Taking Stock: Fruit

Well! I'm glad I picked a cold day to do the freezer inventory. Something yellow and gooey was spilled way down in the bottom of the freezer, where the things I've forgotten about settle in. So I piled the contents of the freezer in a shady spot in the front yard (15 degrees, according to Weather Underground) and cleaned it out. It was past time to defrost, anyway. I found a big bag of black caps down there that I didn't know we had, yum! Those are not long for this world, now that they've resurfaced...

Fruit is the food we are most likely to buy non-locally in the winter. We crave those clementines, grapefruits, mangos, pomegranates -- especially when the weather is cold and dreary. But we also freeze a bit of summer for future use, in the form of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes... Some of these, like the blueberries, we fresh freeze and then eat on waffles without fully thawing them. Others, like the currants, I juice and use for pancake syrup or jelly. Apples, pears, and peaches are dried, and apples are also sauced and cellared. Most of this fruit comes from u-pick farms, and I don't carefully track the amounts. What I have on hand currently:

Dried

• apples: 2/3 gallon (U pick)
• pears: 1/3 gallon (tree in our front yard)
• peaches: 2 cups (farm stand)
• mango: 1 gallon (Greenstar warehouse sale)
• miscellaneous store fruit (raisins, currants, cranberries, apricots, etc.): 3/4 gallon

Frozen (my freezer -- Greg's freezer is not yet inventoried...)

• black caps: 3 pounds
• strawberries: 2 1/4 pounds mashed + 1 1/2 pounds whole + 1 cup raw jam
• blueberries: 5 pounds
• raspberries: 3 pounds + 3 cups juice
• grapes: 1 1/2 pounds
• melon: 1 1/4 pounds (old)
• banana: 1/2 pound (old)
• hawthorn: 7/8 pound (old)
• red currants: 4 1/4 pounds
• elderberries: 1 1/4 pound berries + 4 cups juice
• fruit juice cubes (for syrup:) 4 1/4 pounds (half are getting old)
• melon juice (for making sorbet): 1 cup 
• fruit pulp (for making flavored ciders): 5 pounds
• apple cider: one quart

Apples

• in cold storage: 1/4 bushel (approx.)
• cider (going fizzy:) 1 pint
• cider vinegar: 1 quart
• applesauce: 6 pints

I celebrated the cleaning out of the freezer by making a fruit soup with a bag of (unfortunately somewhat freezer burned) strawberries. If you look up a recipe for fruit soup, chances are you will find a very specific list of ingredients and amounts, but in my opinion, pretty much any mix will do. It's a classic Scandinavian treat, traditionally made with dried fruits simmered in water until they soften. This time I started with a base of sweetened gooseberry and red currant juice, and added the strawberries along with some raisins and dried apricots for variety. Sweeten to taste, thicken with tapioca powder (or corn starch) and simmer until the raisins plump up. I usually serve it topped with ice cream; I like the tart-creamy hot-cold contrasts.

'Course, I noticed in the process that we're almost out of ice cream. This could become a problem...