For my son

Pickles on the menu?

Looks like I'm going to be making pickles, as they are on sale at the local produce market.  I love bread and butter pickles, but I feel like the store kind are acceptable, so if I'm going through the effort of making pickles, I'm going to try some different kinds.  I made pickled beets a few weeks ago (hmm, I should pop open a jar and see how they turned out) and I LOVE watermelon rind pickles, but it's pickling cucumbers that are on sale, so I'm off to find some unusual recipes.  I'll share anything good that I find.

Less Sugar Pectin

Well, I've decided I really prefer the less-sugar-required pectin.  I made two batches of cherry jam, one with one added cup and one with 1-1/2 added cups of sugar.  The second was better.  Now that several weeks have passed, I've discovered that the jam will mold, unlike full-sugar jams.  I actually take this as a good sign, since food should spoil after while.  Since regular jam is liquid candy, it doesn't seem to spoil.  So I'm sticking with the less-sugar pectin, although I will try a little more sugar next time, to see if the spoilage time increases.  You can add up to 3 cups per batch, and that might be just about right.  The cherry jams are VERY chunky at 1 cup of sugar, not too good for things like thumbprint cookies and rugelach and kolacky and jam layer bars and whatnot.  (mmm!)

Cantaloupe Jam

Well, turns out that the Cantaloupe Jam was a HUGE hit with those folks who love cantaloupe.  I also discovered that the Can Jam ingredient of the month of July includes melons.
 
While I am not a participant of said Can Jam, I have been inspired by the whole canvolution.  I now have far more jams than I could eat in several years, so I'm expecting to give some to folks at work, and perhaps even raffle a few off to support my favorite charity.  The problem is, that the more I make and the more I read, the more other things I want to try.  For example, someone recommended a book that focused primarily on jamming with liquid pectin, something I had been sort-of avoiding, and now want to try.  Then I got to thinking about the fact that "traditional" jam is really liquid candy in a jar, so I've starting wondering about trying the no-sugar-needed pectin, so I can cut the sugar content down to something I can be happy about (perhaps nothing?) depending on the main ingredient.  And we're entering the pickles and then apples seasons, so maybe the jam tinkering will have to wait a year???  We'll see what the next ad brings at the fruit market.

Cantaloupe Jam from here
Cantaloupe
3/4 lb sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cardamon
1/2 t apple pie spice
     all ingredients are per pound of chopped cantaloupe
Measure all in large pot, with a touch of water.  Cook slowly until the cantaoupe is soft and the desired consistency is reached.

Strawberry Jalapeno Jam

This is a nice strawberry jam, with not too much jalapeno heat.  I would actually like a little more heat, as the peppers I used were quite large and very mild.  I'm also considering peeling the peppers next time to make them less chewy and also easier on my digestive system.

Strawberry Jalapeno Jam adapted from here
1/3 c minced jalapenos
1-1/2 c chopped strawberries
3 c sugar
3/4 c cider vinegar
3 oz liquid pectin

Place all but pectin in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, stirring, and boil one full minute.  Cool 5 minutes, then stir in pectin.  Ladle into approximately 3 half-pint jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Fig Jam

I've never used figs before, but I was very impressed with the jam from these.  They were black figs, about 2 pints, and made the best pink delicate jam!

Fig Jam from here
1-1/2 lb (2 pints) ripe, black figs, roughly chopped
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 t lemon rind
1/4 c H2O
1/2 box Sure-Jell (powdered pectin)
3-1/2 c sugar

Stir everything except the sugar together and heat to a hard boil, stirring.  Add the sugar, stirring, to a rolling boil.  Boil hard one minute while stirring.  Cool 5 minutes, skimming as necessary.  Fill approximately 6 half-pint jars with jam leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Blueberry Curd

I'm not sure why I tried this recipe, as I'm not that much of a blueberry fan, but WOW!  Every night, on a toasted english muffin.  My scale isn't happy, but I just concentrate on the anti-oxidant boost instead.  I keep finding good berries at low prices, so I keep making more and stashing them in the freezer in one-cup containers.  I cook the whole lemon in there because I like that flavor including the bitter undertones from the pith.  If you don't want that, you can just do the juice and the zest, and skip the cheesecloth part (although I would probably put in an extra half lemon just 'cause I'm like that!)

Blueberry Curd from here
1-1/2 pint blueberries, washed
2 lemons, chopped (zest, pith, seeds and all), tied in cheesecloth
1-3/4 c sugar
6T unsalted butter, cubed
3 eggs, beaten

Cook the berries a few minutes until they get soft, then add in the lemons in cheesecloth.  Cook them for another 10-15 minutes (the longer you cook, the stronger the lemon flavor).  Cool the mixture (perhaps overnight in the fridge?) and then squeeze the juice and pulp out of the cheesecloth- the longer and harder you squeeze, the stronger the lemon flavor.  This goes into the top of a double-boiler, with the sugar.  Heat them together until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the butter and stir until it is melted.  Add the beaten eggs while stirring, and cook for about 20 minutes, until thick and completely cooked through.  Let it cool slightly and strain through a sieve.  This curd will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks, or in the freezer for 6 months (and is not suitable for boiling water canning).

CANNING!

I was feeling at loose ends last week, and so I thought I'd can some stuff.  I thought (briefly) about going to pick-my-own, but realized that was just too expensive and time-consuming.  Since I am short on both time and money, I decided to can whatever was on-sale at the local produce market. 

Just to get this off my chest;
1) by buying not-specifically organic produce, I realize that I am probably upping our ingestion of pesticides and whatnot this way, but I can barely afford groceries un-organically, so...
2) I am also willing to use Sure-Jell/Certo pectin - which I'm sure has the canning purists shaking their heads and tsk-ing- but I don't have the time to make three-day jam, nor do I have access to crab apples, etc. etc. etc. (rant over)

I made so many things!  Not all turned out as I would have hoped, but I'm feeling very tired and very proud of myself.  Fig Jam was not at all like I expected - I never used them before, but the black figs were on sale and turned into the prettiest, yummy pink jam.  Cantaloupe Jam, on the other hand, didn't even go into jars because I don't really like cantaloupes (I know, I know-why did I make it? Cantaloupes were on sale! and with all the spices in the jam, I thought it might taste better than it did.).  I have a few interested people at work who will get 1-cup versions of it in disposable containers.  I was iffy about the Peach-Papaya Jam (the papaya smelled very unusual to me) but once it was cooked, it was great.  Strawberry-Jalapeno Jam on cottage cheese was fabulous.

I have an overall complaint about recipes that call for a "package" of pectin.  "Dry" or "liquid" are very key words to just leave out, as they are NOT interchangeable!  I also had a recipe that called for 8 cups of washed, hulled strawberries, but never mentioned cutting/crushing/slicing them and boy, they sure should have been - I guess she assumed readers would magically know that?!?  I've learned that blogs, like people, can't all be trusted at face value.  Some folks only post things they've actually made, and are careful about copying the recipe accurately.  Other people - not so much, I guess.

Once I've inventories the contents of the jars, I'll post (CAREFULLY, I promise!) the recipes for the ones that worked best.