Fancy Jam Weekend

Market day this week happened to be right after our first CSA Farm share pickup. We are sharing a share with another family so only got one head of lettuce, some mint, a tomato plant, scallions and some decorative rye grass. We are at Common Ground Farm which is the same place we go to farm school on fridays, so it is a farm filled day over all.

Anyway at market I spent $96 dollars, which is crazy because all I bought was:

6 quarts strawberries

1 lb rhubarb

.5 lb asparagus

1 flank steak

1 chicken

1 tiny bottle of honey

I spent forever talking to the honey lady, she has a CSA too but I don't think we can afford it this year because we missed the deadline for scheduled payments, and we are buying 1/16th of a cow. That's right in about 3 weeks we will have about 75 lbs of beef in an as of yet un-purchased freezer. More on that when it gets here

Over the weekend I made fancy jam. I had some wine in the fridge and the mint, so an herbed wine jelly was born, the strawberries were a bit past their prime and became strawberry rhubarb jam (and there is still more macerating in balsamic vinegar for a balsamic jelly), and a giant amount of strawberry vinegar is waiting for me in the pantry. I think I have to redo the jams though as the set was off- I used liquid pectin and forgot to add enough sugar (by forgot I mean didn't look to see if I had the ungodly amount called for in each recipe), I used honey for the herb jelly and brown sugar in the strawbarb. I recently (today) bought a candy thermometer so I am going to re boil to reach gel point if the jams don't firm up by the time I get back from vacation.

Honey Minted Wine Jelly

inspired by the Knit and Nosh can jam 2010 entry for april

mint- two stalks of leaves

1.5 cups whitecliff winery's awosting white

1/4 cup vinegar

pouch pectin

3 1/4 cup sugar- hahaha i forgot i had no white sugar so i used 2 cups honey 1/3 cup sugar we shall see if it sets right....

steep the mint in the wine and vinegar, let sit for 30 minutes. Remove mint. Add sugar, boil one minute, remove from heat, stir in pectin.

Pour hot into hot jars leaving 1/4th inch headspace, process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

strawberry vinegar

also inspired by the 2010 canjam- this time used Grow and Resist's recipe

4-5 cups strawberries

4-5 cups apple cider vinegar

I left out the peppercorns and pepperflakes. I may add them when I process...

Pour 1 cup vinegar over berries. Smash it down. Pour in rest of vinegar. Cover and store in cool dark place for awhile (up to 4 weeks). Give it a stir every few days until you like the taste. Strain. Heat vinegar to 190 degrees. Pour hot vinegar into hot jars leaving 1/4th inch headspace, process 10 minutes.

strawberry rhubarb from the national center for home food preservation.

2 cups rhubarb cooked tender

2 .5 cups (1 quart and a little) berries crushed

sugar- i subbed brown for white

1 pouch liquid pectin

Mid canning I tweeted the hungry tigress to make sure I could sub in the brown sugar. She said it would be fine but the taste would be slightly molasses like. Oh well. This jam is going to be on pb&j for the kids so I don't think they will care!

Simmer rhubarb until tender, drain. Add in crushed berries. Add in sugar. Bring to boil stirring constantly. Boil hard for a minute. Remove from heat. Stir in pectin. Pour hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4th inch headspace. Process 10 minutes.