Silvia, what a perfect swap box for your first one! So glad the dogs approved your opening it. LOL. Too cute. Love everything. That pie plate really speaks to me and I'd love the huckleberry filling too. What a pretty looking cookbook. Sweet. All the Idaho pamphlets look like they sure would make you want to visit! Wonderful job Katie, you can tell how thrilled Silvia is. Very nice.

Great job Katiec - I love the pie plate and filling idea, as well as the book of recipes. Hope you enjoy everything, Silvia!

Sue

Silvia, you're going to love those huckleberries, and that's one beautiful pie plate, I can hardly wait to see what you bake. I'll bet there are all kinds of ideas in that cookbook too.

Good job, Katie, I think Silvia will have a great time, even if winter in Florida isn't exactly like ours, LOL.

Annie

Coconut, my dogs are always curious about the packages, especially if it has food.:) When I opened the package and read Katie's letter I was transported some other place! it was really an experience.

Thank you Sue, I am sure that I am going to use the pie plate a lot and will be trying the recipes in the cookbook....

Annie, when I saw the huckleberry jar, it all came to my mind and what you were saying about them.:) You have great neighbors!. And the area looks fantastic, just like a picture book.
I will make a huckleberry cobbler in that pie plate, it is beautiful!

Great Swap Box. I love when "swappers" receive something that they will have for a long time. Every time you use that beautiful pie plate you will remember your swap partner.

Looking forward to you sharing some recipes.

~Ann

Great job Katie!
I love everything but that pie plate is fantastic!

Love the picture of the dogs! LOL!

Huckleberries! Now I want some pie. Lovely pie plate too.

Umm, you can always count on Katie to include some kind of Huckleberry delight in her packages! Huckleberry cobbler seems a delicious way to inaugurate your lovely pie plate. Enjoy!

Katie, that's a great swap gift!

Enjoy Silvia, I have a feeling you can't buy huckleberries where you live, which makes it extra special.

Nancy

Thank you All for your nice comments. And no, I don't have huckleberries around my area but today I had to harvest some loquats from my tree and I made a delicious crumble and got to use my new pie dish!

Loquats (Japanese plum) tree

And the crumble

Silvia

What a lovely swap box! How fun, and again, more magazines about the sender's home, I love that idea.

That is a gorgeous pie plate, and including some fruit to fill it with is so clever. I am so curious about huckleberries -- I wanted to try some when I was out west this past summer, but we never could find any. Two or three times we'd get somewhere just as they ran out of huckleberry ice cream or pie. I guess that give me a reason to go back! Sylvia I hope you post some photos and a flavor report when you make your cobbler :-) Enjoy!

Sylvia, Obviously my Loquats are at the same stage as yours so I am real interested in how you made your crumble especially knowing what a pain they are to peel.

Looks like a perfect paring--the plate and the crumble.

Mabel, when I try those huckleberries, I will report on the taste. I already know that I am going to like them, I am a fruity kind of person.:)

Cathy, I have a very small and sharp knife that I use for peeling the loquats, I saw the knife recommended in one of those Cooking Light magazines. It can also chop herbs very fine. One day's picking is a lot of fruit, tomorrow I will be making an almond crust loquat pie. Later in the season I will be making jam and maybe chutney. And I hope to share the fruit with my friends also...

Here is the recipe that I used.

Loquat Crisp

Fruit Mixture:
6 cups loquats, seeded, peeled and cut in quarters
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 TB all-purpose flour
1 TB fresh lime juice
1 pinch salt

Streusel (keep in fridge cold if making ahead):
1/4 light brown sugar
4 TB butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1 TB grated orange zest

To make Fruit Mixture: In a stainless steel bowl, combine the loquats, sugar, flour, lime juice and salt, mixing well. Place the mixture in an oven-proof 2 qt. baking dish.

To make Streusel: Using a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse together the light brown sugar, butter, salt, flour and orange zest. Pulse only until it is combined and looks like the texture of small pebbles.

Preheat oven to 350. Cover the loquat mixture loosely with the streusel. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve hot.
Makes about 6 servings.

Silvia

Wow...That was fast! I expected it to be delivered today.

I'm so glad everything made it safely, Sylvia. I seem to always send breakables, lol.

I hope you enjoy the plate. I love an excuse to prowl his shop. The pieces are outside in a kiosk, along with a pen and some envelopes, and you slide payment under the door. Where else can you shop like that?

Also hope you like huckleberry. The loquat crisp is gorgeous! Our gardens are soooooo different...

Katie, I am so glad that I got to experience a little piece of your area, the pie plate, the huckleberry, the cookbook but most of all I was touched by your letter!

You didn't have to worry about the breakables, I did that for you when I sent my package, after that nobody did it, lol

I can relate to the shop where you got the plate, I also live in a small town where the long time residents know each other. And with me participating in the community gardens, I started to know them too.

I am saving the huckleberry to make something special when I have company.

And I agree with you about our gardens being so different, but for two days we are having cold weather, after that we will be warm again. These two days my greenhouse is full...

Silvia

Yummy yummy yummy! I am sure I have never had a huckleberry, I think I need to find a few! I will look forward to your huckleberry pie exploration.

I spent a few days in Idaho about 6 years ago. It is a place of incredible natural beauty! I highly encourage you to yield to the brochures and visit Idaho if you haven't already. :)

That looks like one sweet little recipe collection. And the pie plate is lovely.

Loquat trees are common here in town but I have never seen many people eat them. I had them once in homemade loquat ice cream. I like the idea of the crisp very much. They are mostly seed, aren't they?

You've sent a wonderful swap box, Katie.

Eileen

How wonderful! I have never tasted huckleberries. Are they kind of like blackberries..

That loquat crisp looks amazing!

Eileen, long time ago I went through Idaho while I was traveling from California to NY in a car. I stopped in a lot of places around the area, national parks, caves and such. I will have to take another trip to experience the state better.

While I was visiting a winery in Italy last January, I saw some loquat trees and I asked them about the fruit and they didn't know it either. There are a lot of varieties of loquats and some are better for eating, when I moved here I was lucky to get my tree from a close by nursery that explained a lot of the fruit trees in the area planted by the settlers. From them I got an old variety of a fig that is great and others also. If I had to describe my loquat, it is kind of a taste of an apricot. But if I had to choose the wonderful apricot tree that I had in Arizona, I will choose that. I cannot grow apricots here due to the humidity.
Loquats have a big seed and I also make a jam to give away to gardeners that come to my parties....

Thank you GWlolo, I will let you know about the taste of the huckleberries, I grow in my garden blackberries and I like them a lot!

Silvia

I forgot about loquat jam. If I stumble across some loquats, I'll make some jam. Right now I can't think of anyone with a tree that I know well enough to ask. I didn't know there were multiple varieties and of course I'll have no way to find out which is which. They must have been a favorite tree at some point, many of the older neighborhoods have them in the yards.

Apricots and peaches do well here but they are easily vulnerable to molds and fungi. I can see why they would not do well in Florida.

Eileen

Ahhhh the Huckleberry Huckstress strikes again, LOL....I'm currently using a bar of Huckleberry soap that Katie sent me, mmmmm smells great.

Katie, was that the same potter who made my chicken roaster? Great piece!

Enjoy Silvia!

Thanks for the Loquat Crisp recipe. I had grandbabies help harvest, they love to harvest, then we used your recipe. They were much more successful at harvesting than peeling.

Thank you Jessy.

Cathy, that is some beautiful and big loquat tree! I love them for the ornamental value and no care and is a plus that they are evergreen. I agree with you on the peeling part, it takes a while, I use a very sharp and small knife for that and it helps. I just finished making more crisps to give to friends. My friend from Land O'Lakes is coming on Thursday and she will take one home. I will be making a loquat pie soon....

Silvia