so there are
[16:17]: lots of things you can do with this
[16:21]: um condiments and everything sort of
[16:22]: usual things you would use syrup or Jam
[16:25]: for but there are also a lot of recipes
[16:27]: in here that you can use this for and I
[16:31]: am very much looking forward to trying
[16:33]: some of these and
[16:35]: luckily it will last quite a while in
[16:38]: the refrigerator because I certainly
[16:39]: cannot film all of these recipes that I
[16:41]: want to make right now
[16:44]: um so but we will we will be bringing
[16:47]: you several recipes I'm sure because
[16:49]: there are at least three or four already
[16:53]: that I want to make so
[16:55]: look forward I look forward to doing
[16:57]: that and I hope you look forward to
[16:59]: watching me use it in some interesting
[17:02]: ways
[17:03]: and if you enjoyed watching me make this
[17:05]: please give me a thumbs up hit the
[17:07]: Subscribe button and come back and watch
[17:09]: me make something else next week
[17:11]: [Music]