9 homemade preserves to gift (or keep) this holiday season

Two early-December traditions: gardens being tidied up for winter and retailers begging you to spend money on presents that friends or family may or may not want. This year, why not get everything done at once? Now is the time to turn those last, treasured fruits and vegetables into a bounty that will last all winter long — and to make enough to share the love.

Dressing up your holiday preserves

Preserves make great gifts as-is, but you can also wrap them or dress up the jars with ribbon, twine or squares of fabric tied over the lids.

Syrups, shrubs, vinegar and vodka look great in jars or in attractive swing-top bottles. This is a prime moment to soak the labels off some of your old bottles and put them to use! Whatever you do, make sure to clearly label your preserves and to tell the recipients to refrigerate them (if needed).

Root Vegetable Jam

If you’ve got a bumper crop of sweet-yet-savory carrots and beets, use them up with this wonderful and unexpected jam. The color is amazing, too! For a lower-waste version, you can also make this with finely diced peels.

Makes ~1 quart

Ingredients

6 cups grated beets and/or carrots (6 cups is about 6 to 8 large carrots, or 4 to 6 large beets)
1/4  to 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup honey
2 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup dried raisins, golden raisins or dried cranberries
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Combine all your ingredients in a large saucepan.
2. Cook over medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
3. Simmer, uncovered, for 45 to 50 minutes or until your root vegetables are very soft and the syrup they’re cooking in is reduced by about half.
4. Once the shredded veggies are toothsome but tender, scoop them into four sterilized half-pint jars leaving 1 inch of headspace.
5. Pour the syrup into your jars until the vegetables are covered and you have 1/2 inch of headspace.* Press your vegetables down gently with the back of a spoon to remove any air bubbles.
6. Wipe the rims of your jars and add sterilized lids and bands. Process in a hot water bath for 15 to 18 minutes, or store in the fridge for up to ~2 months.

*You may have extra syrup left over, which is great in cocktails or to drizzle over desserts.

Squash and Apple Fermented Chutney

Squash and apple transform into a healthy treat to grace your holiday table. The slightly tart, savory flavor helps cut the richness of holiday foods, and it will store in the fridge for several weeks — perfect for making ahead of time.

Makes ~2 quarts

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash
4 apples (any variety)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise pod
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon whole cloves
¾ cup toasted pecans
2-inch piece fresh organic ginger, cut into slices
Sea salt and water

Optional add-ins: nuts (walnuts and pistachios are good!), cubed beet, dried or fresh cranberry, citrus peel

Method

1. Peel your squash and cut into 1-inch cubes.
2. Peel apples and cut into 1-inch cubes, then combine with squash.
3. Place apples and squash in your fermentation vessel, and add spices, ginger and other desired add-ins.
4. Mix a brine of about 4 teaspoons sea salt to 1 quart water and pour over your mixture, making sure it is completely submerged.
5. Place a weight on your ferment to keep everything under the brine, and check it every couple days. When it has developed a flavor you like, it’s finished!
6. If you want a sweet chutney, add a bit of sugar or honey to taste after fermenting.
7. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to ~1 month, though I prefer the texture if eaten within 2 to 3 weeks.

Zesty Cranberry Sauce

Mapple (Maple and Apple) Butter

Maple and apple butter is autumn in a jar. You can use real maple syrup or maple sugar, whichever you have on hand. It’s perfect over cinnamon apple pancakes, on biscuits or English muffins or just spread on your weekday morning toast.

Makes ~1 quart

Ingredients

5 pounds sweet apples (I used 3 pounds Gala and 2 pounds Fiji)
2 bay leaves
1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup real maple syrup, or 1 1/2 cups maple sugar
3 whole cloves, crushed with a mortar and pestle
Water or apple cider, optional

Method

1. Core and chop apples and add to a large, non-reactive pot, tossing with fresh lemon juice as you go.
2. Put your cloves and bay leaves in a looseleaf tea bag or pouch so you can retrieve them later.
3. Turn heat on medium low and add your seasoning pouch, salt, sugar and syrup to the pot.
4. Turn heat up to medium and cook for about an hour, stirring frequently, until apples are very soft. You can add a little water or cider, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, if needed to keep from sticking and burning.
5. Blend the apples until very smooth using an immersion blender, or for the smoothest texture, pass your apples through a food mill.
6. Can the apple butter in half-pint jars using hot water bath processing, if desired. Process for 15 minutes to seal the jars. Otherwise, store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to ~2 months.

Rosemary and Thyme Herbal Syrup

Your herb garden may not be bursting at the seams like it is in August, but you probably still have enough stragglers around to make this fragrant syrup flavored with rosemary and thyme. You can substitute other herbs here, as well, depending on what’s in your garden. This recipe makes a concentrated syrup perfect for adding in small splashes to drinks and desserts. If you want a mild herbal flavor, just halve the amount of herbs.

Makes ~1 pint (plus a bit extra)

Ingredients

3 sprigs rosemary
1 package thyme (about 1 cup, stems and all)
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Pinch of salt

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan.
2. Simmer over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes until the syrup is infused and very fragrant and flavorful.
3. Strain out your herbs with a fine mesh strainer, pressing with the back of a spoon to release any remaining liquid.
4. Store syrup in the fridge in a narrow-necked bottle for up to ~2 months, or, if desired, can in a hot water bath with half-inch headroom (15 minutes for pint jars or 12 minutes for half-pint jars). 

Simple Kumquat Marmalade

Cranberry-Orange Vodka

This recipe is the easiest way to use up that extra bag of cranberries you bought on sale, and it tastes just like cranberry sauce in a glass. I mix the finished product with unsweetened soda water, but you can also add simple syrup if it’s too tart for you.

Makes 2 to 3 cups

Ingredients

1 bag (12 ounces) fresh cranberries
1 tangerine
1 navel orange
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
8 allspice berries
Vodka

Method

1. Heat a small pan on the stove and add your spices. Toast lightly until they are fragrant and add them to a quart jar.
2. Halve the cranberries and add to the jar with the spices.
3. Peel the zest from the citrus using a vegetable peeler and add to the jar.
4. Pour vodka over the ingredients until they are submerged.
5. Cover and set aside for at least a week, giving the jar a shake occasionally. The flavor will become stronger the longer it sits.
6. Strain contents into a jar or other container with an airtight lid. Can be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Pickled Sweet Onions

When I was a kid, my mom used to make this delicious cucumber salad with dill, sugar and vinegar. Over the years I’ve adapted it to work with onions instead, both the white and sweeter yellow varieties. These pickles are super easy and packed with flavor — they taste wonderful on shawarmas and burgers, but also as a tart, tangy side to heavy holiday meals.

Makes 2 pints

Ingredients

1 yellow onion
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dried dill weed
2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Method

1. Peel and thinly slice the onion. Place the slices into pint jars.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to a large glass or jar, and stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
3. Pour the mixture over the onions until they are completely covered (you can top it off with extra vinegar if needed).
4. Screw the lids tightly onto the jars and place them in the fridge. Wait 24 hours and enjoy!
5. Store any unused onions in an airtight container in the fridge, where they will last up to ~2 months if submerged in their brine.

Berry Shrub or Liqueur

Those last fruits clinging to your berry bushes might not seem like enough to make much of anything, but infusing fruit into vinegar or spirits really helps stretch the flavor. Don’t have berries? This will work well with sliced stone fruits, too, as well as other flavorful ingredients like fresh herbs.

Ingredients

Berries (or other fruit)
Vinegar (if making shrub), such as apple cider, red wine or white wine vinegar
Spirit (if making liqueur), such as vodka or bourbon
Spices or other flavorings as desired
Sugar or honey

Method

1. Start by putting your fruit into a food-safe container (like a pint jar). The more you add, the stronger the flavor, but I usually do a 1:4 or 1:2 ratio of fruit to liquid.
2. Add the liquid and spices or other flavorings if you’d like; I’d recommend keeping those at a tablespoon or so, as spices can really overpower the fruit flavor in these small batches.
3. Pop on the lid and leave out to steep for a couple weeks, shaking the jar every day or two, until it has a flavor you enjoy.
4. Strain and decant into the jars you’ll use for gifting or storing. For best results, make sure to fill the container completely. Sweeten to taste.*
5. Store in the fridge or out of direct sunlight in an airtight container for up to 5 months.

*For shrubs: The general rule of thumb for-shrub making is “sweeten to taste,” but I find ⅛ to ¼ cup of sugar or honey per pint of vinegar is usually a good range for most palates. Just add your sweetener to the vinegar, then stir or shake to dissolve. Shrubs are fantastic with soda water and in cocktails, and are my go-to base for making holiday mocktails for friends who don’t imbibe.  The fruit-infused vinegar can also be used unsweetened, perfect for vinaigrettes (a splash adds a great zing to fruit desserts, too).

*For liqueurs: I tend to use ⅛ to ¼ cup of sugar or honey per 2 cups of alcohol, though you may like more or less. Store at room temperature out of direct sunlight. You can eat the fruit, use as a garnish or cook into a boozy compote to top ice cream.

Top photo courtesy of Julia Skinner.