Strawberry Vanilla Syrup

Howdy Jammers!  Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this last strawberry batch posted.  We have been super busy here at the cottage with yard and garden work (we have spring fever), plus I wanted to give this last batch as long as I could before giving up any hope for it being anything more than a syrup.  As you can see by the title of this one, syrup is what I got.  It’s thick but still syrupy, none the less.  I don’t want to call it a failed jam, that sounds negative, and would effect the taste of it simply by the forethought that it was failed.  I prefer to simply change the name based on the outcome and give it to someone who will instantly think of it as a perfect “sauce” or “syrup” and will be none the wiser!  It’s a trick that my Mabert taught me…nothing is ever a complete failure and no one has to know it was ever meant to be something different (unless you tell them).  You can also think of it as truly making the best with what you have.  Focus on the positive and never dwell on the negative, she would say. 

I mentioned that I would tell you about my favorite sugar to use in my creations.  It is Domino brand sugar and we buy it by the ten pound bag from the local warehouse style store. It is superfine granulated sugar and the texture is so very fine, almost powdery, but not a true powdered sugar.  It dissolves quickly and thoroughly in everything I use it in from my infamous sweet tea, to powdered drink mixes for the Scouts and now in my jams and jellies.  I never have sugary clumps and it dissolves very quickly, even in cold liquids.  When I first open a new bag I get a nose full of sugar dust, because it is superfine, and all I can think about is how glad I am that I don’t have a candle burning too close to it or that I don’t smoke anymore… Did you know that sugar dust is combustible if exposed to sparks or flame?  Be careful with the sweet stuff…in more ways than one!

Now a few weeks ago, I bought the flat of strawberries and had just enough left for a third batch of jam and decided to try a strawberry vanilla jam which turned out to be a wonderful strawberry vanilla syrup.   When I went to gather my ingredients I could not find my whole vanilla beans and decided to heed my Mabert’s advice…use what you have and make it work, so I pulled out the pure vanilla extract.  I always place a few dabs behind my ears and on my wrists when working with my vanilla, it is such a comforting smell.  I hope you enjoy this syrup and I can’t wait to hear how you end up using it.

Strawberry Vanilla Syrup

4 pints strawberries, hulled and pureed (I used the food processor)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 pouch liquid pectin

Preheat canner and prepare jars and lids. Combine pureed strawberries, sugar, vanilla and butter in a large, deep pot and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture can not be stirred down.  Stir in pectin and boil for 1 minute.

Remove pan from heat and quickly skim off any foam from the top. Ladle the syrup into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter, place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed for 24 hours. Check the seals before storing and use within 12 months.

Makes about 9 half pint jars.  I did 5 half pints and 2 pint jars in my batch.

I am not sure if it was the fact that I pureed the fruit, used the extract instead of the bean or if it was the pectin but I ended up with a beautiful velvety syrup that is perfect over french toast.  I have also stirred it into plain greek style yogurt and even blended it into milk for a fresh frothy treat.  It is fabulous and so much fresher than any store bought syrup I have had.  I love it and hope it turns out just like this next time, too!

I made a new banana jam that I will post next time.  Till then, Be Blessed and Be Sweet!

Jalaberry Sauce

Good Monday morning Jammers!  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend…I did.  Both gardens are fully planted for spring and we are looking forward to an amazing bounty in a few weeks.  The home garden was fun to build, it’s our first year doing one here.  In the past we have container gardened but this will be the first year for an actual bed this size.  We went with a raised bed measuring 6ft. x 15ft and I have spent the last week hauling load after load of dirt from the front yard to the back yard one wheelbarrow load at a time.  We tore up the old sod out front and needed to excavate 5-6 inches of dirt before we replant grass. I have never been so happy to finish a project, whew!  My back is killing me but I have enjoyed building the garden and getting it planted. 

Last weekend, if you recall, I bought a flat of strawberries and made three different varieties of jam.  Well, I think that I have learned something about working with strawberries…I over processed my berries and none of the batches seemed to get a good set.  I read that instead of hand mashing them with a fork you could pulse them in the food processor, which I did, but I over pulsed them.  I had some chunks but all of my jars ended up with a liquidy clear bottom 2/3rds of the jar and the top 1/3rd was fruity.  I am guessing that this had something to do with the soft set results I got.  It worked out fine for the first batch, which was the Refreshing Strawberry Lime Jam, which was a medium set and I will still refer to as a “jam”.  The second batch I did that day was a special request for my sweetie, a strawberry jalapeño blend I came up with.  Let’s put it this way, I have renamed it from “jam” to “sauce” which is perfect for this flavor combination, anyway.  We have gone through 2 jars in a week, if that tells you anything. 

I focused on the intensity aspect of the strawberries, again for this batch, and looked to the jalapeños for protection.  When doing our spring cleaning/cleansing of the house I also wanted to make sure to envision a strong protective bubble around it protecting my hearth and family from any negativity and ugliness that seems to be everywhere in the world right now.  This sauce serves the purpose, for sure!  It’s very powerful.

JalaberrySauce

 

4 pints strawberries, hulled and hand crushed (NOT pureed)
3/4 cup minced jalapeno peppers (about 5 medium, including seeds
                                                                    and veins)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 (2 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin
7 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter

Preheat canner and prepare jars and lids. Combine crushed strawberries, jalapeños, lemon juice and butter in a large, deep pot and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved and mixture can not be stirred down.  Stir in pectin and boil for 1 minute.

        
Remove pan from heat and quickly skim off any foam from the top. Ladle the jam into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter, place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed for 24 hours. Check the seals before storing and use within 12 months.

Makes about 9 half pint jars.  I did 5 half pints and 2 pint jars in my batch.

This sauce is so savory and peppery but NOT flaming hot so it doesn’t leave you with a burning throat but does give you a wonderful burst of jalapeño flavor combined with a sweetness that is the perfect combination.  So far it has been used in this house as a glaze for pork chops (not once but twice), a wonderful addition to warmed cream cheese and crackers and was the best sauce we have ever used with fried mozzarella cheese sticks.  We were also brave and used it to dip Jalapeño Poppers in and ……eeekkkk, I just drooled on my keyboard….oh-my-gosh were they incredible!  I would like to figure a way to make a salad dressing with it too…any ideas on how I could make a vinaigrette out of it?  I am also thinking of brushing it on burgers at the last minute next time we grill out.

Enjoy the sauce…remember, jams and jellies are never failures they just morph into something else with another use.  Waste not, want not!

Next time I will talk about my preference for sugar in my jams, butters, jellies and sauces.  I do have a specific brand I prefer to use and I will share why, along with the final strawberry batch.

Till then…Be Blessed and Be Sweet!

Refreshing Strawberry Lime Jam

Good morning Jammers!  Spring is right around the corner, officially, but we have been celebrating early for the past few weeks.  The weather has been gorgeous and in the mid to upper 80’s over the last 3 or 4 weeks.  I’ve got babies in the ground at the community garden and need to harvest out the rest of our cabbage soon.  With the great weather we have had, I decided a trip down to the main Farmers Market, downtown, was in order.  I mean, what better way to honor the warmth of the sun and the beginnings of our seasonal bounty from Mother Earth?  We decided to meet up with some great friends that are seasoned veterans of the Market and headed out early last Saturday morning.  I was very surprised and the variety and prices of everything there.  I picture myself becoming a Market junkie by the time summer arrives.  My goal was strawberries, which are in peak season right now, and peanuts.  I came home with both of them plus a huge bounty of delicious goodies like squash, corn, mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, tiny creamer potatoes, green beans, onions, radishes and even a mango. 

                

We have feasted like royalty these last few days.  I also picked up a bag of limes for one of the jams I wanted to make.  Turns out I only needed a few limes and ended up with a lot left over so today I made a new recipe and it is awesome!  It is a honey limeade and I am in love,  I can’t wait to try it as a margarita base.  I spent all of Saturday with a HUGE pot of raw peanuts smothered with bayou seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes boiling on the stove.  In true Southern form (my Papa would be so proud) I left them boiling all day (almost 7 hours) and they are some of the best I have ever had.  We put them in freezer bags in individual serving packs and will be able to reheat them anytime we want peanuts!  My Papa always had bags of boiled peanuts in the big freezers with the rest of the garden’s bounty and meats.  He and my MaBert had 3 huge freezers that were always stocked in their basement.  There was also a full kitchen down there for canning and shelf after shelf full of mason jars of beans, soups, jams, jellies, pickles, tomatoes and anything else you could think of to can and YES, they grew it all.  I really miss those days of sitting perched on a stool watching her can.  I was her audience as I was always watching her and she was always busy showing and telling me about everything she was doing whether it be gardening, sewing, cooking or canning.  I would just sit by her side for hours on end watching and talking. 

I spent Sunday making three batches of strawberry jams with the flat of perfect berries we picked up. I have to thank my reader, Andrea, for the idea for the first batch, a strawberry lime jam.  It came out perfect and she was right, the flavors are VERY complementary.  The properties of lime are for cleansing and one of the things strawberries are known for is intensity.  Those traits are oh-so fitting for this time of year.  We have spent our inside days, of late, cleaning and purging the house.  Call it spring fever, I suppose, but it's spring and time for some deep cleaning, whether it be flower beds, veggie gardens, closets or cabinets now is the time!  Strawberry lime jam is a perfect representation of our season.  When I first went into the kitchen on Sunday morning to prepare my work area the first thing I did was open the windows.  A dear friend of mine, Trish Telesco, writes that in the kitchen your windows represent vital energy, refreshment and winds of change.  As the cross-breezes played with my recipes on the counter my mind kept thinking about how refreshing it felt and when I started zesting the limes the smell was nothing short of refreshing.  In honor of that sentiment I call this one my Refreshing Strawberry Lime Jam.

Refreshing Strawberry Lime Jam

4 pints strawberries, hulled and crushed
7 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons grated lime peel
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 pouch liquid pectin


Preheat canner and prepare jars and lids. Combine crushed strawberries, lime zest, and lime peel in a large, deep, pot and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved and mixture can not be stirred down.  Quickly stir in pectin and boil for 1 minute.
        
Remove pan from heat and quickly skim off any foam from the top. Ladle the jam into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter, place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed for 24 hours. Check the seals before storing and use within 12 months.

Makes about 9 half pint jars.

This jam is my new favorite.  It has a perfect blend of flavors and a very spreadable texture.  I just finished a hot buttermilk biscuit with this jam and it was heavenly.  Thank you Andrea for the inspiration and the suggestion.    Too bad you live so far away or you could come by the Hearth for a visit and some biscuits with jam!  My sweetie has a new favorite and I will share that recipe with you next time.  We enjoyed its heated sweetness last night as a glaze on 2 inch thick boneless porkchops and they were amazing…stay tuned and I will have it up in the next few days.

Till then...Be Blessed and Be Sweet!

Drunken Bacon Jam

Good February Morn, Jammers…Happy Valentine’s Day!  It’s been a while, I know, but we are eagerly awaiting the spring harvest season so we can get back to finding some decent produce around here.  How about you…have you been keeping toasty and busy this winter?  Let me know what you have been into…I have missed you all!  I envisioned myself canning right through the winter but alas the lack of decent produce put a damper on any good recipes so I am patiently waiting on spring and the bounties that will follow the return of the warm weather.

I mentioned to my son, the other day, how much I missed canning and writing about it and we were discussing the weather and crop cycles.  We are both ready to hit the Farmers Market for some sweet succulent goodies.  We went down to our plot at the community organic garden on Saturday and harvested some of our lettuces (tonight is salad night) and a head of our cabbage.  When we were finished we walked over to the Green Market and picked up some beautiful tri-color carrots and broccoli and dinner last night was super fresh and oh-so-yummy.  We used our homemade garlic butter on the cabbage and added a super thick baked pork chop to round out the menu.  We have really loved making our own butter lately and up next will be a honey butter (which would have been mouthwatering on those steamed carrots tonight).  We have our first spring crop seedlings already coming up in my starter trays.  We will have 2 tomato and 2 cucumber varieties, zinnias, zucchini, crookneck squash, green onions, bibb lettuce and some lima beans.  Today at lunch we turned a boneless chicken breast into some yummy seasoned shredded chicken and topped it with a bit of ranch dressing and shredded cheddar as lettuce wraps with the leaves from one of our young iceburg heads that we harvested.  They were the best I have ever had!

             

The last month or so I have seen several postings and articles about a jam and I was not sure how I felt about it.  I mean, it’s not your typical sweet jam, heck…it’s not even a typical fruit jam.  It is considered a refrigerator jam so you don’t actually can it to eat later.  It should be eaten within a week of making it.  Ball makes a special jar for using in freezer and refrigerator jams but I didn’t have any and figured that since it had to be eaten so quickly any of my airtight containers would work…that is IF I decided to make it.  I mentioned it to my son and he about gagged and was (and still is) pretty geeked out by the thought of it.  I mean, bacon jam, really now???  When I mentioned it to my honey and said how our son had reacted I was not prepared for the reaction I got….”oh-my-gosh can you make it NOW”.  A list was made of the ingredients I found on the recipe I got from a Facebook page I follow and within 5 days what was needed was purchased.  Then it began…”are you going to make it today”, “is today the day”, “oh honeyyyy”.  Well, yesterday was, finally, the day.  When I got up I decided to check email before heading to the kitchen and found two other postings from different sources for bacon type jams.  I thought it was kind of ironic so I clicked on them and noticed that they were not all the same recipe!  I had purchased bacon based on the first recipe I saw (which called for 1 1/2 lbs. of thin sliced store brand plain bacon) and here this new recipe called for 1 lb. of thick sliced fruitwood smoked bacon.  The first one did not call for any spices but this one did.  It sounded so much better but I did not have the right bacon and onion type.  So, doing what I do best, I made it my own.  I combined what I liked from 3 of the different recipes and instead of calling mine Burbon Bacon Jam (we did not have any burbon in the house only an unopened 40+ year old bottle of scotch) I renamed it Drunken Bacon Jam.  Talk about the perfect breakfast spread, check this out…

Drunken Bacon Jam

1 1/2 lbs. thin sliced, plain bacon, cut into 1″ pieces
2 medium sweet onions, cut into 1/4″ thick pieces
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch fresh grated nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon dry chipotle pepper powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup brewed coffee
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup premium quality Scotch
1/4 cup maple praline syrup
1 tablespoon hot sauce

                        

In a large skillet over medium high heat cook the bacon pieces until the begin to crisp at the edges but are still soft in the center (in batches), about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes per side. Set aside to drain. Pour all but one tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the pan.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the onion and brown sugar. Cook until the onions are well caramelized, about twenty minutes. Add the garlic and spices and cook an additional five minutes.

Add the liquid ingredients and the bacon to the pan. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about two hours. Check the mixture every 30 minutes. If it becomes too dry, add a few tablespoons of water. You will want the final mixture to be moist and very sticky.

     

Let the mixture cool, then, put it into the bowl of a food processor and pulse about 20 - 25 times, or until it reaches your desired consistency. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.  Makes approximately 1 scant pint.

        

Oh my…you have never tasted heaven until you have tasted this!  We love spicy and this sure fits the bill for us.  It has quite a bit of heat that lingers in the back of your throat but not enough to actually burn.  It looks like mince meat but tastes wonderful in comparison.  Last night it was used as a topping for a baked pork chop and we can’t wait to smear some on a crusty piece of toasted baguette.  I’ve heard a lot of talk about bacon doughnuts so maybe as a filling?!?!  I think a dab in the middle of a bowl of hot buttered grits would be delectable (is that a real word?). This is a perfect Valentine’s delicacy, a little naughty but a whole lot nice…sinfully delicious!  This is a new hit and one I would consider marketing it is so divine and unique. 

We are supposed to be 80 degrees by next week and are hoping it will last.  I need to get out and find some strawberries here in the next week or so.  We have crops just starting to come in from our organic farmers at the market and I need to figure out what I want to try this time with them…any ideas or suggestions?  Let me hear from you.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope each one of you has a wonderful day today spending the day doing what you love to be passionate about…whatever it may be, enjoy doing it.  Really love something today, whether it be something yummy or someone yummy, your heart will thank you. 

Join me in counting the days until our spring bounty arrives and know that I will be back full swing sharing what I do.  Till then, Be Blessed and Be Sweet!

Make A Wish Pomegranate Jelly

Good Monday morning Jammers.  Have you been good little elves, getting your baking done and yummy treats together to share with loved ones this Yule season?  I’ve decided to add some pre-measured and bagged biscuit mix to my jam filled goodie bags for the neighbors.  I will hopefully have them ready to deliver by Thursday.  I spent yesterday relaxing and watching football while still managing to whip out a batch of snickerdoodles.  I had no idea my honey loved them so much!  I had made a batch to take to our friend’s annual boat parade party on Saturday night and it was the first time I had ever made them.  Now I just need to find a good recipe to keep on hand since both of these batches were done with a pre-packaged mix.  Anyone wanna share a good recipe?

The next recipe that I want to share with you is one I did a few weeks ago for a plain and simple pomegranate jelly.  I love pomegranates and they were in all the stores at the time but I was really NOT looking forward to juicing them NOR was I looking forward to the cost of purchasing them, at $2 a piece, considering the fact that I needed 6 of the buggers.  I found a recipe that uses bottled 100% pomegranate juice and realized it was on sale that week!  I was in luck, it turned out to be a pretty inexpensive batch, compared to some of the others I have made.  I researched the associations of the pomegranate and found the most popular ones were wishes and renewal.  I thought it would be perfect as a Christmas jelly for my gift bags. 

Make a Wish Pomegranate Jelly

2 16oz bottles 100% pomegranate juice
1 1.75oz package powdered fruit pectin
1/2 teaspoon butter
5 cups sugar

Preheat canner, sterilize jars and prepare the lids. In an 8 qt pan combine the juice, pectin and the butter.  Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil that can not be stirred down, stirring constantly.  Add the entire amount of sugar and stir to dissolve.  Return mixture to a full rolling boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.   

Remove pan from heat and skim off any foam.  Fill hot sterilized jars with the jelly, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings and place jars in preheated canner.  Bring canner to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove the jars and place on a towel on the counter and leave undisturbed for 24 hours.  Check the seal before storing. Use within 12 months.

Makes about 7 half pint jars.

This jelly had a perfect set and I am very happy with the texture and flavor however it is not the “prettiest” jelly in the cabinet.  Bottled juice is not a bright red color so the jelly was a dark brownish red but the flavor makes up for the looks, I assure you.  I have since done this one again using a pomegranate blend.  I’ll post it another time.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday (whichever way you choose to celebrate it) season and may your New Year be prosperous and joy filled. 

Till next time, Be Blessed and Be Sweet!

P.S. – Sorry there are no pictures for this one. 

Herby Jelly

Good morning Jammers, hope you were snuggled, warm in your beds last eve…it was downright COLD!  Even, here in Florida within 2 miles of the beach we were below freezing.  We made sure to go down to our community garden plot and stake & drape clear plastic over our babies.  We are simply blown away by how much they have grown in the last week and a half thanks to “zoo poo” which can be picked up for free at the zoo for community gardens, like ours, by the truck load.  There is a huge pile of it and we were lucky enough to be there the day it was being offloaded.  We talked with the guy that picked it up ad it turns out he volunteers at the zoo and also has a plot with us.  He explained that the poo is strictly vegetarian coming from the elephants and the giraffes.  It is filtered/sifted once and there are other big sifters available for us to use there, at the garden, if we want to.  We simply laid a fine layer across the garden and WOW…our squash and cabbages really loved it.  We will head down there later today and uncover them, since we are not supposed to hard freeze again till Monday.

    

I wanted to get the last recipe posted from our crone’s canning day.  I had decided that we could do sort of a create-your-own type recipe, so I pulled the little pamphlet from a box of pectin and saw a recipe for a herb jelly, using herbs of your own choice.  My gardening partner and I discussed what herbs we had seen at the group herb plot at the garden and came up with doing a mint-basil jelly that could be used with meats or maybe shortbreads.  She stopped at the garden on her way to my house that morning and fresh harvested the herbs by hand.  I did my research on the properties of the herbs we were using and it turns out the basil is for wealth (among other things) and mint is for money.  Guess what was on my mind while we were making this one.  Can you say dollar signs $$$.  If you needed some extra funds to cover an expense or something like Christmas I would suggest something like this with your dinner meal to help facilitate your efforts to bring that cash in.  It would be good to burn some pine incense and a green candle near your hearth while you are making this one.  Here's the recipe:

Herby Jelly

2 cups finely chopped organic mint and basil (50/50)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened organic apple juice
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
5 1/4 cups sugar
1 1.75 oz package Original Fruit Pectin (powdered)
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter

Preheat canner, sterilize jars and prepare the lids.  Combine 2 cups finely chopped herbs with 1 1/2 cups unsweetened organic apple juice, 1 cup water and 1 cup vinegar in a medium non-reactive saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, remove from heat and let steep 20 minutes.

Strain with a fine meshed strainer and add 3 1/2 cups prepared juice to an 8qt non-reactive stockpot.  Stir in the pectin and the butter.  Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, over high heat, that can not be stirred down.  Add premeasured sugar and return to a full boil.  Boil hard, 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and skim any foam, if necessary.

Ladle into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter and place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed for 24 hours. Check the seals before storing and use within 12 months.

Makes about 5 half pint jars.

So far, I am not a huge fan of this batch.  The herbs are not as strong flavored as I would prefer them to be and I can taste the vinegar.  We sampled all the batches that day with crackers and I was not impressed but I have yet to still try it on meat so I guess you could, in all fairness, say the jury is still out on this one.  I have noticed a mint jelly recipe on the same page and it is just mint and water, no vinegar.  Maybe next time I will try an herb blend with that recipe.  Have any of you done a strictly herb jelly before?  Give a gal some feedback here…which herbs did you use and how did it come out?

So remember, I mentioned learning something MAJOR from my non-canning crones?  My canning fairy had left me another canning set so I would have backups on the basic equipment and it was a good thing, because my jar lifter had started to come apart with the little black rollers that grip the jar breaking apart when I had them in the hot canner.  I was still using it but I decided to go ahead and pull the new backup one out towards the end of our canning day.  I had done ONE STINKING BATCH when there, right in the bottom of my boiling canning water bath are the little rolling bars which have broken off AGAIN.  I scream ARRRGGGHHHH and everyone drops what they are doing and wants to know what was wrong.  I explained how this was a brand new jar lifter and it had come apart before I was finished using it on it’s first batch! 

The girls started gabbing and gawking and looking at me all weird and one of them spoke up and said “Hey, I think I remember watching my family member can and…uhhhh…doesn’t it go the OTHER WAY?”  Huh???  No way, they all were in agreement that I was using it upside down and here I was 20 or so batches into my new found passion and I was supposed to be teaching them…well, let just say it was five minutes before we all could stop laughing.  I tried it the “correct” way and wow, what a difference.  It is so much more stable and grips way better than before.  Huge DUH, on my part.  I love my friends for setting me on the straight road…I guess it does take a village to do a LOT of things!

Till next time, Be Blessed and Be Sweet!

Peppery Pumpkin Butter

Good morning Jammers, hope you all slept well.  It has finally gotten cold here and there is a chance for our first inland freeze.  Our house is out near the beach and we should stay warmer, but our friends well inland may need to cover their winter plants tonight.  Brrrr!  I’ve got on my fuzzy, aloe infused, woobie socks to keep my tootsies warm and an extra blanket on the back of my office chair to snuggle under.  Come to think of it, I need to bring in the electric throw to plug in for the night so I can stay toasty.  I hope you are all staying warm and cozy.

Two of the recipes that we did on our group Jammin day were pumpkin varieties, per the request of some of the ladies.  Now, I did warn them all of the recommendations for proper handling and canning of pumpkin.  We used the canned pumpkin again and I told them all to keep it refrigerated, even the sealed jars.  I honestly don’t think any of the jars of it lasted more than a week or two!  I had one report that a friend shared a jar of the Peppery Pumpkin Butter with her neighbor and the feedback was something along the lines of “it’s the best we’ve ever had and would love to invest in a company to manufacture it”.  The neighbor and her husband apparently ate the whole jar in one sitting.  I could not think of a better compliment! 

The first of the two recipes used that day was the basic pumpkin butter that I had previously posted.  Look at the archives if you are interested in that one, just be aware and research the data out there on food borne illnesses and canning pumpkin.  I recommend using canned pumpkin (which has already been heat processed by a commercial canning method) and keeping it stored in the fridge.  The new recipe I came up with is based on the ancho apple butter that I made.  Someone had requested adding ancho pepper to the pumpkin butter, so, that was our second batch that day in the pumpkin category.  We were drawing on the thankfulness aspect of working with the pumpkin recipes that day and the pepper just added a bit of punch to the power of the pumpkin.  Refer to the previous pumpkin post, if you want, for the associations of the spices in the butter.  I am calling this one Peppery Pumpkin Butter and I hope you enjoy it as much as everyone else did.

Peppery Pumpkin Butter

3 ½ cups canned solid pack pumpkin
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground Ancho pepper powder
4 cups sugar
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 3oz pouch liquid pectin

 

Preheat canner and prepare jars and lids. In an 8qt pan combine the pumpkin and spices, stirring until smooth and well blended.  Gradually stir in both sugars and the butter.  Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugars are dissolved.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a full rolling boil, still stirring constantly.  Stir in contents of pectin pouch and return to a boil.  Boil for 1 minute, stirring all-the-while. 

Remove pan from heat and quickly skim off any foam (mine did not have any) from the top. Ladle the butter into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and add the lids and rings, turning the rings until just finger-tight. Place the jars in the preheated canner and bring canner to a full rolling boil. Process jars for 10 minutes (adjusting according to your altitude, if necessary) then remove canner from heat. Let canner sit for 5 minutes, then, carefully remove hot jars from water with a jar lifter and place them on a towel on the counter and leave them undisturbed until the seals have popped and the jars are cooled.  Store them in the refrigerator and use within 4 months.

Makes about 7 half pint jars.

Again, I did not have any pictures from the pumpkin recipes that day, so sorry.  The best I could give you is maybe a picture of an empty jar because that is all that is left!   

Remember when I mentioned the small kitchen fire from that morning?  Watch for the next post and I will share what my “non-canning” friends taught me about my equipment and they showed me how my equipment SHOULD be used to keep it from breaking!  (I have 2 broken jar lifters in my posession right now and one of them was brand new that morning)    We had so many laughs that day…life is not fun unless you know how to laugh at yourself, trust me!

Till next post, Be Blessed and Be Sweet!