Jamming in Berryland

Berries are what we picked this year in both May and again in August.  Since I made so much jam last year before the price of peanut butter went through the roof causing us to eat fewer PBJ’s I still have some strawberry jam left from then.  Because of that I still had bags of strawberries picked this year in my freezer, some of which were used on this jam making day.

This beautiful colander of strawberries was picked in May on my birthday.  I love the colors and hues.  We hadn’t had much rain and so many farms around here lost their crop but we found one farm irrigating well enough to grow some strawberries.  This type grows small and are fairly seedy but they were fresh and delicious.  Remember that the berries were smaller due to lack of rain and I had “help” picking so the picture on the right shows the fun variety of shapes and sizes I found in our baskets.  Because of the smallness of their size in general I found that it took me three days of every spare moment I had to get through washing and hulling these berries.  My husband took pity after his grades were turned in and chipped in on day 3 as I was trying to pack bags for seven people to go on a trip the next day.

The sun ripened strawberries received my children’s seal of approval.

These are the raspberries and remaining blackberries in the field which we picked in mid-August on a different farm.  Again there weren’t too many places offering berries.  Most farmers around seemed to have lost their crops of berries entirely.  The raspberries weren’t going to be much good for freezing or even just eating for very long because it had been so hot and most were beyond ripened.  “Jamming” was in order and soon.

Bubbling hot berries above created 20 pints of raspberry, double berry and triple berry jams.
I made three kinds of jam with what I had on hand.  First I made a batch of plain raspberry jam.  Then I made a raspberry blackberry jam with lemon.  I had a little left over from that and put it in the fridge.  Then I still had some berries left but not enough for another batch of jam SO I made a mixed berry jam of fresh raspberries and some of the strawberries waiting in my freezer with lemon and butter.  What was left of this I mixed with the raspberry blackberry for one final jar of “Triple Berry”.  Now I love raspberry jam but I have to say that the raspberry-blackberry with lemon and the raspberry-strawberry with lemon and butter is absolutely out of this world.  In the mixed berry jams I added the zest of one lemon and the juice of one squeezed lemon to each batch.  Up to a teaspoon of butter may be used per batch in the pot of bubbling berries to prevent foaming (which you are supposed to skim off otherwise) and it actually works creating a better product.  The end results were addicting!  And the berries were just the right ripeness that their natural pectin created a  wonderful gel by itself.  My kids simply cannot get enough of this jam on bread or pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  My husband told me I’d better hurry and write down what it was I did this time before I forget and so I can replicate it next time.  The only thing slowing down the consumption here… several jars left of last year’s strawberry jam to get through first now.  And once that is gone and the weather cools some more I will make some more strawberry jam with the berries still waiting in my freezer that are so good in breakfast smoothies.  Maybe I’ll add lemon to that too!

Pickles & Peaches

On a good friend’s recommendation I decided to check out the Country Fresh Farmer’s Market last week.  I’ve been interested in buying fresher produce, maybe finding better prices, better quality and maybe getting lucky enough to even find whole foods that are more local.  After several tries and fails this place did not disappoint.  It is a “hole in the wall” market a little off of my beaten path (though not all that far from my home) that I probably never would have paid attention to and if I had noticed it I probably wouldn’t have gone into it anyway.  But I had my friend’s recommendation.  Word of mouth can be a good way of getting information.

I walked away from the market with 17 pounds of pickle cucumbers and 50 pounds of peaches among a few other fresh items.  The cucumbers I picked out of a large bin are local.  The peaches were picked by one of the market’s growers on Tuesday afternoon in South Carolina, arrived here Tuesday night via their driver in a trailer and there I was Wednesday at the Market getting baskets of fresh wholesale produce to take home… the freshest cukes & peaches I’ve ever had (other than cucumbers out of my own garden).  I have been wishing my own garden was bigger.  My yield is pretty small compared to family size but alas I live on a postage stamp with a good number of trees around.  I’ve been looking for a Farmer’s Market to supplement during the growing season. 

Mmmmm!  Fresh, fragrant & crisp.  Their scent on the open window breeze made my kitchen smell divine.  We dug in and my children who’ve never eaten an entire grocery store peach in their lives were eating these down to the pit.  Cucumbers were amazingly crispy in the salads.

We recruited Lindsay’s help in the kitchen for canning peaches.  She stood at the stove and blanched the second 20 lbs. of peaches, skinned, halved and pitted them in cold water while Rick and I worked as fast as we could.  Lindsay was an excellent helper and really made the work go so much faster.  She learned a new skill and she got to stay up later than her usual bed time. 

We made kosher dills with 16 lbs. of pickles… stuffing the jar with fresh dill, mustard seed and garlic before pouring pickle brine in.  The cucumbers are a technicolor green (right) going into the jar before the pickling process (left) takes place.  I love the sunshiny color of the peaches just before they go into their hot water bath for processing.  With plenty of fresh held aside for eating now, we made 14 quarts of pickles and 18 1/2 quarts of peaches over the course of two evenings.

And for fun during all this, after I made a fresh fruit salad, I froze those “extra” raspberries which are currently half the price of the “sale” price on frozen raspberries and then packaged them up.  After taking my fill of fresh blueberries that I could use in a reasonable amount of time I decided to try dehydrating my “extra” blueberries.  They now pack easily into a small jar for the shelf and look a lot like raisins.  Nathan loves them, shriveled but sweet, and I think they will be good in muffins and pancakes.  I had fun playing with my food this week.
On a sad note, my curious kitten got up under the clean drip drying canner the next morning and knocked it to the floor causing a large dent in it.  That canner “talked” to me for the next five minutes.  After 30 + years of canning my mother’s jars and then mine in 3 different states it's very soul had a lot to say, I suppose.  Rick wanted to “know what it said” and the girls backed me up when I told him that it sounded like rice krispies or “snap, crackle, pop” getting louder and louder before going silent.  Studying the dent I think its integrity for holding so much water as well as that much heat is compromised now and I am sad… It was showing signs of wear and tear but I was trying to take good care of it.  That curious kitty has done it in, I think… one of the most curious kitties I’ve met!