Greetings, friends
This year, summer has given us favorable conditions for apples and pears. Although, for everything else in my garden and in the vegetable garden.
But today I want to talk about the processing of crops, in particular early varieties of apples and pears.
Lada pears. They ripen earlier than any fruit; even the early apple variety, White Filling, ripens later.
We removed about 2 such volumes from one tree. That's apart from the fact that we were just eating pears, plucking them from the tree. We remembered the old refrigerator, which "does not produce cold well," but it was wonderfully useful for saving pears. This variety doesn't store at all; it needs to be processed immediately, but thanks to the refrigerator, we managed to save the harvest for a month. Yes, I must say that I picked the first pears at the end of July.
So, first we decided to make pastillas from pears. We have a dryer that accommodates 6 pallets. I bought it about 5 years ago, and since then it has been an indispensable assistant for drying fruits, berries, and making pastillas.
These are the delicious tubes we get at the exit.
But this was the fifth version of the pastilla. When the apples started falling from the trees, I decided that it was time to make a pastilla with apples, because they were not ready for fresh consumption yet, they were not ripe, but they would be very good for pastillas. And I also decided to add berries to the pastilla.
To make a pastilla or jam, you must first cut out the core of a pear or apple and cut the fruit into pieces.
My mom usually does that. Sometimes I clean it myself, but then Mom gets offended. We need to make sure that Mom sees the need for her help for us. Today my wife and I were in the forest; we brought mushrooms and immediately gave them to my mother to peel. It is very important. This year, for the first summer, when she does not go to the forest, her legs hurt.
Then we put the sliced fruits in a saucepan and pour a glass of water, maybe even 2. More precisely, for the marshmallows, I add 2 cups of water so that the fruit puree is not too thick, and more water is needed so that the fruit does not burn. By the way, adding chokeberry makes the mash thicker; I had to add another half cup of water.
To make jam, I add sugar, about 1 kg per 5 kg of fruit. We cook the pastilla without sugar; we even try to make it with a slight sourness.
I have an electric stove at home, I put it on about 70% of the power and wait for the mass to boil. For the pastille, I immediately remove the pan from the stove, let it cool and then beat it with a mixer until smooth.
For the jam, I let the mass cook for about 10 minutes after boiling and remove it from the stove. I return to this pot every other day. I also beat the masses until smooth and put them back on the stove. I let it boil over low heat again, by this time I have heated the jars in the oven and kept the lids in hot water.
This is necessary for sterility and so the jam will be better stored. Why am I making it? I need to take him to his children and grandchildren in Moscow. And my son took me North with him.
The mass is hot, the jar is hot, you need to be careful.
For the pastilla, the resulting mass must be poured onto pallets. By the way, this time I added cranberries to apples and pears. It also adds sourness, and the taste is more interesting.
For a pastilla, the mass should not be thick, it is necessary that it can spread a little over the pan. Of course, you can make a thick layer; it will take longer to dry, but it will cook eventually. I like thin plates like papyrus.
This is how thin the base turns out, even below the height of the sides.
All seats are occupied, the dryer is ready to start. I set the temperature to 40 degrees Celsius and set the time. Close the lid and press the Start button.
We take out the remains of the mass. You can already eat it with a spoon or spread it on bread and butter. Anyone who wants to eat. Help yourself, friends.
I take a piece of white bread and use it to clean the pan. It should be clean. Not aesthetically pleasing? But it's delicious!
According to the plan, I was supposed to show 6 resulting pink scrolls. But.. My wife took the pastillas out of the dryer and didn't take any photos. But I already showed you 2 servings of pastillas earlier.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy (C) Bobby McFerrin
Text & Photography by 
With love
Good luck and have fun