Using Freeze Dried Fruit to Make Jam?! YES!

Now seeing that my teaching next week will be basics on homemade jam and canning safety, I had to do some experimentation. You may ask, "Can luscious homemade jam really be as simple as adding water and a few basic ingredients...and yet be so far above most people's grasp?" I wonder that exact question. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just too "simple silly". I hope I am. I hope that when folks read my words of wisdom and sound understanding that they will feel empowered to make wonderful things. Now...that being said I don't know how to say this...but this raspberry jam was made out of a little honey, some freeze dried raspberries and some pectin. Why freeze dried? Well...just for the danggum-fun-of-it-all. Honey...because I found this yumm-a-licious honey made from my native Sonoran Desert Blossoms...and I was a happy girl.

For argument's sake, let's just say that perhaps raspberries are out of season and I have a can of freeze dried fruit just laying around my house. If I don't have to spend money...even on a bag of frozen berries...I won't. I'm a tight wad. There. I said it. I like freeze dried fruit for making muffin mixes and cake mixes. Plus I saw these at the Preparing Wisely store I would be teaching classes at starting next Tuesday...and I was curious if it could be done. So...that being said, I got a can.

They look really crazy freeze dried...but the only ingredient in the can is raspberries!

Chef Tess Raspberry honey jam

4 cups freeze dried raspberries (or frozen work)

1 1/2 cup honey ( I love the dessert blossom honey)

2 cup water (only add water if using freeze dried berries)

1/2 cup UltraGel or 1 box (1.59 oz) low sugar pectin

Combine all ingredients in a pot for cooked jam except the UltraGel. This hydrates the berries and they look remarkably like what they are...real berries.

Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes. Whisk in the ultra gel or pectin. Return to a boil and cook a minute more.

Process in sterile half pint jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes at sea level.

Freezer jam is even easier. Simply add the honey, water and fruit together. You can also use agave nectar in place of the honey if you need lower glycemic or vegan sources. Use freezer pectin instead of low sugar pectin. Ultra gel works in both applications (cooked or freezer jam).

Once the berries have absorbed the water, add the pectin or ultra gel. Stir a minute or two. Freezer pectin will take about 10-20 minutes to gel. Ultra gel will set almost instantly. Transfer to freezer safe containers. Keeps good up to a year in freezer safe containers.

There you go. Fast easy jam even with crazy dried fruit. Who knew?! Now don't you just want to come to my jam class next week?!

Call Troy or Tracey to save your spot.

Preparing Wisely
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How to Make Delicious homemade instant oatmeal packets (Gluten Free Oats Available)

Sugar and spice and everything...amazing! You won't, however, find these flavors in the pre-made packets from the store. Greetings from Chef Tess. Troy and Tracey have asked me to contribute to their blog here at Preparing Wisely and I am so excited to be part of what they have here.  

I try to do a post once a week on how to cook with food storage and or whole grain, and turn those foods into convenient foods we can use everyday. My husband Ace has been on an instant oatmeal kick for the last few weeks. My dear sister in law gave us a variety pack of 50 from a local Costco and ironically, we blew threw it in about a week and a half. Ace would eat 3 at a time. In an effort to not have all that extra stuff in the packets and to save money, I wanted to make some at home. These homemade packets we do are about double the size of the packets from the store...since that's about the portion Ace needs. Using the rolled oats, quick oats, sugar or powdered honey, and freeze dried fruits we had on hand, we made 20 double sized packets in about 20 minutes. The kids like to make the packets almost as much as they like to eat the contents! You can make the regular sized ones by simply cutting the recipes in half per packet. I use the regular zip sandwich bags for our double size packets. Snack size bags would work wonderfully for the regular single serving packets. Or...if you don't want to use baggies...you can use whatever recycle-style containment system you want. I'm not checking any cupboards.

This is a spiced peaches and cream cobbler oatmeal mix...homemade. Doesn't it look awesome? Well...the taste is exactly like a warm peach cobbler.

I start by making 3 different varieties of flavored sugars since I do a variety of oatmeal flavors. I used vanilla bean paste, but you can also use any of the flavored oils or bakers emulsions. I prefer LorAnn. That being said, the flavor concentrates will work, but you will need to use more...and let the sugar dry completely before making your oatmeal packets.
For Spiced-Vanilla Sugar you will need:

1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp vanilla bean paste, and 1 T Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice Blend, and 1/2 tsp dry lemon or orange zest.

Combine the vanilla bean paste with the sugar until well incorporated. Add the spices.
The second sugar I make is the base for my fruit and cream oatmeal mixes. I call it Bavarian Cream Sugar. You will need:

1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp princess cake and cookie emulsion, and 1/2 tsp Bavarian cream flavored LorAnn oil.
Combine the flavoring well with the sugar.

The last sugar I make or use is maple sugar. It can either be real maple sugar (available at most maple syrup retailers) or you can make the fake stuff using this...
Use 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp maple flavor and 1/2 tsp butter-vanilla baker's emulsion.
Once I had all three sugars made, I allowed them to dry completely for 2-3 hours. Then I made sure they were nice and spoonable for the packets.
Again, I make the larger packets because I have men around here who refer to the paper packets as "shot glass" portions of oatmeal. These make the equivalent of TWO regular instant packets. If you want to make the smaller portions, simple cut divide in half portions, and use half as much fruit, flavors, and liquid to prepare the oatmeal.

To make one plain packet you need:

2/3 cup organic quick oats

2T of oat bran or rolled oats run through a dry meat grinder

To prepare: Add 1 Cup boiling water and allow to sit for 3 minutes. Use more or less water depending on how thick or thin you like you oatmeal. The secret to super thick oatmeal...using the meat grinder "treated" oats.

Oh...and a pinch of salt. I use Redmond Real Salt. It's my favorite.

I usually make about 20 packets of plain oatmeal and then add my different flavor varieties to make it more interesting in the mornings. We keep a large variety of freeze dried fruit on hand in our pantry. It's very convenient...and crazy awesome in oatmeal. I love it a lot more than dehydrated fruit because it is 100% free of moisture, so the packets don't get lumpy and odd. The only thing that should be lumpy and odd...is an old lady's patootie. Did I just type that out loud? Okay...so here's a few of the freeze dried fruits I keep around from Preparing Wisely:

Freeze Dried Blueberries

Freeze Dried Apples

Freeze Dried Peaches

Freeze Dried Raspberries

Freeze Dried Strawberries

Berries and Bavarian-lemon cream oatmeal packets:

add 3T freeze dried berries (I crush them up a bit before I measure them) to a packet along with 2T of the Bavarian Cream sugar and 1T Sour Cream Powder" , and 1/2 tsp dry lemon zest

Don't let the sound of the sour cream freak you out. It's amazing! Now if you don't want to use the powdered sour cream you can use non-dairy coffee creamer (any flavor). It works too...but it's not nearly as natural. Auntie Em used to use flavored instant pudding powder. Just remember that it won't be as sweet as the flavored sugar so you may need to add a little more sweetness.

To prepare the berries and cream oatmeal, add 1 1/3 cup boiling water and allow to sit for 3 minutes.

One of my all time favorite oatmeal packet flavors is my Spiced Peaches and Cream Cobbler. It reminds me so much of those Sunday night peach cobblers my mom would make when I was a kid.

To each plain packet you will need to add:

1/3 cup freeze dried peaches (diced rather than the sliced ones)

2T Bavarian Cream Sugar

2 tsp spiced vanilla sugar

1T Sour Cream Powder"
Just to tease you a little...this is what it looks like before you add the boiling water. I add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and let it sit for 3 minutes.

Maple Pecan Oatmeal Packet:

One plain packet

3T maple sugar

3T chopped toasted pecans

Add 1 cup boiling water and allow to sit 3 minutes.


Cinnamon vanilla-orange roll Oatmeal Packet:

One plain packet

2T spiced vanilla sugar

1 tsp dry orange zest (or 1/4 tsp dry orange crystal light)

Add 1 Cup boiling water and allow to sit 3 minutes
There you go. Make some oatmeal packets.

For those on gluten free diets...We 

carry gluten free Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal! This is purity tested for absolute gluten free integrity. 

Freeze Dried Peaches

Delicious Peaches You Can Enjoy Year Round

THRIVE Freeze Dried Peaches

THRIVE Freeze Dried Peaches are large peach slices that come packed in #10 cans.  These freeze dried peach slices make a wonderful snack all by themselves, but they really excell in recipes.  Since they are large in size, they are perfect for use in pies, cobblers, cakes and other dishes.  These peaches are super sweet without any added sugars.  These peaches can store for up to 25 years if stored in cool, dry conditions.

It is easy to rehydrate these peaches for use in recipes.  Simply soak the peach slices in hot water for 3-5 minutes.  THRIVE recommends that you soak 1 cup of peaches in 4 cups hot water to help fully rehydrate the peaches.  We found that if you soak them for more than 10 minutes they really soften up and are like bottled peaches without the syrup.

These peaches really are as good as they look!  So come on in and try out a can today.

Don't be afraid to try them in your favorite dessert or give some to your kids to see how much they like them.  Our little taste testers at home were delighted to try them.

The only problem was..........they wanted to eat the whole can!

A Combination of Freeze Dried Berries Makes This a Great Dessert

Recently our blog posts have featured different dessert recipes........and why not?  Food storage can be fun and delicious.   Dessert dishes aren't always healthy per se, but when you make your own you can cut out a higher portion of fats, processed foods, hydrogenated oils, preservatives and other ingredients that are a part of the food industry.

For our berry crisp we used a blend of freeze dried berries to add different flavors and tartness.

This delicious treat can be made in the oven, dutch oven or solar oven.

Berry Crisp

8 c. of freeze dried berries

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp whole wheat flour

Rehydrate berries.  To rehydrate berries: boil water, add to berries, let sit for 10-20 minutes, drain water.  Add 3 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of flour to berries.  Place in an 8x8 in baking dish.

Topping

1 c. regular rolled oats

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. butter, softened

In mixer combine topping ingredients.  Sprinkle over berries.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  You can also bake in the sun oven.  Time in sun oven varies depending on temperature. 

Freeze Dried or Dehydrated Fruit

Eat as a snack or use in place of fresh fruit in your recipes

For me it has been hard to imagine not having fresh pineapple once in a while.  Even though it is hard to eat a lot of it without my tongue going raw, it is so delicious that I usually indulge until I can't taste anything for hours.  Canned pineapple is OK.....but just not the same.  So, when companies started coming out with Freeze Dried Pineapple I was a bit skeptical.  Dehydrated pineapple has been around for years and is quite common in various trail mixes.  Dehydrated pineapple retains a fairly good deal of its moisture and is quite chewy and delicious.  However, I must admit that Freeze Dried Pineapple is really the way to go if you are craving a delicious snack.  It is not quite as good as fresh pineapple, but it runs pretty close behind in my book.

The offering of dehydrated and freeze dried fruits in cans is now quite staggering.  For years it was mainly apple chips that were available.  However, you can now find freeze dried and/or dehydrated peaches, strawberries, apples, apricots, pears, blueberries, mangos, bananas, blackberries, raspberries, mandarin oranges and more!  Freeze dried fruits generally rehydrate better, but dehydrated fruits can often be rehydrated in hot water or being cooked in water.  If you need these delicious freeze dried fruits for a recipe you can soak them in water four about 10-15 minutes or until they fully rehydrate.  Then, just add them into your recipe.  Depending on the fruit they work great in pancakes, muffins, cobblers and other baked goods.  The nice thing is that they are ready to be used and do not spoil like fresh fruit.

We have several sample cans at the store for you to try........but beware.........these wonderful freeze dried fruits can be addicting!