Fruit to keep

Harvest is winding down and the holidays are right around the corner. Time to do a little preserving for the winter—or for gifts. Canning jam, fruit, relish or whatever you like is easier than you think. Linda Pritchard teaches food preservation to kids in the Dry Creek 4-H Club in Placer County. I asked her about her favorite easy preserving projects:

1. “The easiest thing is applesauce. We went to Apple Hill and bought huge boxes at 25 cents a pound, and all the kids did applesauce. You can even do it in a Crock-Pot, and you don’t need sugar. You just process it in a boiling-water bath, so there’s no special equipment. The kids loved it.”

2. “Anything cranberry is good for holiday gifts—you can do a cranberry relish, with plenty of sugar.

3. “Dehydrated pears are another good one. The kids really enjoyed Asian pears—though of course they had sugar and cinnamon on them.”