Taste a Little Of The Summer

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Yesterday, our family went to a you-pick farm and we (I) picked ten pounds of strawberries. Today, in 100F heat, I've cooked and processed two batches of jam. I don't even like strawberry jam all that much. I really don't know what possessed me. I will give a lot of it away, and give it at Christmas in gift boxes as I usually do.

I will make more jams throughout the Summer and preserve whatever tickles my fancy. I just love Summer.

[Baker]

I love jams, jellies, pickles and such, but I'm not good at making them. I need to learn from my mom, but I keep putting it off.

My favorites are her hot pickles, watermelon rind pickles, and crab apple jelly. But strawberry jam is great too!

[Drain Bead]

I adore strawberry jam. I'm jealous. I couldn't get to the farmer's market on Saturday because I felt like crap. First one I've missed in I don't know how long.

[BlueKangaroo]

I wish I'd been there! I love strawberry jam and it's always fun to hang out at your place.

I have no idea what I'm going to be doing for summer foods here. I'm sure there's a farmer's market nearby, though I don't know where.

I did splurge on 3/4lb of Rainer Cherries the other day. I have no idea where in the season we are for those things, but at least I will have gotten one batch this summer.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Originally Posted by Drain Bead

I adore strawberry jam. I'm jealous. I couldn't get to the farmer's market on Saturday because I felt like crap. First one I've missed in I don't know how long.

I'll send you a jar, or maybe drop one off if we head that way this summer.

Blue Kangarooooo, I thought of you while I was making it! I was thinking how we hadn't made any plain strawberry last fall.

[Labelless]

Ginger, this is two threads you have now made me envious!
First with the spinning, and now with the jam.

Any suggestions on how to make my husband understand why I'm making jam right in the middle of moving day?

[GingerOfTheNorth]

"Some crazy bitch in Maryland made me do it!"

And then you're off the hook.

Re the spinning, I've had to take a hiatus. My wrist started to ache a little and I have an old ow (Dequervain's tendonitis) that I didn't want to aggravate. Then, I got busy doing some charity crochet (chemo caps, then face cloths) and now I'm crocheting yoga mat bags and grocery bags for sale, and haven't got back to it. In time, in time...

[Labelless]

Originally Posted by GingerOfTheNorth

"Some crazy bitch in Maryland made me do it!"

And then you're off the hook.

The crazy thing is, he'd believe it. I'm prone to go off and do something because I either read it here or in a blog.
-Thus my spinning dream. We bought a wheel at a flea market, but it needs parts.
Frakking moving...

Ow on the DT, I notice when I crochet too long my wrists start to ache, I'm sure it has something to do with my carpal tunnel. Surgery works great, unless you do something you normally shouldn't anyhow. I hope spinning doesn't aggravate it too much.

[BlueKangaroo]

Yeah, we didn't make any plain strawberry because you're not a fan. I love plain strawberry, though the blackberry-strawberry jam was good too.

Oddly enough, though, in the people I gave jam to as gifts, the "Harvest Jam" was the hands-down favorite. Did you have anyone all over that too?

[GingerOfTheNorth]

We like it, but I haven't had any ooohs and aaahs from anyone else. Maybe it was the tart from the apple?

[BlueKangaroo]

I suspect so, though I don't know. It's pretty good, and it definitely makes the strawberry-blackberry seem quite sweet in comparison.

[phil417]

Spring/summer's coming slowly here in Mid-Michigan. Not much heat, lots of rain, and now there's a tomato scare ("Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Tomatoes"). Still, I've planted my own tomato plants, as well as green beans (bush this year, as opposed to runner beans) and zucchini (only one hill this time!)

I'm watching the ads for pick-it-yourself farms, so I can put up jelly. I can't wait!

Love, Phil

[Plynck]

Nice Greg Brown reference! (Although I just discovered that he didn't write that song, but it sure seems to fit his style.)

I've completely changed my approach to strawberry jam over the last ten years or so. I used to call strawberry jam a labor of love, because you pick the berries and then cook them down during the hottest days of the year.

I first started my transition by picking, cleaning and hulling the berries, and then freezing them to make later in the winter. Another advantage to this is that you can mix two or more fruits that don't ripen at the same time. I make a mean strawberry peach jam.

And then last year I went out and spent two hours picking a flat of berries in the heat of summer. They weren't enough, so the next weekend I went to the same farmstand and bought pre-picked berries, and paid a whopping $6 more for the same flat. And they were much bigger and juicier. I haven't worked for $3 an hour since I was in college a long time ago. I'll be buying my berries pre-picked from now on.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I'm a lazy cuss and will gladly pay the extra when it comes to Saskatoon berries or raspberries... but strawberries are simple and quick. And BIG, these ones.

I've made just the two batches, and I've frozen the rest. I just don't like strawberry jam, so I'll make it later on along with other fruits. I've already given away six jars of the stuff, and holy dinah are people appreciative. Some people are just astounded that 'people' still make jam nowadays.

[BlueKangaroo]

Peach jam!

I've never been to a "pick your own" anything farm. Out here it'd probably just be chile, and I don't think I want to do that.

[melodyharmonius]

My mom used to have me skim the "scum" off the top - we'd put it in a bowl and she'd let us eat it - it was so sweet though.

There were 4 of us kids and my mom for the pick-your-own farm, and we worked pretty hard - one time we had picked so much in an hour, my mom had to go back home to get more money to pay for it.

Almost as much fun as a maple "sugaring" where we would take the fresh syrup and pour it on snow to make maple licorice candy. I thought we were so cool for doing it, until I read a "Little House on the Prairie" chapter and realized that people had been doing it for years.

[Green Cymbeline]

Ginger, can you tell us the name and location of the place you went? I am trying to find a place to pick strawberries in the DC/MD/VA area. Thanks!

[Cartooniverse]

Back when the kids were young, we'd drive from Queens out to Long Island. The area right around Brookhaven National Laboratories had a bunch of pick yerself strawberry fields.

We'd pick em, then make strawberry or strawberry/blueberry jam. Used to eat a decent amount of it, we all did. Then in August I'd do my spiced peach jam.

Haven't made any in a few years. Mmmmm. Jam.

Cartooniverse

[Spavined Gelding]

Ginger, don’t think we don’t appreciate the Greg Brown reference.

Come taste a little of the summer,
My Gran’ma put it up in jars.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Spavined Gelding, I was hoping some of you would get it. It makes me smile that you and Plynck did.

nyctea, it was Harman's Farm on Churchville Road between Churchville and Havre de Grace. There's also another up there with the same prices, www.bradsproduce.com.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I just made a batch of strawberry-blueberry with the rest. Because, you know, it wasn't nearly hot enough in Baltimore and I felt the need to heat up the house some more.

[BlueKangaroo]

But it sounds delicious, and was probably completely worth it.

[Finagle]

Originally Posted by Plynck

Nice Greg Brown reference! (Although I just discovered that he didn't write that song, but it sure seems to fit his style.)

Canned Goods? Greg Brown did write it. (Cite: The liner notes of "One More Goodnight Kiss").

[Cartooniverse]

Originally Posted by GingerOfTheNorth

I just made a batch of strawberry-blueberry with the rest. Because, you know, it wasn't nearly hot enough in Baltimore and I felt the need to heat up the house some more.

It's part and parcel. Blistering hot day and there you are, over a kettle of boiling fruit. Do you seal by boiling the jars, inverting, what?

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Originally Posted by Cartooniverse

It's part and parcel. Blistering hot day and there you are, over a kettle of boiling fruit. Do you seal by boiling the jars, inverting, what?

Boiling water bath, like every good masochist. "THEY" say no other method (aside from pressure cooking) isn't sufficient to kill bacteria. It just annoys me that when I put the seals on after putting the jam in, they pop. And yet, I gotta boil them. In 100F heat.

At least I don't live in Florida.

[Cartooniverse]

No kidding. Living in the hot and humid Northeast is bad enough. Come mid-August, New York is just delightfully sweltering enough. I figure hell, just do it. Last year I bought a large box of peaches ( 25 pounds? More? ) with the intention of making a new batch of Spiced Peach Jamm.

Then, unfortunately or not, Bad Things Occurred and the peaches went over and rotted and I had other things to focus on. Now, there's pretty much no Jamm in the house. That hasn't happened in 23 years, I think.

Come heck or high water, this August I think I need to boil some jars.

Cartooniverse

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Try fuzzy navel jam, which Blue Kangaroo and I made last fall. Peach and Cointreau.

[Cartooniverse]

How fuzzy could that navel remain after the alcohol burns off during the cooking? Man.... I bet it tastes amazing, booze content or not. Thanks- will try that. Similarly, why not Triple Sec and Peach?

[BlueKangaroo]

It tastes very amazing. Most popular jam I gave away, in most cases.

No reason why it couldn't be Triple Sec instead, just that I don't know much about alcohol, so when I went to the liquor store and asked for the smallest bottle of "orange liquor" possible, that's what they directed me to.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

You know, strawberry-orange would be good too. Booze content or not!

[Plynck]

Fuzzy navel jam. Is that when you forget to take the skin off the peaches? Or is it when you forget to put the lid back on the jam and leave it out on the counter? I tried making peach jam with brandy once, and found that putting it in before cooking drove off most of the flavor in addition to the alcohol. Then I started putting some in the jar just before adding the fruit. I'd still boil the sealed jar, but any alcohol still stayed inside. Talk about your breakfast of champions...

Originally Posted by Finagle

Canned Goods? Greg Brown did write it. (Cite: The liner notes of "One More Goodnight Kiss").

Huh. I went to look up the lyrics when I made that post and found this site. Looks like that one is filed in the wrong place.

Boiling water bath for me, too. Which is another reason why I freeze the berries to make jam in the winter. I'm not a purist; I use Sure-Jell (the lower sugar variety), and I freeze my fruit per "batch". I found that 2 quarts of strawberries equalled one batch, so I have eight batches tucked into the freezer and sleeping peacefully. Some will go solo, some will be mixed with batches of peaches, and the rest with batches of raspberries and peaches.

Next on my list is sour (pie) cherries, which should be ready about this weekend or so. Blackberries will probably be ready when I am away on vacation, so I'll have to grab as much as I can before I go, and then when I get back. I have some friends from the Azores, and blackberries (amoras) grow wild there. My wild blackberry jam reminds them of home.

[BurnMeUp]

We've taken to buysing 1/2 flats of strawberries each weekend and drying them using the Good Eats method.

We found commercial dehydrators partially cooked the fruit. Using only fuirnace filters, drying sheets, and box fans we can dry about 3 pounds of berries in 24 hours and they are fresh as fresh can be. We're also starting up cherries since the season is just kicking off.

[Plynck]

Originally Posted by Plynck

Next on my list is sour (pie) cherries, which should be ready about this weekend or so.

I am desolated... I had only found one place close to home that had the pie cherries, and they cut down the trees because they were ailing. Most of the farmstands and U-Pick places around here only have sweet cherries, which isn't even close to the same thing. In fact, when I called one place and asked if they had pie cherries:

"You know, everyone calls to ask that, but no, we only have sweet cherries."

You'd think that if "everyone" was asking for them...

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I gave a gift of three kinds of jam today. The recipients were most grateful.

[dwyr]

The trick to alcohol is to add it at the very end so it doesn't get cooked off. I made some very nice brandy peach jam and chambord peach jam that way.

No one around here grows sour cherries either so I planted a couple of dwarf trees in my backyard several years ago. They're starting to yield really well if I get to them before the birds do. And if late frosts don't kill the blooms like the past two years. They ripened in June and I got about 15 pounds from them. (Plus sixty-some chigger bites-in my own yard!) Every single cherry pitted by hand, by me. Sour cherries are too small to do any other way. Aren't they lovely? And very, very tasty.