blueberry grapefruit jam

confession time

i have 3 freezers

four

if you count the one attached to the fridge

which is really just for ice

and bags of half empty frozen okra

and maybe

a 

mystery soup or two

i tell you this

not so you call hoarders

on my behalf

but to explain

how i can be happily making fruit jam

in the middle of winter

i have a freezer full of summer fruits

gathered in their peak

and frozen to preserve freshness

it is my own secret garden

this jam

combines

the summer goodness blueberries hold

with beautiful winter grapefruit

i love it spooned onto toast

but i also have been using it

as

topping for cheesecake

filling for my homemade pop tarts

and

as a delicious swirl in my morning yogurt 

a collection of jam.  

you can find the recipe for the margarita marmalade here... strawberry rhubarb is coming soon.

blueberry grapefruit jam

(printable recipe)

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 grapefruits--flesh only

12 cups blueberries--fresh or frozen

1 tsp cardamom

generous pinch salt

3 cups sugar

1 pouch pectin

slightly mash the blueberries and place in a heavy pot. add the sugar, salt, ginger, grapefruit segments and an juice you can capture, and cardamom.  bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer about 5 minutes.  increase heat and bring to a boil. stir in the pectin and boil for a full 60 seconds.  turn off heat and place in sterilized jars.  process for long term storage as necessary. 

i am linking this recipe to

tickled pink at 504 main

clementine margarita marmalade

the other day

i was at a very large crafts store

and it was packed

lines around the store to check out

stuff was strewn everywhere

no one seemed happy

it wasn't black friday

or

trickle down tuesday

it was 5 in the afternoon

on a regular day

 i thought to myself

this is why i don't shop

at christmas-time

long lines

no parking

people on edge

thankfully

i have friends and family

who appreciate

gifts from my kitchen

each year 

i put together hampers 

full of  homemade goodies

this margarita marmalade was inspired by

a basket of clementines 

and bottle of tequila

nestled side by side

among the clutter 

of thankgiving past

it would be lovely on a warm crumpet

or freshly baked scone

clementine margarita marmalade
(printable recipe)

4 limes

12 clementines

2/3 cup tequila

5-6 cups sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup contreau

1 pouch sure-jell pectin

thinly clementines with skin on and place in bowl. supreme the limes over the same bowl and discard the pith and skin.  add sugar and tequila. let sit 8 hours or overnight.  pour into heavy saucepan and add the salt and contreau.  bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes.  add the pectin and boil for 1 full minute.  place in sterilized jars and put through canning process for 10 minutes. if you have never canned before--please do your research on how to can jams and jellies * the amount of sugar should be adjusted according to how sweet your fruit is. the marmalade is meant to be slightly bitter..but you need the sugar to assist in setting it up.  

you may notice in my photo that i thinly sliced the limes and threw them in rather than supreming them.  it wasn't a great idea. while it looks pretty, the limes really don't soften up like the clementines and they are more like candy than confit (not a good thing).  

blueberry jam

many moons ago

before

california was infested with the fruit fly

before

malathion filled planes "crop-dusted" the streets of los angeles

before

carry-on bags were limited

my mom and i flew

from

portland to los angeles

with two toddlers (hers not mine)

and

an overhead compartment

loaded with cases of berries

we spent the next several days

filling decorative glasses

with  paraffin sealed

jewel colored jam

it is a cherished memory

i still enjoy making confiture

but now i fill my pantry

instead of

an overhead bin

blueberry jam
(printable recipe)

4 cups blueberries

3 cups sugar

2 Tbs key lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 pouch liquid pectin

mash the blueberries and place in a heavy pot. add the sugar, salt and key lime juice.  bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer about 5 minutes.  increase heat and bring to a boil. stir in the pectin and boil for a full 60 seconds.  turn off heat and place in sterilized jars.  process for long term storage as necessary. *this is a small batch, so you may choose to keep in a jar in the fridge for your daily use. it is also delicious in my homemade pop-tarts

ladies with marmalade and a cause

I know it is only November, but Christmas is right around the corner and it is never too soon to start collecting prezzies.
My cousin, whom also happens to be my friend, and I came across a charity called  samaritan's purse.  The group that runs this program is a religious organization which neither of us are affiliated with--but like its holiday project, operation christmas child.  Each November, they collect and distribute shoe boxes, filled with Christmas goodies, to underprivileged children around the world. Julie and I thought it would be fun and rewarding to throw a "box collection" party. So we are.

We LOVE putting together parties and supporting a good cause, makes it that much more enjoyable.

We both are a bit crafty, have similar taste, and  have a secret sewing weapon in Julie's mom.  Here are some pics from a baby shower we threw (for another cousin who also happens to be Julie's sister-in-law).

Champagne and coaster "baby blocks"

I made these favors to resemble baby bibs and filled with jelly beans.  We made the cookies too!

I especially love the "Ethan" banner that Julie created and draped across the mommy-to-be's chair.

It really was a bunch of fun.

But I digress...

Julie and I have been planning for this party for a couple of months and what is most  important to us is that everyone brings a christmas box, has a great time, and leaves with a treat.
One of the yummies we are giving is a jar of homemade carrot-orange marmalade.  Before you say...oh yuck...it is really good.
This is a recipe I learned in India. Each morning, I would enjoy this marmalade with warm croissants (yes plural) and a nice smear of sweet butter.  I fell in love with the flavor and didn't have to beg too much to get the recipe.

These two lovely and helpful young ladies are Julie's daughter and my niece.  They are smart and nice and never do anything wrong (wink, wink).














So last Sunday afternoon we buckled down and canned a bunch of jars of marmalade.

The party is this weekend, so stay tuned for pics and more recipes from the event...

Carrot-Orange Marmalade

6 medium carrots--grated

12 oranges peels on--thinly sliced

3 lemons peels on--thinly sliced

6-7 cups sugar (depending on the sweetness of the oranges)

1 cup orange juice

2" knob of ginger--peeled and kept whole

1 Tbs fresh ginger-very finely chopped

2 star anise

2 cinnamon sticks

pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Let sit overnight or at least 6 hours in the refrigerator to meld flavors.  When you slice the fruit, make sure you catch all the juice in the bowl.  When you are ready to cook the marmalade, dump everything in a large heavy pot on med-low heat.  Cook for several hours covered--checking periodically to make sure the bottom isn't burning. After several hours, remove the top and lower the heat and cook until the sugar syrup begins to thicken and get nice and sticky. Do not let it burn. The cooking process should take 4-5 hours.  But you can walk away...you don't have to stand over the stove.

Once the marmalade is ready, you can put it in jars and store in the fridge. If you want to store for longer you must go through the canning process.  Please use proper and sanitary procedures to do so.

This recipe makes approximately 15-5oz jars.

AuPear--or my journey as the kitchen chaperone for 300+ pieces of fruit

"a partridge in a pear tree"

...it makes me sing...it makes me sing the 12 days of christmas
...it makes me sing it in september




i never quite understood what a partridge in a pear tree meant..but now i get it.   It means a great meal. Roast partridge with sauteed pears, a nice pinot and some kind of gooey dessert...figgy pudding perhaps?  Who knew, on the first day of christmas my true love gave to me...

...dinner.

I have been singing the 12 days of christmas for 3 days now--partridge, turtle doves, french hens...boy this guy was hungry.  Good for him, pears are a good accompaniament for all of them.
I have been singing about pears because I have a ton of them, and have been cooking them 6 ways from Sunday since Tuesday.

Our not so little cabin in the, sort of- but not really woods, has a pear tree. A very prolific pear tree.  And hopefully, this time next year, it will have 2 producing pear trees, a cherry tree, 2 apple trees, peach, plum and nectarine.  If they survive this winter.

I don't like to waste.  Someone must have admonished, waste not-want not, during my formative yearsm because I am insane about it.  Leftover rice..make a stir-fry, make a rice pudding, make arancini.  Too much basil--fill your freezer with pesto. Over run with mashed potatoes? shepherds pie, gnocchi, samosas. I'm not joking--some find it annoying, but I value a new leftover ideas as some kind of culinary lottery.  

When  I saw how many pears our tree had, all i could think about was the great things I would make.  All those romantic notions of gathering around a farm table, music playing quietly in the background, me with my hair tied in a vintage scarf, our dogs playfully batting a pear back and forth as if it were a ball,  memories and smells of my childhood wafting through the air.

..queue record being scratched by needle here...

yeah, well you see...
I grew up in the city, my mom grew up in the Bronx.  We're Italian.  We're not canners. We don't eat from the can, we don't put in the can.  Literally, my only "canning" food memory was the one summer we went to Oregon.  My mom and I came across a farm stand selling flats of blackberries and blueberries.  Somehow, and I still quite don't know how, my mom convinced my dad, that we should take some home. So here we were, 5 of us lugging boxes of berries onto the planeand securely placing them in the overhead bins. Can you imagine? That kind of nonsense would never fly these days.
We then spent the next 5 days making jam-the first jam I ever made and it was delicious. But we didn't can it.  We put it in jars, with a one-inch wax seal. We made enough to last a lifetime.
And I don't recall making it again.
Until I met my husband.
In his house, his cabinets were lined with canned goods. Goods he canned himself. salmon, pot roast, bear.  When he learned that I cook, he described his great aunt's freezer jam and asked if I could figure out how to make it.

..and that is when i learned the value in filling the pantry with the summer's bounty. 

...canning speaks to me

waste not-want not

I spent this last Monday picking pears from our tree.  Interestingly, pears don't ripen well on the tree.  They are pretty hard when first picked,  but within a couple of days the sugars explode and the once hard nugget is soft and very juicy.  I am still waiting for some of them to come around. Those will get a light syrup and be canned peeled and cored but not cooked.

What I have been cooking however has made me quite pleased.
I made my very first pear chutney on Tuesday...and I served it with roast pork that evening.
Overnight, in the crock pot, I made pear sauce (like applesauce)...and then cooked 10 hours more to make pear butter--luscious, unctious, pear butter.
I poached pears in wine with spices making a delicious dessert for company.

I am prepared for my Christmas giving and my pantry is full.  Three days in the kitchen, minding my pears, has proven to be very productive.

Pear Chutney

 Take 5 lbs of peeled, cored and chopped unripe pears, 3 sticks of cinnamon, 1 tsp cardamom pods (crushed), peel of two lemons, juice of 1 lemon, 1 Tbs of mustard seed and place in a pot. Add enough water to just cover and simmer on the stove top until pears begin to just soften.  Meanwhile,in a bowl combine 2 cups apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 6 oz candied ginger, 1/2 tsp cayenne (or more to taste), 1 tsp (or more) ground cinnamon, 1 cup dried cranberries, 1 cup dried cherries, 1 cup golden raisins, and 2 cups chopped onions. Drain the pears--but reserve the water.  In the pot place 2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar and the reserved liquid.  Boil together until it begins to reduce and thickens slightly..it should reduce by 1/3.  Add back the pears and all the remaining ingredients.  Simmer on the stovetop until thick and sticky. This will take several hours and should be kept on low.  You can also place in an oven but take care to check it to make sure it does not burn. Before canning, check for spice balance and sugar/vinegar balance...to your liking. If you add more vinegar, be sure to cook it down.  Use proper canning procedures to ensure a safe and sanitary product.

Pear Butter

So simple...Fill your crock pot with whole pears.  Add about 1/2 inch of water. Cover and set the pot on low overnight.  The next day, remove the pears and run them through a food mill or potato ricer.  Throw any liquid from the crock pot away and put the puree back into the crock pot.  You now have pear sauce. Add as much sugar as you want, and spices to your liking. I add a bit of salt, ground cinnamon and ground ginger..and a bit of dark brown sugar.  You can can this or carry on and make pear butter.  If making the butter, do not over sweeten or over season. You are reducing, so your flavors will get more powerful.  You can add orange zest, ground cloves, cardamom, just about anything you like.  Turn the crock pot on again, and let it go another 8-10 hours.  Do not place the lid firmly back on the pot, you want evaporation, so leave it askew, or off completely if you are the confident sort.  Taste and adjust sweetness and seasoning periodically.  When it gets thick, like a pudding, or a curd, it is ready.  I like to take a hand blender and make it smooth, but it's not necessary.  Place in sterilized jar and use proper canning procedure

full disclosure--i was using the crock pot to make another batch of pear sauce, so I cooked this butter down on the stovetop

before the water bath

Poached Pears

Peel, halve and core the pears.  Place in a stockpot and cover with wine of your choice. I like to use savignon blanc and muscat combination...but you can use any wine you want.  If you are using a really dry wine, use a bit of sugar to "tame" it.  The pears look beautiful when cooked in a red wine.  Add spices.  I like to use cinnamon sticks, anise, lemon peel (pith removed), orange peel (pith removed), black peppercorns and a few whole cloves. You can add bay leaf, cardamom, ginger, white peppercorns.  Be creative.  Simmer on the stovetop until the pears are soft. You can store in the refrigerator in the poaching liquid, or you can remove the pears and cook the liquid down to a syrup and drizzle over the pears, or over the pears that are sitting over ice cream. You can also add some more sugar and then spin into a sorbet or freeze into a granita.  Use the liquid as it is and add fruit and make a cocktail out of it...add grand marnier and call it a sangria.  So many options...use it all. 

 and remember

waste not...