It was meant to be. I arrived home from Madagascar laden with vanilla beans. My new Christine Ferber jam book was waiting for me with two recipes that use vanilla bean — one for apricots and one for plums. One day later (I am not making this up), my CSA dropped off 2 lb of apricots and 1 lb of shiro plums. The universe wanted this jam.

 

 

Ferber has separate recipes for apricot and plum jams using vanilla bean, so I decided to combine them. Below is my recipe adapted from Ferber’s fabulous book, Mes Confitures.

 

1. Halve 2 1b apricots and 1 lb yellow plums and remove the pits.
2. Mix with 4 cups sugar, juice and pulp from one lemon, juice and pulp from 1/2 orange, and some grated rind from each.
3. Split two vanilla beans, scrape out the beans from the pod, and add beans and pod to fruit.
4. Let macerate for one hour (see photo at left).
5. Bring to a simmer, and put in refrigerator overnight.

6. Remove apricot pieces, and bring syrup (with plum pulp and skins) to a strong boil. Keep there for about 10 mins.
7. Add apricot pieces and 1 cup Gewurztraminer wine.
8. Bring back to a strong boil. Keep there for 5 mins.
9. Remove vanilla beans and can.

 

I kept both the apricot and plum skins in the jam. I didn’t notice the apricot skins at all, but the plum skins separated from the pulp and became chewy candied bits in the jam (which I really liked). The apricot pieces stayed mostly whole (see photo at right). This jam was a little runny since it has no pectin, but it set enough for me. The flavor of this jam is amazing, but I thought it was a bit too sweet. Next week, I’ll try again with less sugar and no wine.

I’ve been traveling for work and fun during the past six weeks, and so I’ve been neglecting my blog right in the middle of the harvest season. Instead of writing, I’ve been frantically trying to pick and freeze berries during my few days in town before I fly out again for the next trip. I don’t have time to make a lot of jam right now, but luckily freezing is easy and makes jam that’s as good if not better than from fresh berries. Here’s the process I’ve been using.

Red and Black Raspberries

1. Wash berries gently in a sieve.	2. Gently dry berries in a cloth.	3. Mix 2-3c berries with 1/2 cup sugar and pour into zip lock freezer bag.

4. Get as much air out of the freezer bag as possible. I use a straw (or a hollowed-out pen, if necessary) to suck the air out of the bag. Place the straw in the corner of the bag, seal the bag as much as possible, suck out a few times, then quickly pull the straw out and seal the bag. Not as fancy as one of those vacuum sealers, but it does the trick. Write in permanent marker on the bag the amount of fruit and sugar.

 

Sour Cherries

1. Wash cherries gently in a sieve.	2. Pit cherries (or have husband do so). Careful — cherry juice stains!	3. Mix 2-3c berries with 1/2 cup sugar and pour into zip lock freezer bag. Follow step 4 as above.

 

Blueberries
1. Wash blueberries in a sieve. Remove stems.
2. Dry in a towel.
3. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet in the freezer.
4. When frozen place in zip lock bags and squeeze out the air.

So, the season has truly begun! Last weekend I picked up a gallon of small, sweet Earliglow strawberries at the farmers market. These are relatively small berries (1/2″ -1″ wide) and much sweeter than the big watery ones you get at the supermarket.

 

I decided to divide up the bounty and make three different kinds of strawberry preserves. All three recipes are adapted from Small-Batch Preserving.

 

1) Oven-Baked Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper (right in photo)
2) Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam (3-day process) (center)
3) Whole Strawberry Preserves with White Wine (left)

 

Oven-Baked Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper
You can find lots of sun-cooked strawberry jam recipes if you search. But, since I live in the urban environment this isn’t very practical for me. This recipe gets a similar result with long baking in a low-temp oven.

 

1) Mix 5c washed, hulled, and halved berries with 2.5c sugar
2) Let sit, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours.
3) Add 1/8c balsamic vinegar and some ground black pepper. Bring to a boil.
4) Cook 10 mins. — it will foam a lot, just keep stirring, don’t skim.
5) Pour into large (9×12) glass or ceramic baking dish.
6) Bake at 170 degrees for 8-10 hours (or 3 hours if you have a convection oven).

 

This jam came out the best — flavorful and thick. Because the baking evaporated most of the liquid, the jam turned out well without pectin (though it didn’t “hold” when the jar was turned sideways). Go easy on the ground pepper — a little goes a long way!

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Day One, in the evening
1) Wash, hull, and halve 4c strawberries.
2) Finely chop 2 stalks rhubarb (slice rhubarb 2-3 times lengthwise before chopping)
3) Mix berries and rhubarb with 2c sugar. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for 8 hours.
Day Two
4) Add 1/4c lemon juice and bring to boil. Boil 5 mins.
5) Remove from heat, let stand, covered, for 24 hours.
Day Three
6) Bring to boil for 5 mins.
7) Can and process in hot water bath for 5 mins.

 

This jam tasted great, but never achieved a consistency that I liked. It stayed too syrupy — even though I left it in the fridge for a week between steps 5 and 6 (not intentionally). One idea is to separate the berries from the syrup on day three and boil the syrup until it achieves a gel (a lot longer than 5 mins) and then add the berries before canning. I may try this if the jam doesn’t thicken up in a couple days.

 

Whole Strawberries Preserved in White Wine
For this preserve, I set aside all the same-sized berries that were well-shaped and blemish-free. I wanted this preserve to look as fabulous as it tastes.
1) Mix 3 c washed and hulled (whole) berries, 2 c sugar, and 3 tbln lemon juice. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for 4 hours.
2) Bring to a boil for 2 min., remove berries with slotted spoon.
3) Add 1/2 pouch liquid pectin and boil until achieves set (about 7 mins).
4) Put berries back in pot and bring back to a boil.
5) Can and process for 5 mins.

 

I ended up with two half pint jars of preserved berries and one half pint jar of jelly. The jelly set well after a full day, but the syrup around the berries never gelled. The photo to the left shows the jelly gelled at the bottom of the jar (where the berries didn’t reach), but not set when it was surrounding the berries. I’ve never seen this pattern before and am not sure why this happened. Please leave a comment if you have an idea!