Page 46 - The Hunt - Summer 2022

FOOD & DRINK
Sweet Memories of Summer
Jellies, jams, butters and marmalades conjure toasty recollections of fresh fruit.
We’re fortunate that international trade allows us to shop for
fresh fruit in our supermarkets
year-round. Growers in the Southern Hemisphere or greenhouses anywhere can provide us with what our local climate can’t. In fact, some of this summer fruit arrives
on ocean-going vessels docking at the Port of Wilmington.
When the seasons change, our farmers can return the favor. And so begins our warm-weather exodus to local orchards,
farmers markets, vegetable stands, and honor-system tables at the end of rural driveways. We can also preserve some of
that fresh fruit for jams, jellies, butters, marmalades and other forms of preserved fruit. Sure, it’s work. But it’s worth the effort.
For those of us who’d rather not go down that sweet and sticky path, Brandywine Valley farmers and orchardists are more than happy to oblige. “If I have any fruit left over, I take it to a small mom-and-pop operation up
Route 100 that makes it into jams and
butters,” says H.G. Haskell, owner of SIW Vegetables south of Chadds Ford.
“We make dozens of different kinds of butters and fruit preserves,” says Alan Hodge of West Chester’s Highland Orchards, where one wall of the market is lined with jars.
If you’ve never tried preserving fruit, the most common additional ingredients are sugar and pectin, though not all recipes use both. There are many different kinds of preserves, but let’s begin by looking at the basic ones:
44 THE HUNT MAGAZINE summer 2022
By RogeR MoRRis